National Parks: What to know before you go
Learn helpful tips for driving to national parks, how to purchase park passes and how to make vehicle reservations in advance. Read on for our advice on park road closures and where to find maps. With Amtrak Vacations, we make sure you have everything you need for a memorable national park experience.
Helpful tips for national parks
Many of our train vacations are paired with visiting national parks. On your vouchers, it will mention if the national park fee is included in a guided tour. If it is not included, you will need to pay upon entrance to the park. If you are driving to a national park on your own, you will also need to purchase a park pass. For US citizens over the age of 62, we recommend you take advantage of the senior pass savings.
You can find details on park passes and fees by each park here:
Learn more about a park
Entrance to national parks
If you are renting a car and driving to one of these national parks, you are required to make a vehicle reservation in advance for a small reservation fee. In addition to a vehicle reservation, a park pass is required to enter the park. A vehicle reservation does not include a park pass, and the park pass does not serve as a vehicle reservation. Guests need 1 pass per vehicle.
*Please note, reservation fees are NOT required if doing a guided tour through the park with Amtrak Vacations or Railbookers. National Parks are very easy to navigate on your own, and most national parks will provide a park map upon arrival at the gates. You can also find helpful information for planning your trip, including advice on any park road closures, and download offline maps through the National Parks app or from the National Parks Service website.
Select a national park below to make your reservation. Unfortunately, Amtrak Vacations is unable to make the reservation for you.
Glacier National Park in Montana
Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado
Cadillac Summit Road at Acadia National Park in Maine
Junior Park Ranger Program
Traveling to a National Park with children? The NPS Junior Ranger program is a fun and interactive way to learn about the National Parks as you complete a series of activities during a park visit, share your answers with a park ranger and receive an official Junior Ranger patch and certificate. Learn more here: https://www.nps.gov/kids/become-a-junior-ranger.htm
