My partner and I hope to travel to the west coast of America in June, to celebrate my 65th birthday. We want to spend three weeks there, driving from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, and Las Vegas, plus visiting a good few National Parks, like Sequoia, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. One brochure that we have recommends buying an annual pass covering all national parks.Is this a good idea, and where do we get one? - Derek Thrippleton, Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: The America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, is an annual pass that costs $80 (£53) per vehicle. It is available to US citizens and foreigners alike, and buying one gives you free entrance and ŒStandard Amenity Fee¹s¹ for a year from the day you buy the pass.

You can then take your hire car (plus up to four passengers), into any of hundreds of National Parks and Recreational Areas, regardless of whether the standard charge is per vehicle or per person, as is sometimes the case.

Agencies that have sites in the scheme include the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish & Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service and Federal Recreation lands.

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You can buy the pass at a staffed park entrance, or online. Between 80% and 100% of the pass proceeds are used to improve visitor recreation services.

By the way, many Federal recreation sites aren¹t equipped to process credit cards, so have some cash ready if you plan to buy your pass at a smaller site. The National Parks should be fine with credit cards.

Once you have your pass, you can still use it at un-staffed recreation sites. Just use the free 'hangtag' that you¹ll get with your pass, and hang it on your rear view mirror.

Note that the pass doesn¹t include parking fees, so you¹ll have to do a little checking to find out if the pass scheme will save money on your particular trip, as the pricing policies do vary. For example, Mount Rushmore doesn¹t charge an entry fee, but instead levies a $10 (£6.65) per car parking fee; whereas Yosemite has a $20 (£13.30) per car entry fee, but no parking charges.

For more information, see http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm.

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