National Parks that Will Require Reservations or Permits in 2025

As our beloved national parks become more and more popular, the National Park Service is doing the best it can to mitigate the extreme impact on our precious public lands while also keeping people both safe and satisfied with the experience out and about in our national parks. One of the best ways to protect these experiences is to implement a permit system – whether that’s timed entries or trail permits. Here are the parks and the permits they’ll require in 2025. Some dates haven’t been announced yet, but I’ll get them updated as the information is out there and I’ll repost this on social media each time it’s updated.

This post will cover any entry reservations needed in U.S. National Parks, specific tours, and some of the most popular trails. This post doesn’t include wilderness permits, backcountry permits, camping permits, or permits for other activities like rafting or climbing.

Acadia National Park, Maine

Vehicle Reservation to Cadillac Mountain: Going to the top of Cadillac Mountain is, obviously, one of the most popular activities in this gorgeous Atlantic coast park. Part of the year, this is the first place in the US to see the sunrise and it offers beautiful views no matter the time of day. From May 22nd to October 27th, reservations will be required. There are two options: sunrise permit or daytime permit. Regardless of the time slot you get, the reservation fee is $6 per vehicle. 30% are released 90 days in advance, and the rest are released 2 days in advance of the date you wish to visit. Reservations are available on recreation.gov.

Arches National Park, Utah

Daily Timed Entry Reservation: Timed entry permits ($2 per vehicle per day) are required April 1st to July 6th and again August 29th to October 31st between the hours of 7am and 4pm. This has to be purchased before you get to the gate. If you can’t get a permit, you’re welcome to enter the park before 7am and after 4pm – the park is open 24/7.

Check out our post on how we feel about timed entry at Arches National Park and the full information on it!

Fiery Furnace Permits: This is the primitive trail that is easy to get lost in and is the only trail in the park with a minimum age to it. You can independently hike this trail – with a permit – or go on a guided group hike with a park ranger.

Biscayne National Park, Florida

Boat Docking Fee: This $25 fee grants day use at Boca Chica and Elliot Keys. This is required Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and federal holidays.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Timed Entry Reservation: A timed entry reservation is needed every day that the park is open to enter Carlsbad Caverns itself. It’s $1 per person is required to reserve your time slot. Your ticket to enter the cave can be purchased on site, then, but your time slot will be held.

Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri

Tram Ride to the Top of the Arch: To take the little tram up to the arch, you’ll need to pay the ticket fee (prices vary) and I highly recommend booking this in advance because the tickets sell out fairly quickly. The wait was 3 hours when we were up there this summer. If you have an active America the Beautiful National Park Pass, you get $3 off your ticket price.

Glacier National Park, Montana

Vehicle Reservation for the Going-to-the-Sun Road via the West Entrance: June 13th – September 28th, a vehicle reservation is required from 7am-3pm, even if the road isn’t fully open. If visiting from the East, though, you don’t have to get a vehicle reservation. This is one of the most scenic drives in the entire country and is worth the 2 hour/50 mile drive.

North Fork Vehicle Reservation: From June 13th – September 28th, a vehicle reservation is required from 7am-3pm. This is a rougher, gravel road, so know what you’re getting into before you try to tackle this road. There’s no cell service, the ability to change a tire and 4WD vehicles are recommended.

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Free Personal Boating Permit: If you choose to visit Glacier Bay National Park in a personal boat from June 1st to August 31st, you’re required to get a personal boating permit. Luckily, this is free to obtain! However, it is now a lottery system as of 2025.

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Rim-to-Rim Overnight Camping Permit/Lodging: There’s a pretty intense lottery system to get a reservation for the campgrounds at the base of the Grand Canyon and a 18-month-out lottery system for the Phantom Ranch Lodge. If you’re planning to sleep at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you’ll need to join the lottery systems on Recreation.gov.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina & Tennessee

Parking Tag: While there’s no entrance fee to GSMNP, there is a parking tag fee for anyone who parks for longer than 15 minutes inside the national park. Parking tags cost $5 for a day, $15 for a week or $40 for a year. These can be purchased online (you have to print it out), or in person at an automated machine or visitor center.

Booking.com

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Sunrise Summit Permit: A park reservation is required to enter the park from 3am-7am to get to see sunrise from the summit of Haleakala. These can be purchased starting 60 days in advance and more are released 2 days in advance as well. They cost $1 and are required 365 days a year.

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

Changes to Cave Tour Prices: Starting in March 2025, many of the cave tours will now have a fee for kids 0-6, which used to be free. Other prices won’t change and there isn’t an entrance fee for the park itself still.

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Cliff Dwelling Tours: All access to the cliff dwellings require a ranger-led tour. There are three options and the dates for the tour season will be released in March 2025. The 2024 season was May 12th to October 22nd. I’ll update this post in March.

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

Timed Entry: Timed entry is required for two specific areas within the park: Paradise Corridor and Sunrise Corridor from 7am to 3pm and each requires its own permit. Dates haven’t been released for the 2025 season, but the 2024 season was May 24th – September 2nd for Paradise Corridor and July 4th – September 2nd for Sunrise Corridor. I’ll update this for the 2025 season as soon as it’s listed. A portion or permits will be released 90 days in advance and the rest are released the day before.

North Cascades National Park, Washington

Northwest Forest Pass: This technically isn’t within the national park itself, but the adjacent National Forest Trailhead potentially requires parking passes. Just to be aware.

Lake Chelan Dock Permit: To have a lake access by boat, you have to get a dock permit, which is $10, from May 1st to October 31st.

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Dark Sky Viewing Permit: Because Petrified Forest is one of the parks that has operational hours, you can’t just pop in to check out the dark skies. You have to either camp or get one of their Dark Sky Viewing Permits. It’s free, only two are issued per day and they’re issued at the Painted Desert Visitor Center from 8am – 4:30pm and they’re first come, first serve.

Redwoods National Park, California

Tall Trees Trail: To do the moderate to strenuous tall trees trail, you must acquire a permit. This is a 4.5 mile moderate to strenuous hike that leads to a beautiful area of tall trees. This permit is free, but has to be reserved 24 hours before the date of the hike and can be reserved up to 180 days in advance. They send you the access code to the gate the night before your scheduled hike.

Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon Day Use Permits: These are booked on the same website but there are two different permits: one for the Fern Canyon Hike and one to just have beach access. Online permits are free, day of beach access is $12. These are required May 15th to September 15th.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Timed Entry Including the Bear Lake Corridor: This timed entry gets you into the national park, including the famous Bear Lake Corridor where Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Emerald Lake, Dream Lake, and many other famous trails are located. This is $2 on Recreation.gov, and will be required for the 2025 season starting May 23rd and will run until the winter season.

General Timed Entry: Everything for this permit is the same for above except you cannot visit the Bear Lake Corridor. But it is required to enter the park and do any of the other trails.

Sequoia National Park, California

Mount Whitney Permit: If you’re looking to climb Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48, you’ll need a permit. If you’re starting within Sequoia National Park, you’ll need to apply for a wilderness permit. There is a second option starting inside Inyo National Forest.

Crystal Cave Tours: According to their website, Crystal Cave is set to reopen in 2025, but their website hasn’t been updated, so I’m not sure when. I’ll keep an eye on it and update this asap, though.

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Old Rag Mountain Day-Use: These are $2 permits that you can get on Recreation.gov. This area includes the Saddle and Ridge Trails. A permit is required March 1st – November 30th. 400 will be released 30 days in advance and another 400 will be released 5 days in advance.

Virgin Islands National Park, US Virgin Islands

Trunk Bay Amenity Pass: This amenity pass is required from sunrise to sunset, daily, for those 16+. It’s $5 and can be purchased in the link above, but if you have an America the Beautiful Annual National Park Pass, you can pay in person to get 1/2 off.

Mooring Fees: If you’re sailing, you can moor overnight 7 nights at a time and no more than 30 days per year. Check out this site for more info.

Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

Ranger-Guided Boat Tours: There are various different boat tours throughout the park. More info on those are found on Recreation.gov.

White Sands National Park, New Mexico

Guided Moonlight Hikes: These tours happen around the full moon each month from March to December. These tours open up 30 days in advance and cost $8 for 16+ or $4 or 15 and under. Tickets can be reserved 2 months in advance, none are available for 2025 yet, but here’s the recreation.gov site for 2 months before the March full moon.

Lake Lucero Guided Tour: This ranger-led tour is only offered once monthly November through March each year. For early 2025 the dates are Jan 11th, Feb 15th and March 15th – all at 10am. Tickets are available at recreation.gov. Tickets are available one month in advance and sell out very quickly as only 50 tickets to each tour are available.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Off Road Vehicle Permit: Every recreational visitor to Wrangell-St Elias is required to get an Off Road Vehicle Permit

Yosemite National Park, California

Fire Fall Reservation: February 8th – 23rd, a reservation is required 24 hours, no exceptions on Saturdays, Sundays and on Washington’s Birthday (Monday, Feb 17th). This is to help mitigate insane crowds to see “Firefall” when Horsetail Fall can appear to be on fire. Recreation.gov is where you can get these reservations.

Summer Entrance Reservation: This is going to be announced after February 26th, 2025. They’ve had some sort for the past few years. I’ll update this as soon as they’re announced.

Half Dome Permits: Half Dome Permits are required 7 days a week to climb to the top when cables are up. Which is typically late-May to mid-October. These are done as a lottery, though, and it’s a $10 fee for the chance to get a permit. These can be purchased on, you guessed it, recreation.gov. Preseason lottery starts on March 1st. More info about this timeline can be found on the link attached above.

Zion National Park, Utah

Angels Landing Permit: This famous hike has been made much more peaceful by the permit-system put in place in 2022. Apply for your Angels Landing Permit here. A permit is required 24 hours a day, every day.

Read our post on hiking Angels Landing here.

These permits have been put into place to help make visits to our beautiful national parks as enjoyable, peaceful, and safe as possible! We love our national parks and hope that this post helps you plan the perfect trip to these parks in 2025. It would suck to plan a trip and get to one of these beautiful parks and not be able to enter, go on a scenic drive, or a hike that you’ve been dying to see. Happy trails, friends!

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