National Park Trips - Cost Savings Tips

Introduction.

This post is intended to provide you with a few National Park Trips - Cost Savings Tips that we have employed over the years. While some strategies can vary depending on which National Park(s) you plan on visiting, the information below is applicable to all parks, at least in our experience.

National Park Trips - Cost Savings Tips.

Lodging.

Lodging can be the most expensive portion of your National Park visit. Being able to plan your trip at least one year ahead, or longer when possible, will help you in a couple of different ways. First off, lodging availability either inside or outside the parks is very limited during peak visiting seasons. Of course this will also affect your costs, as cost increases when availability decreases.

Personally, we are always trying to stay outside of the National Park we are visiting. Many parks have multiple entrance points, so that helps in providing additional alternatives and more competitive prices. We have found the majority of the lodges within the National Parks to be relatively pricey. Also, while many of the lodging options inside the parks have wonderful and interesting history, many are also quite old, and therefore the rooms tend to be small and the noise insulation leaves much to be desired. Of course, you are paying for the convenience of being at the doorstep of going on your adventures, vs. spending time driving from outside the park boundaries.

In regards to my favorite approaches to finding lodging, I have been successful with two different methods. One is searching for timeshare properties and following up with the resort individually to see if they also have rentals. You can typically find many potential options by searching "rci.com". The other option is to search the Vacation Rental by Owners site (vrbo.com) and look for rental options that suit your needs. Both of these can provide high cost savings, especially if your travelling group needs multiple bedrooms and bathrooms.

An alternative for many people is camping, and this can be quite cost effective. Although I cannot offer specific recommendations here, once again, planning far in advance will suit you best as the campgrounds are often filled to capacity during peak travel times.

Eating.

Regardless of which park we visit, we always have our own cooler in our vehicle. Even when we fly to a location, our approach has been to buy a cooler locally, use it for the time of our trip, and either leave it for the cleaning crew at the location we stay or give it to one of the park rangers at the entry stations, when we are leaving. This may seem like a waste of money, but I would argue that it will save you significant funds and give you great flexibility, while you are on your trip.

We typically bring our own lunches and beverages, each day we venture into the parks. This small amount of planning  can save you significant money, when compared to purchasing lunch or sandwiches at inside the park locations. Don't get me wrong, there are times and locations that simply demand you take a break from your visit, sit back, and enjoy an incredible spot for food or drink. However, in general, we find big savings in bringing our own food and we get to eat what we want, as the options are not always the widest variety or healthiest, inside the parks.

Maybe most importantly of all, we have our food or beverages when it suits us, and we don't have to alter our plans or activities to find a place to eat. To me, this may be the most important element of this tip. I can't even list the number of times we have been able to have an enjoyable lunch at an incredible location where there are simply no options to get food. Also, as noted, we don't have to define our travel plans to worry about food. We can go about our adventures and when we want to eat or need to keep up our hydration, which is very important, we are prepared. The lost cost on the cooler is way less than one lunch inside a National Park.

Park Entry Fees.

If you are able to plan a trip where you will be visiting multiple National Parks, you must consider buying an annual pass. This can be a great cost savings opportunity as the cost for the pass is $80 for one year, and the entry fees for individual parks are typically $20 to $30 each. Additionally, if you or someone in your traveling group is at least 62 years old or a permanent U.S. resident, you can get the Senior Pass, which costs $10 and is good for lifetime. Either way, you should realize some cost savings on entry fees using this approach.

Travel.

In the big picture, the most cost effective and convenient way to get to a National Park is by driving. Unfortunately, your personal allotment of time for your trip, and the distance you may have to travel, does not always make this a practical option. Therefore, this item on the National Park Trips - Cost Savings Tips list is related to flying to your destination.

A key element is planning in advance. This should provide you with more options and better price points. For those that are required to travel for everyday business, there is the opportunity to use accumulated miles for your flights, but this too requires very advanced planning.

I hope you can use some of these points on any future National Park visits that you are considering. Most of all, I hope that sooner than later, you make a trip to one of our wonderful National Parks.