Kip Tips

Many National Parks Free this Weekend

Your trip to a great locations won't have to start with you reaching for your wallet.

By David Muhlbaum, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger.com

January 12, 2012

Will the air smell even sweeter if you didn't have to pay for it? Go visit a National Park this weekend and let us know -- entry to all of them is free, free, free for this holiday weekend.

SEE ALSO: Fabulous Freebies

Not all National Parks have an entry fee, but many do, and some of them are rather spendy -- it's $20 to drive a car into Yosemite National Park in California, $10 to for Florida's Everglades and $25 to visit the service's crown jewel, Yellowstone in Wyoming.

Yellowstone may be a bit far off for a spur of the moment visit, but there are about 100 parks you can get into for free in states around the country; check the list to see if there's one near you.

It's a promotion by the Park Service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is celebrated Monday, Jan. 16. -- who is honored at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta and other locations, including the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (always free).

For those looking to plan ahead, there are a total of 14 free-admission park days: National Park Week (April 21 to 29), Get Outdoors Day (June 9), National Public Lands Day (September 29), and the weekend of Veterans Day (November 10 to 12).

Fine print: Free entry covers entry fees, but not reservation, camping, concessions and tours collected by third parties.

And for those thinking, with our soaring national deficit, shouldn't the parks be collecting every dollar they can, remember that you can offset your visit by to paying down our national debt through the Treasury Department. There's also probably a donations bin at your park.

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