We will be visiting from the UK next summer flying into Rapid City visiting Yellowstone/Tetons, Jackson, Salt Lake City and Manitou Springs.

Will it be more economical to purchase an annual National Parks pass or just pay as we go?

Advice appreciated.

Buy the Eagle pass.It's 50 $. It's usually cheaper if you visit at least 3 parks.Paul

nps.gov gives you all sorts of details about National Park passes. While tovarich is correct, it appears you are visiting only 2 National Parks, and Grand Teton (GTNP) and Yellowstone are counted as one since they are contiguous. Jackson and Salt Lake are cities and I believe Manitou Springs is run by the state of Colorado, so I have no idea what fees apply.

An annual pass is $50, a 7-day one National Park (or in this case 2 - GTNP/YNP) is $25. So we are not talking about a huge difference in cost anyway.

But check out the website and see what makes sense to you.

Manitou Springs is a small town just west of Colorado Springs and 'home' of the Pike's Peak Cog Rail Road. The NP Pass will not apply to Pike's Peak or the Cog RR or any State Parks - only National Parks/Monuments

We found that although the difference in cost was minimal, having the annual park pass was a savings in convenience as we could just pull up to the gate and present the pass and be on our way. It also encouraged us to stop at other parks that were near our route as there was no additional cost to do so except for the time.

You will be very near Rocky Mountain National Park, another good reason to purchase the parks pass.

Yellowstone NP is $25.00, includes the Grand Teton NP. If, while in the Black Hills area, you decide to go the Badlands NP ($15), Devils Tower NM ($10) or the Little Bighorn Battlefield($10). With the NP pass you just show the pass and go. You can order one in advance or get one at your first stop where a fee is collected.

Its $50 well spent. My first National Park Pass cost $8.00.

It's good for a year, so you'll be surprised how many time you run into places where you'll use it again and again. Mine's paid for itself 3 times now.

Message to all - OP states they are visiting from UK

Thanks to all for your advice. We probably will get the $50 if only for the convenience. As RedRock has stated, we will more than likely use it during our stay in Black Hills area.

Will read up on nps.gov as suggested.

When you do visit the parks, look for the parks pass line to enter. You can often bypass a long line of cars waiting to pay an entrance fee.

Dotty - NPS site lists places I never knew were in National Park control - so you may even find some places to make a short stop that you had never considered.

Thanks for the tip Birdie. Makes sense to buy pass if we can save ourselves a bit of time queueing.

Thanks also gail - it will probably encourage us to visit places we may not even have considered - time permitting!

Dotty

After reading this post this a.m., I dragged the better half into the car, and off we went to Rocky Mt. National Park, where snow was everywhere, and elk likewise. My pass expires the last day of October, and I was glad to use it this one last time of the year for the wonderful few hours. I'll buy another on my next entrance into the first place that sells them!

Sylvia - how I envied you on reading your post! You must have had a wonderful day - lovely to be able to go to the Rocky Mt National Park on the spur of the moment. We have spent the weekend decorating the living room and dreaming of our visit to the US next summer! Can't wait!!

I believe it's only $10 for seniors.

Think I read somewhere that you have to be 62 and over for senior rate! Hubby will be just 61 when we travel!

Dotty:
Yes indeed, we are very grateful to be so close to a wonderful place (tho it's not even my favorite NP!); I did notice that the annual park pass specific to RMNP had a separate entrance lane (like an express tollway, but you stop and wand your card). However, the Golden Eagle, etc., had to go in the regular way. (Hardly a problem, it took about 20 seconds.) I hope you take advantage of the NP website and try to get advance maps with all the monuments, parks, etc. that are available. (I discovered this past spring in Arizona that there were many ancient sites I'd never heard of, and enjoyed it all immensely.) Have a wonderful trip.