Acadia’s entrance fee is simple. The two things attached to it are not, and both of them cost real money at the gate.
What a pass costs
| Pass | Price | Valid |
|---|---|---|
| Private vehicle | $35 | 7 days, everyone in the vehicle (up to 15 seats) |
| Motorcycle | $30 | 7 days, up to 2 bikes and 4 people |
| Per person, on foot or by bike | $20 | 7 days, age 16+. Under 16 free |
| Acadia annual | $70 | 12 months from purchase |
| America the Beautiful, resident annual | $80 | 12 months, all federal sites |
| America the Beautiful, senior annual | $20 | 12 months |
| America the Beautiful, senior lifetime | $80 | Life |
A pass is required year-round, not just in season. That surprises people who arrive in November expecting the booth to be empty and the park to be free.
The break-even on the $70 Acadia annual is two vehicle passes — so a second visit inside a year pays for it, and the $80 America the Beautiful is only $10 more and works everywhere.
The park takes no cash
Acadia stopped accepting cash on 15 April. Not “prefers card” — does not accept it.
Buy online through recreation.gov before you arrive, or use one of the automated fee machines, which run 24/7, or a visitor center in hours. Third-party vendors sell them too. If your plan was to hand someone $35 at a booth, that plan does not work here any more.
The $100 that international visitors do not see coming
The Park Service’s fees page states that non-US residents aged 16 and over pay an additional $100 per person, unless they hold an Acadia Annual pass or an America the Beautiful pass.
Read that arithmetic carefully, because it inverts the usual advice:
- A couple visiting from overseas, paying at the gate: $35 for the vehicle, plus $100 each — $235.
- The same couple holding an $80 America the Beautiful pass: $80.
For any non-US resident, the annual pass is not an upsell. It is the cheaper ticket from the first day, and it is worth buying before you travel.
Cadillac is a separate transaction
The Cadillac Summit Road vehicle reservation is $6 per vehicle and is required from 20 May to 25 October. It is timed entry, and the Park Service notes the reservation does not carry a departure time — the road closes to vehicles at 9 p.m.
That $6 is on top of your entrance pass, it is booked separately, and it is the single most common thing people arrive without. We have a whole page on how the release windows work, because that is where the real difficulty is.
The Park Service does not say whether the $6 is waived on fee-free days. Assume it is not.
Fee-free days in 2026
16 February · 25 May · 14 June · 3–5 July · 25 August · 17 September · 27 October · 11 November
Worth knowing, and worth avoiding. A free-entry day at Acadia in July is a parking problem, not a bargain — and it does not make the Cadillac reservation free or easier to get.