Joshua Tree National Park entrance fee and passes.

Buying the pass and where to pay.

Save your pass before you arrive. Digital entrance passes are sold on Recreation.gov at no extra cost, and buying ahead may speed up your trip into the park. NPS says the pass must be printed or saved on your phone before you use it. Connectivity is limited or non-existent in the park, so don't count on pulling it up at the gate.

Where to buy in person. The North Entrance Station near Twentynine Palms and the West Entrance Station near the town of Joshua Tree take debit or credit cards only. For cash or card, go to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center in Twentynine Palms, the Joshua Tree Visitor Center in the town of Joshua Tree, or the Cottonwood Visitor Center near the South Entrance. The California Welcome Center, the Black Rock Nature Center, and the JTNPA West Park Store, all with Yucca Valley addresses, also sell passes for cash or card.

Annual and America the Beautiful passes. The $55 Joshua Tree annual pass is sold at the entrance stations and visitor centers. America the Beautiful passes, including the Annual, Access, Military, and Senior passes, can be picked up online or at an entrance station or visitor center when you arrive. A physical pass ordered online can take up to three weeks, and NPS won't accept the order receipt in place of the pass. America the Beautiful passes are non-refundable, non-transferable, and can't be replaced if lost or stolen, and passholders must show valid photo ID with each pass.

Visiting from outside the U.S.? Joshua Tree isn't one of the eleven parks on the NPS entrance fee prices page that charge a $100 nonresident fee, so a car pays the same $30. Residency still matters for annual passes. The $55 park pass and the $80 America the Beautiful pass are for U.S. citizens and residents, and since January 1, 2026, nonresidents pay $250 for the America the Beautiful pass. Fee-free days are for U.S. residents only.

Groups and tours. A non-commercial group in a vehicle that holds 16 or more pays $15 for each person on board. Anyone 15 or younger is exempt, passes can be used for entry, a driver hired only for transportation is often exempt, and the total never goes above the commercial fee for that vehicle. Commercial tours pay by passenger capacity: $15 a passenger or $50, whichever is less, for 1 to 6; $50 for 7 to 15; $60 for 16 to 25; and $150 for 26 or more. Road-based tour companies need a Road-based Commercial Use Authorization.

Where the money goes. Eighty percent of the entrance fee dollars collected at Joshua Tree stay in the park, paying for maintenance projects and visitor services.

Free entrance days in 2026.

NPS lists eight fee-free dates for 2026, ten days in all: February 16, May 25, June 14, July 3 to 5, August 25, September 17, October 27, and November 11. Entrance is free for U.S. citizens and residents only, and NPS notes other fees may still apply. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and National Public Lands Day aren't on the 2026 list.

Three of those days are still ahead in 2026: September 17, October 27, and November 11. Joshua Tree is busiest in spring, not summer. March is the busiest month, at about 13,300 recreation visits a day on average over the past five years. November 11 falls in a busy month too, at about 10,400 a day. October runs about 6,700 a day. September is quieter, about 5,400 a day, but the NOAA normal high for September at Twentynine Palms is 97°F, so on September 17 go early and carry plenty of water.

Backcountry permits and Keys Ranch.

No entry reservation. NPS says no advance reservations are needed to enter Joshua Tree. You just buy or show an entrance pass.

Backcountry camping. A permit is required for all overnight stays in the backcountry. It costs $6 and covers a group of 1 to 12 people for up to 14 nights, with no more than three nights in a row in any one zone. You can book it up to 6 months ahead. Details are on the NPS backpacking page.

Keys Ranch. Ranger-led tours of Keys Ranch need an advance reservation and cost $10 to $20 per visitor.

Camping. Camping fees vary by campground. Sites and booking are on our Joshua Tree camping page.

Is the annual pass worth it?

Two seven-day vehicle passes cost $60, so the $55 Joshua Tree annual pass pays for itself on a second visit within 12 months. The $80 America the Beautiful pass costs $25 more and also covers other national parks and federal recreation lands. At 62 or older, the $20 Senior Annual Pass costs less than one visit. Joshua Tree's fees don't change by season, so pick your dates on the best time to visit Joshua Tree page and budget the pass separately.

For visitors from outside the U.S., the $250 non-resident pass doesn't pay off at Joshua Tree alone, since a car pays $30. The calculator above runs your own numbers.

Common questions.

Do you need to pay to go to Joshua Tree National Park?

Yes, unless you have a free pass or come on a fee-free day as a U.S. resident. NPS says visitors need to buy or show an entrance pass to enter. It's $30 per vehicle for seven days, $25 per motorcycle, or $15 per person on foot or bike, and kids under 16 are free.

Can I just drive through Joshua Tree National Park?

Driving through still means entering the park, and NPS says visitors need to buy or show an entrance pass to enter. The $30 vehicle pass covers everyone in the car on the day you buy it and the next six days.

Do I need to buy Joshua Tree tickets in advance?

No. There's no entry reservation, and you can buy a pass at the entrance stations or visitor centers. Buying a digital pass ahead may speed things up, but print it or save it to your phone first, because connectivity in the park is limited or non-existent.

Where these facts come from

Entrance, annual, America the Beautiful, group, and commercial prices, the digital pass and connectivity warning, where to buy and which places take cash, the Keys Ranch tour fee, camping fees, where fee money goes, and the 2026 fee-free dates come from the NPS Joshua Tree fees page. The no-reservation rule comes from the NPS permits and reservations page; backcountry permit rules and price from the NPS backpacking page. The eleven-park nonresident list comes from the NPS entrance fee prices page; the 2026 America the Beautiful pricing tier from the NPS nonresident fee page; the $250 pass coverage and the U.S.-residents-only rule for fee-free days from the NPS entrance passes page. 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; the September normal high is the NOAA climate normal for the Twentynine Palms, CA station, just outside the park. Calculator results are our arithmetic on the fee table. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.