Happy 2025, Los Angeles! The National Parks Service has announced a new lineup of free National Park days in 2025 for over 400 national parks around the country, and we can’t wait to explore some of the most breathtaking nearby landscapes. Save money on parking, entrance fees, and museums on these special dates throughout 2025, the nearest of which is on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
2025 Free National Park Days
- Jan. 20: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday
- Apr. 19: First day of National Park Week
- June 19: Juneteenth
- Aug. 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
- Sept. 27: National Public Lands Day
- Nov. 11: Veterans Day
National parks to visit near Los Angeles
Los Angeles is well-located to see some absolute gems in SoCal on a day trip or a long weekend. Here are the nearest national parks participating in free entrance days.
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree is the famous merger of two different desert ecosystems: the Mojave Desert from the north and the Colorado Desert from the south. The result is an alluring landscape of diverse flora and fauna against a backdrop of wind-sculpted rocky terrain. With elevation ranging between 900-5,000 feet above sea level across 800,000 acres, you’ll find varied topography including sand dunes, flat valleys, craggy mountains, and pristine oases.
📍Location: 140 miles east of Los Angeles, just east of Palm Springs and north of the Salton Sea
💸Fees waived on free entrance days: $30 for vehicles, $25 for motorcycles, $15 walk-in or bike entrance fee
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley is the nation’s lowest, driest, and hottest national park. Its location within a below-sea-level basin creates a stark and unrelenting landscape between the Amargosa and Panamint mountain ranges. On a given day you could see snow-capped peaks in the distance, undulating sand dunes, jagged fault scarps, delicate salt flats, and plant and animal species that exist nowhere else in the world.
📍Location: 214 miles north of Los Angeles, 111 miles east of Las Vegas
💸Fees waived on free entrance days: $30 for vehicles, $25 for motorcycles, $15 walk-in or bike entrance fee
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
Millennia of geologic processes carved out the dramatic landscapes at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, which include extraordinary textured rock faces, numerous watersheds, striking glaciers, and over 200 caves concealing rare minerals and fossils. Of course, visitors will also have the chance to explore miles of California’s magnificent giant sequoias.
📍Location: 203 miles north of Los Angeles, near Mt. Whitney
💸Fees waived on free entrance days: $35 for vehicles, $30 for motorcycles, $20 walk-in or bike entrance fee
There are plenty of other national parks to visit for free entrance days in addition to these ones nearby. If you can make the trip, consider a weekend in Yosemite National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Muir Woods National Monument… and those are just in California! See the full list of national parks participating in free entrance days here.