Arches National Park entrance fee and passes.

Buying and using the pass.

At the gate or online. The Arches Entrance Station sells standard passes by credit or debit card only. NPS says a valid entrance pass is required and can be bought online through Recreation.gov or at the entrance station. The park is normally open 24 hours a day, year-round, and NPS notes that fees apply. A September 10, 2026 NPS release adds the Moab Information Center in town as a place to buy a pass, and says rides on the new Moab-Arches shuttle, running through October 31, 2026, are free with a valid park pass.

The $55 annual pass. It admits one private vehicle or its pass holder to Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Natural Bridges and Hovenweep national monuments, for one year through the month of purchase. It's for U.S. residents only. You can buy it with a card at the Arches, Island in the Sky, and Needles entrance stations, or at the Hovenweep and Natural Bridges visitor centers.

America the Beautiful passes. A digital pass from Recreation.gov saves to your phone and works right away. A physical pass ordered online from the USGS store can take up to three weeks, and NPS won't accept the order receipt in place of the pass. Passholders must show valid photo ID with the pass, and the passes are non-refundable, non-transferable, and can't be replaced if lost or stolen. For the $80 resident pass, NPS says the purchaser shows photo ID when using it, and someone who isn't eligible is asked to upgrade to the $250 non-resident pass, per the NPS nonresident fee page.

Non-U.S. residents pay the standard fee here. Arches is not on the NPS list of eleven parks that charge the $100 nonresident fee, so a car of four adults from abroad pays $30, the same as anyone. The rest of a typical Utah loop is different: Zion and Bryce Canyon each charge $100 per non-U.S. resident 16 and older on top of their $35 vehicle fees. Fee-free days are for U.S. citizens and residents only, and the $55 annual pass is too.

Groups. A non-commercial organized group, such as scouts, a club, or a church traveling on its own itinerary, pays per vehicle: $30 for a vehicle seating 15 or fewer, $15 per person 16 and older in a vehicle seating 16 to 25 (up to $40), and $15 per person in a vehicle seating 25 or more (up to $100). Annual and lifetime passes can be used, and a pass may cover immediate family or up to four people in the group, depending on the pass. Road-based commercial tours, guided day hikes, and photography instruction need a signed commercial use authorization to enter; NPS lists those fees on its Do Business with Us page. Accredited academic institutions may apply for an entrance fee waiver.

Free entrance days in 2026.

NPS lists eight fee-free dates for 2026, ten days in all. Seven of those days have passed: February 16, May 25, June 14, July 3 to 5, and August 25. Three are left: September 17 (Constitution Day), October 27 (Theodore Roosevelt's birthday), and November 11 (Veterans Day). Entrance is free for U.S. citizens and residents only. NPS notes that other fees, including reservation fees, may still apply.

Of the three left, September 17 falls in the busiest of the three months, at about 5,400 recreation visits a day over the past five years. October averages about 4,800 a day. November 11 is the quiet one, at about 2,900 a day. NPS asks visitors to plan for entrance lines and limited parking, particularly on weekends and holidays, and on very busy days the park may delay new entries when the line backs up to the highway.

Reservations, permits, and campsites.

No timed entry in 2026. NPS announced on February 18, 2026 that Arches will not require timed-entry reservations this year, so you can enter any time during operating hours with a valid pass. Reservations are still required for Devils Garden Campground and for self-guided and ranger-led Fiery Furnace hikes; how to book them is on our Arches reservations page.

Fiery Furnace. A self-guided hiking permit costs $10 per person, and a ranger-led hike costs $16 per person. Children under 5 are not permitted on either. A group of four pays $40 for permits or $64 for the ranger-led hike, on top of the entrance fee.

Devils Garden Campground. An individual site for 1 to 10 campers is $25 a night. Group sites are priced by size: Canyon Wren runs from $75 a night for 11 to 16 campers to $160 for 29 to 35, and Juniper from $100 for 11 to 22 campers to $250 for 45 to 55. More on Arches camping.

Is the annual pass worth it?

Two $30 vehicle passes cost $60, so the $55 annual pass pays for itself on a second visit within its year, and the same pass gets you into Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, and Hovenweep. The $80 America the Beautiful pass makes sense once the trip adds parks the $55 pass doesn't cover. Zion and Bryce Canyon charge $35 per vehicle each, so Arches plus both comes to $100 at the gates, $20 more than the pass. Arches' fees don't change by season, so pick your dates on the best time to visit Arches page and budget the pass separately.

For non-U.S. residents, the $55 pass isn't available and Arches alone won't justify the $250 pass. It pays off when the trip includes parks that charge the nonresident fee. One adult driving to Arches, Zion, and Bryce Canyon pays $30 plus $135 plus $135, or $300, at the gates. Two adults pay $500.

Common questions.

Does it cost money to go to Arches National Park?

Yes. NPS says all visitors need an entrance pass: $30 per private vehicle, $25 for up to two motorcycles, or $15 per person on foot or bike for visitors 16 and older. Kids under 16 are free, and Arches does not charge the $100 nonresident fee.

Can I enter Arches National Park without a reservation?

Yes, in 2026. Arches is not using timed-entry reservations this year, so you can enter any time during operating hours with a valid pass. Devils Garden Campground and Fiery Furnace hikes still need reservations.

Can you just drive into Arches National Park?

Yes, with an entrance pass, which you can buy by card at the entrance station or online at Recreation.gov. On very busy days, when the entrance line backs up to the highway or parking lots fill, the park may delay new entries for a while. We don't track live lines; NPS shows real-time entrance conditions on the park webcam at go.nps.gov/archeswebcam.

Is Arches free before 7am?

No. Arches is normally open 24 hours a day, and NPS says fees apply. NPS does suggest entering before 8 am or after 3 pm to avoid traffic, but the time you arrive doesn't change the price.

Where these facts come from

Entrance, annual, America the Beautiful, and group prices, card-only purchase locations, photo ID and mail-order pass rules, the academic waiver, commercial use authorization, the 2026 fee-free dates, and the Devils Garden and Fiery Furnace fees come from the NPS Arches fees page. The end of timed entry for 2026, the reservations still required, buying a pass online, entrance lines on weekends and holidays, and the webcam come from the NPS news release of February 18, 2026; 24-hour access, "fees apply", and the traffic tip from the NPS hours page; entry delays on busy days from the NPS conditions page; the Moab Information Center pass sales and the free shuttle rides from the NPS news release of September 10, 2026. The eleven-park nonresident fee list comes from the NPS entrance fee prices page; the $250 pass coverage and the U.S.-residents-only rule for fee-free days from the NPS fee-free days page; photo ID at time of use from the NPS nonresident fee page. Zion and Bryce Canyon vehicle and nonresident fees come from our fee tables built from the Zion and Bryce Canyon NPS fees pages. Daily visit figures are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from NPS Visitor Use Statistics, divided by the days in the month. Break-even sums are our arithmetic on the fee table. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.