Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park covers 415 square miles, or 265,807 acres, and runs from about 7,800 feet above sea level to peaks over 14,000, with more than 300 miles of trails between them. The road that makes it a driving park is Trail Ridge Road: 48 miles from Estes Park on the east side to Grand Lake on the west, topping out at 12,183 feet, with eleven of those miles above treeline at around 11,500 feet. It is a designated All-American Road and one of ten America's Byways in Colorado, and the Park Service's guidance is to set aside at least half a day for it. It is also a seasonal road, closed to through travel from mid-October to late May, which means that for roughly seven months of the year the park has an east side and a west side and no drive between them. The park itself is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, weather permitting.

What changes a trip here is the timed entry permit, which is separate from the entrance fee and separate again from any shuttle ticket. In 2026 the plain Timed Entry permit ran from May 22 to October 12 and was required to enter the park between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Timed Entry + Bear Lake Road, which adds the Bear Lake Road corridor, ran to October 18 and was required in that corridor between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. Outside those windows no permit is needed. Those end dates are the ones on the park’s timed entry page; its own February news release announcing the season gives October 13 and October 19 instead, so treat mid-October as the end of the window rather than a date to plan the last day around. Reservations carry a non-refundable $2^* Recreation.gov processing fee, and are released at 8 a.m. Mountain time on the first day of the month before the month being booked, with a second release at 7 p.m. the night before each arrival date; they are issued through Recreation.gov, its app or 877-444-6777, and not at entrance stations or visitor centers. As of October 29, 2026 the park had not posted dates for a following season, so a summer 2027 trip needs the timed entry page checked before anything else is booked.

Entrance is $30^* for one day in a private vehicle or $35^* for seven consecutive days, $25^* or $30^* for a motorcycle on the same terms, and $15^* or $20^* per person on foot, by bicycle or in a non-commercial group; a park annual pass is $70^*. Non-U.S. residents aged 16 and older pay an added $100^* per person unless admitted on an Annual or America the Beautiful pass. All of it can be bought in advance on Recreation.gov. Inside the park the Bear Lake and Moraine Park shuttles are free: in 2026 both ran daily from May 22 to October 18, Bear Lake every 10 to 15 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Moraine Park hourly from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Neither crosses Trail Ridge Road, and the park states there is no shuttle service at all on its west side. The Hiker Shuttle between the Estes Park Visitor Center and the Park & Ride is the one that has to be booked — $2^* a ticket, one ticket per passenger, sold only through Recreation.gov, and a Hiker Shuttle reservation does not carry vehicle access with it.

Within that mid-October to late-May window the exact days are set by the weather, not by a calendar, and the park is unusually direct about how to find out: road status is not posted on its website. There is a recorded line, 970-586-1222, running 24 hours a day, and it is the answer. The gap is real. On October 29, 2026 the park's own Park Roads page was dated October 6 and still read that the road was open to through travel, while the park's alert said it had closed at 5 p.m. on Friday, October 23 for forecast snow, low visibility and freezing temperatures at the higher elevations, with the closure points set at Many Parks Curve on the east side and the Colorado River Trailhead on the west. The Alpine Visitor Center sits at the top of Fall River Pass, on Trail Ridge Road, so it is unreachable by car whenever that road is shut. Old Fall River Road, the one-way climb that meets Trail Ridge Road at the same spot, is open to vehicles each year only from early July to early October; since October 17 it has been open for the winter to bicycles, leashed pets and walkers.

*Fees subject to change, please check nps.gov for updated information.

We checked opening hours, reservations, fees, seasonal opening and closures on 2026-10-29. These change without notice — confirm with nps.gov the week you travel.