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Visit national parks for free during five days in 2023

The National Park Service is waiving entrance fees for all parks on five select dates in 2023.

Jerry & Marcy Monkman/The Boston Globe
Maine's Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park. Jerry & Marcy Monkman/The Boston Globe

By Natalie Gale

Event Link

https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/fee-free-parks.htm

Want to explore the great outdoors more in the new year but don’t know where to start? The National Park Service (NPS) is once again waiving entrance fees for all National Parks on five days in 2023. 

Admission fees will be waived on the following days: 

  • January 16 for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • April 22 for the first day of National Parks Week
  • August 4 for the anniversary of the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act
  • September 23 for National Public Lands Day
  • November 11 for Veterans Day

Of the more than 400 National Parks country-wide, 110 parks charge entrance fees ranging from $5 to $35. New England parks that typically charge a fee that will be free on the five designated days include Adams National Historical Park in Quincy ($15/person), Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine ($15/person, $30/vehicle), and Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, N.H. ($10/person).

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The fee waiver “does not include amenity or user fees for activities such as camping, boat launches, transportation, or special tours,” according to the NPS.

For avid visitors of national parks, the NPS offers an $80 per year “America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass,” which allows unlimited access to all 400 parks plus over 1,000 other federal recreation areas. 

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