DELAWARE - Delaware State Parks will begin the sale of its 2026 park passes and surf fishing permits on Dec. 9., and can be purchased both online and at park offices. The daily entrance fees will begin on March 1.
According to DNREC, these are the rates for the 2026 season:
Daily entrance fees:
⦁ Inland parks: $5 for vehicles registered in Delaware: $10 for out-of-state vehicles
⦁ Beach parks: $10 for vehicles registered in Delaware: $20 for out-of-state vehicles
Annual passes:
• $50 for vehicles registered in Delaware; $100 for out-of-state vehicles; 50% discount for seniors and military members
Lifetime Pass:
⦁ $150 for Delaware residents only, ages 65 and older
Parkgoers like Saundra Sparks are not surprised the prices went up.
“I think that with everything else going up, I’m not surprised that prices have gone up,” she said. “I do hope that prices going up means they can start to put some waste cans around here.”
DNREC says state parks are 65% self-funded, and Christopher Chandler says an increase is worth it.
“I buy two years at a time, and I feel like it’s a very fair price for what you get out of it,” he said.
For surf fishing permits, there are no changes to the permit program for 2026 but the off-peak surf fishing permit will be discontinued in 2027 because weekend and holiday reservations were removed from most surf fishing beaches in July 2025.
For the first time in 10 years, new fees were adopted for 2026 after extensive public outreach and a lot of communication including a survey where 68 percent of respondents said they strongly agree that a fee increase was justified to continue current services.
"Delaware State Parks are now hosting 7.4 million visitors annually, nearly 2 million more people than in 2015, and we are grateful our residents and visitors appreciate the quality of the parks and the programs they provide," said DNREC Secretary Greg Patterson.