Next year comes with a new slate of free days at National Parks in the U.S., and the list looks a bit different than last year. While there are more free days, some on the old list have been booted.
Among those days are Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Jan. 20 and Juneteenth on June 19. MLK day celebrates the late Civil Rights leader and Juneteenth celebrates the day the last slaves in the U.S. were freed.
“Too many non-working holidays in America,” said President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post on Juneteenth this year. “It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed.”
This year, the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act on Aug. 4 was also on the list, along with April 19, the first day of National Park Week. Neither of those dates is on the 2026 list. In fact, the only days on both the 2025 and 206 lists are Sept. 17 (referred to as Constitution Day on the 2026 list and National Public Lands Day on this year’s list) and Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
Here’s the full list of free days announced for next year:
· Feb. 16: Presidents Day (Washington’s Birthday)
· May 25: Memorial Day
· June 14: Flag Day/President Trump’s birthday
· July 3 – 5: Independence Day weekend
· Aug. 25: 110th Birthday of the National Park Service
· Sept. 17: Constitution Day
· Oct. 27: Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday
· Nov. 11: Veterans Day
“Beginning in 2026, free entrance on these days will be for US citizens and residents only,” said the National Park Service. “Nonresidents will pay the regular entrance fee.”
Earlier this year, Trump also signed an executive order calling on the Secretary of the Interior to “develop a strategy to increase revenue and improve the recreational experience at national parks by appropriately increasing entrance fees and recreation pass fees for nonresidents in areas of the National Park System that charge entrance fees or recreation pass fees.” Staff cuts at National Parks ahead of busy season this summer also made headlines.