Free national park entry on Theodore Roosevelt's birthday: what it means at the Everglades, Dry Tortugas and Florida's other park sites

Entrance is free at every fee-charging national park site on Tuesday, Oct. 27, Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, and in Florida that means no gate fee at Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, Canaveral National Seashore, Gulf Islands National Seashore and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument for U.S. citizens and residents. For a carload of visitors at the Everglades, the savings is $35.

The free day is one of eight on the National Park Service's 2026 calendar, and it comes with rules that are new this year: the waiver covers entrance fees only, and it applies only to U.S. citizens and residents. International visitors still pay, and at the Everglades they also owe a new $100 nonresident fee.

Why Oct. 27

Roosevelt was born Oct. 27, 1858, and the Park Service added his birthday to its fee-free calendar for 2026 to honor the president often called the nation's conservationist president. Florida has its own claim on that legacy. On March 14, 1903, Roosevelt signed an executive order setting aside Pelican Island, a small mangrove island in the Indian River Lagoon, to protect egrets and other birds from plume hunters. It became the first unit of what is now the National Wildlife Refuge System.

What the free day covers

The Park Service says all of its sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to U.S. citizens and residents on Oct. 27. Other fees, including timed entry or reservation fees, may still apply. In practice, that means camping, boat docking, concessioner-run tours, rentals and ferry fares are not covered.

Several of Florida's best-known park sites never charge an entrance fee, so the free day changes nothing there. That includes Biscayne National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, Fort Matanzas National Monument south of St. Augustine and De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton.

Florida's national park sites and their fees

The fees below are the standard entrance rates listed on each park's official page, and what Tuesday's waiver means at each site.

Everglades: free at the gate, with a new catch for foreign visitors

Everglades National Park has Florida's highest entrance fees. A private vehicle pass costs $35 and is good for seven days, a motorcycle pass is $30, and visitors arriving on foot, by bike or by human-powered paddlecraft pay $20 each, with children 15 and under free. An Everglades annual pass costs $70. The park does not accept cash.

Everglades is also one of 11 national parks where nonresidents age 16 and older now pay a $100 fee on top of the standard entrance fee, unless they enter with an annual or America the Beautiful pass. The others are Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion. Because the 2026 free days are limited to U.S. citizens and residents, an international tourist visiting the Everglades on Tuesday would still owe the regular entrance fee plus the $100 surcharge.

Camping, concessioner-operated tours and rentals carry separate fees at the Everglades and are not waived.

Dry Tortugas: read the ferry ticket

Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles west of Key West, charges $15 per person for visitors 16 and older, good for seven days. The Park Service says tickets on the park's ferry include the cost of park entrance, though not camping. Seaplane passengers pay the entrance fee on arrival, and private boaters can buy a digital pass in advance on Recreation.gov or pay at the Garden Key dock.

For private boaters, Tuesday means no entrance charge. Ferry and seaplane passengers should check with their operator about how the fee-free day applies to a fare that bundles in entrance, since the transportation cost itself is not waived.

Space Coast, Panhandle and St. Augustine

Canaveral National Seashore, the barrier island beaches north of Kennedy Space Center, charges $25 per private vehicle, $20 per motorcycle and $15 per person for hikers, cyclists and pedestrians, all good for seven days. Children under 16 entering on foot or by bike are free, and the park takes only cards and touchless payments. Its annual pass is $45.

At Gulf Islands National Seashore, entrance fees apply in three Florida areas: the Fort Pickens Area at the western end of Santa Rosa Island, the Opal Beach area on Santa Rosa Island and the Johnson Beach area on Perdido Key. A private vehicle pass costs $25, a motorcycle pass $20 and a per-person pass $15 for visitors 16 and older on foot or bike. The park's annual pass is $45. Ferry rides carry additional fees that the free day does not cover.

In St. Augustine, Castillo de San Marcos, the 17th-century Spanish masonry fort, charges $15 for adults 16 and older, good for seven days, with children 15 and under admitted free alongside an adult. A Castillo annual pass is $45. On Tuesday, U.S. visitors get in free.

What changed in 2026

The Interior Department reshaped the fee-free calendar this year, calling the dates resident-only patriotic fee-free days. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, both free days in 2025, were dropped, along with the first day of National Park Week, the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act and National Public Lands Day. Added were Flag Day on June 14, which is also President Donald Trump's birthday, the Independence Day weekend and Roosevelt's birthday.

The full 2026 list, according to the Park Service, is below.

• Feb. 16: Presidents Day
• May 25: Memorial Day
• June 14: Flag Day and President Trump's birthday
• July 3 to 5: Independence Day weekend
• Aug. 25: 110th birthday of the National Park Service
• Sept. 17: Constitution Day
• Oct. 27: Theodore Roosevelt's birthday
• Nov. 11: Veterans Day

Pass prices also changed for international visitors. The America the Beautiful annual pass, which covers entrance and standard day-use fees at national parks and other federal lands, costs $80 for U.S. residents and $250 for nonresidents. Seniors 62 and older who are U.S. citizens or residents can buy a $20 annual pass or an $80 lifetime pass, and current military members and their dependents get a free annual pass.

What's next

After Tuesday, the last fee-free day of 2026 is Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11. Visitors planning a trip on either date should expect bigger crowds at popular spots such as the Everglades' Shark Valley and Anhinga Trail areas and the Castillo, and should check each park's alerts page before driving, since the waiver does not cover reservations, camping or boat transportation. For Floridians who visit several sites a year, the $80 America the Beautiful pass, or a park-specific annual pass, remains the way to skip the gate fee the rest of the time.