Yosemite National Park was inscribed by UNESCO in 1984, recognized under criterion (vii) for superlative natural beauty alongside its glacially carved granite landscape. Standard entrance costs $35 per private vehicle for 7 days, $30 per motorcycle, or $20 per person on foot or bike, with children under 16 free. A separate $100 non-resident fee applies to visitors 16 and older who aren't US residents, one of 11 national parks nationwide with this additional surcharge. Reaching Half Dome's summit cables requires a completely separate, lottery-based day-use permit through Recreation.gov, covered in full on its own landmark page.
Paying $35 to enter the park guarantees nothing about reaching Half Dome's summit cables, worth understanding as two independent gates, one grants park access, the other, a completely separate lottery-based permit, grants the specific right to climb the cabled section.
UNESCO's citation credits Yosemite's superlative natural beauty and exceptional geological formations shaped by glacial erosion of granite bedrock, worth understanding as a documented, criteria-specific listing rather than a general "beautiful national park" designation.
A $20 per-person rate applies to anyone entering on foot, bike, or horse, with children under 16 free, worth comparing directly against the $35 vehicle rate for a specific group size and mode of arrival before assuming driving in is always the better value.
Confirmed directly on the National Park Service's own entrance-fee page, Yosemite is one of 11 parks nationwide (including Grand Canyon and Everglades) charging a $100 fee to non-US residents 16 and older, worth budgeting for explicitly if traveling from outside the United States, since it applies per person regardless of the vehicle fee already paid.
The practical takeaway is that a $35 vehicle pass covers a full week in the park, but Half Dome's cables need their own advance-planned lottery entry, not something the entrance fee unlocks. Half Dome's permit system is covered in full below.
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