Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park protects the southern part of Biscayne Bay, the northernmost Florida Keys and the northern end of Florida's Coral Reef, within sight of Miami. The Park Service says 95% of the park is water and 90% of its visitors arrive by boat. Its pages give the size three ways, from 72,000 acres of reef to 173,000 acres in all. In 2025 the park had 486,567 recreation visits.

The park began as Biscayne National Monument, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 18 October 1968, and no road reaches its islands. We checked every figure below on 29 October 2026. The sources were the park's own pages and alerts, Recreation.gov, the Biscayne National Park Institute's trip pages, the National Hurricane Center and NOAA's normals.

How do you reach Biscayne's islands without your own boat?

Biscayne's islands have no bridge and no ferry, and the whole park has about one mile of road, to Convoy Point on the mainland. Without a boat, the Park Service suggests a guided boat trip, the Dante Fascell Visitor Center, a ranger programme and the short jetty trail.

Paddlers can launch their own kayak for free beside the car park, but the park rents none. Crossing the seven-mile expanse of Biscayne Bay to Elliott Key or Boca Chita Key is for experienced kayakers only, the park says. Jet skis and other personal watercraft are banned. Boaters need NOAA chart 11451, and the park warns that boat traffic is heavy.

Why does Biscayne charge for the docks but not for entry?

Biscayne National Park has no entrance fee, so no pass is needed to visit. It is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks that charge visitors from abroad a $100 surcharge, so they pay what Americans pay. The fees are for the docks and campsites on Boca Chita Key and Elliott Key.

Day-use docking costs $25 from Friday to Monday and on federal holidays. The park's pages name no day fee for Tuesday to Thursday. Overnight camping and docking costs $60 a night on the Park Service's pages, for up to six people and two tents. The same fee applies to sleeping on your own boat. Recreation.gov's rate record for the 2026 season lists $35 for Tuesday to Thursday nights, a rate the park's pages do not mention.

Payment is only through the Recreation.gov phone app, downloaded before arrival and opened from QR codes at the harbour kiosks. With no signal, the payment shows as pending until the phone finds one. Slips and campsites are first come, first served, and reservations are not accepted. Fees are due on arrival or by official sunset, all year, and Senior Pass holders get 50% off.

The visitor centre sells only the fourth-grade, Access and US military passes. Senior and annual passes are sold at the Everglades, Big Cypress or Loxahatchee instead. Parking at the visitor centre is free. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains how the passes work.

What is at the Dante Fascell Visitor Center on Convoy Point?

The Dante Fascell Visitor Center is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the end of SW 328th Street, about 9 miles east of Homestead. Inside are a museum on the park's four ecosystems, films including the 20-minute "Connections", and an art gallery that opened in 2002. Its current show, "Out of Place", runs until 10 January 2027.

Convoy Point's grounds, jetty trail, kayak launch and picnic area open at 7 a.m. and close at 5:30 p.m., by the park's own hours. The Biscayne National Park Institute says the gate begins to close at 5 p.m. The jetty trail is a 0.8-mile round trip with 10 stations. Next door, Miami-Dade County's Homestead Bayfront Park has a swimming lagoon and a small beach.

The park has no restaurant; the nearest are in Homestead, about 7 miles away. From the Florida Turnpike, the Park Service's route is exit 6, then left on SW 328th Street for four miles to the end of the road. The entrance comes just before the one to Homestead Bayfront Marina.

On 29 October 2026 a park alert asked visitors to make sure a ride-share car could reach the site before closing. The Institute reports very little or no mobile signal at the visitor centre and advises against counting on Uber or Lyft there.

Which Biscayne National Park Institute trips can you book?

The Biscayne National Park Institute is the operator the Park Service names first. Its Convoy Point trips start at the Dante Fascell Visitor Center, with check-in at the park store next door. The prices below are as printed on its trip pages on 29 October 2026. Its booking calendar was not read, so a given date may have no seats.

From 1 November to 31 May the Coconut Grove cruise leaves at 9:15 a.m., and parking at Dinner Key is paid. The Heritage of Biscayne Cruise uses a 40-foot catamaran with ramps, though access on Boca Chita is limited. Children under five ride free on both heritage cruises.

The Park Service lists 12 other authorised operators, for fishing, diving, kiteboarding and Stiltsville trips; we did not read their prices. The Institute asks for bookings at least two months ahead for November to early January. Groups of five or fewer can cancel up to 48 hours before, and a trip the operator cancels for weather is refunded in full.

Where do Biscayne's snorkellers find coral and wrecks?

Biscayne's coral reefs lie more than ten miles from the mainland by boat, so a reef snorkel means a guided trip or your own boat. The park holds the northern end of Florida's Coral Reef, which the Park Service calls the third largest coral reef in the world. It counts over 500 species of reef fish and about 20 threatened and endangered species in the park.

Staghorn coral bleached throughout the park in the extremely warm water of summer 2023 and was unable to recover, the Park Service says. Mooring buoys at the reefs take boats up to 45 feet for up to four hours. Lobster may not be taken in Biscayne Bay, and fishing needs a Florida saltwater licence.

The Maritime Heritage Trail links six wrecks spanning nearly a century, mapped and fitted with mooring buoys. It also takes in the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, whose structure is closed to the public. Access is by boat only. The park rates the Erl King, the Alicia and the Lugano as sites for scuba divers. The others suit snorkellers, especially the Mandalay, a steel-hulled schooner that sank in 1966.

The Alicia's wreck led to a permanent rewriting of US salvage laws, according to the park. The Institute's Snorkel Experience does not promise any wreck: the captain picks the site by the day's weather.

Is the Boca Chita Key lighthouse open again?

The Boca Chita Key lighthouse reopened to visitors on 25 June 2026, after more than two years of closure for major repairs, the Park Service announced. The island's own page, updated on 18 September 2026, still says staff may open the observation deck only if they are around. Treat the climb as possible rather than certain.

Mark Honeywell built the 65-foot lighthouse in 1938, as part of an island retreat built between 1937 and 1945. The reopening release gives a National Register listing in 1997 and names damage from Hurricanes Irma in 2017 and Ian in 2022. The Institute says visitors must be 42 inches tall to go into the lighthouse.

Boca Chita is the most visited island in the park. It has toilets, picnic tables, grills, a pavilion, a half-mile trail and a small beach. It has no drinking water, electricity, sinks, showers or anything for sale. Pets other than service animals are banned on the island and on boats in its harbour.

What is on Elliott Key, Biscayne's largest island?

Elliott Key is the largest island in the park, seven miles long, and was once home to pioneers who farmed pineapples, sponged and salvaged wrecks. A one-mile loop starts at the marina. The Spite Highway, a six-lane, seven-mile swath bulldozed down the island, is now its long trail and may be overgrown.

Swimming is not allowed in either harbour. Neither island has anything for sale, and backcountry camping is not allowed. Stays are limited to 14 days in a row or 30 days a year, quiet hours run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and ground fires are banned. Adams Key, reached by boat, is open from 9 a.m. to official sunset.

When do the mosquitoes on Biscayne's islands ease off?

The mosquitoes on Biscayne's islands never fully leave: the Park Service says insects may be prevalent all year and heavy in the warmer months. Elliott Key also has no-see-ums, biting midges, all year. For that reason the park calls winter the best season, when temperatures are mild and the bugs are easier to deal with.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Homestead General Aviation Airport, the nearest land station to the visitor centre; no station stands inside the park. The station at Cape Florida, on Key Biscayne at the park's northern edge, has a January low of 63°F against 55°F at Homestead. June to October each bring over 5 inches of rain at Homestead, and August is the wettest month there.

Late November to the end of April is the visitor centre's busiest time. Visits do not peak in winter, though: May was the busiest month in 2025, with 53,688, and October the quietest, with 22,367. Manatees are more common in the colder months.

Does hurricane season still matter at Biscayne in late October?

Biscayne's hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, the Park Service says, so a late-October trip still falls inside it. On 29 October 2026 the National Hurricane Center listed no active Atlantic storm and expected none to form in the next seven days. The Institute refunds in full any trip it cancels for a storm.

On 29 October 2026 the park's alerts carried a King Tide caution, dated from 26 October. High water may flood the jetty trail and the Boca Chita and Elliott Key harbours, it said. A second caution warned that navigation markers may be missing or moved. No area of the park was closed.

Dock fees are due by official sunset, which comes an hour earlier on the clock once US daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday 1 November 2026.

How do Biscayne and the Everglades share a trip from Homestead?

Biscayne and the Everglades share Homestead as their gateway town. The Dante Fascell Visitor Center is about 19 miles and 38 minutes from the Everglades' Coe Visitor Center by our own routing. The two parks charge very differently. Everglades National Park costs $35 a car plus the $100 surcharge per non-resident, while Biscayne charges no entrance fee at all.

A visitor from abroad who buys the $250 non-resident annual pass for the Everglades gains nothing from it at Biscayne. The Institute sells a "Discover Biscayne and Everglades" package built on its Snorkel Experience. It adds an Everglades cypress wet walk and a van tour of Royal Palm, the Nike Missile Site and Pa-hay-okee. Our guide to Florida covers the state's other national parks. The other national parks in Florida are Dry Tortugas National Park and Everglades National Park.

How far is Convoy Point from Miami airport?

Convoy Point, the park's only road entrance, is about 34 miles and 55 minutes from Miami International Airport by our own routing, without traffic. No public transport to the park is confirmed for the 2026–27 season. The Institute mentions a seasonal Homestead Trolley, but the Park Service names that trolley only for the Everglades.

The distances are our own routing with no traffic; the Park Service gives the visitor centre as 9 miles east of Homestead. Biscayne is on Eastern Time, and it is one of the national parks in our guide to Florida.