Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park protects 1.5 million acres of wetland, forest and marine habitat in Miami-Dade, Monroe and Collier counties at the south end of Florida. It was established in 1947 as the first national park created for its biodiversity. The Park Service calls it the largest subtropical wilderness in the nation. It covers only the southernmost fifth of the historic Everglades. In 2025 it had 778,198 recreation visits, more than half of them between December and April.

The park has three entrances that do not connect inside it, so you plan a visit around one or two of them. We checked every figure below on 27 October 2026 on the park's own pages, the park concessioners' sites and NOAA's normals.

Which of the three Everglades entrances should you use?

The Homestead entrance is the main one, with the 38-mile Main Park Road to Flamingo. Shark Valley, on the Tamiami Trail, has the tram and the observation tower. The Gulf Coast, at Everglades City, is a base for boat trips into the Ten Thousand Islands.

The distances are our own routing. The Park Service says the three entrances and the Flamingo Visitor Center are each at least an hour's drive apart. You cannot drive between them inside the park. You need a car: no public transport runs within the park. The only public transport to any part of it is the City of Homestead's trolley to the Coe Visitor Center and Royal Palm, from about December to April.

Visitors who arrive by Uber, Lyft or taxi cannot get a ride back, the park warns at every entrance. On busy winter weekends it advises arriving at Homestead and Shark Valley before 10 a.m.

What is there to see on the 38-mile road to Flamingo?

The Main Park Road runs 38 miles from the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center near Homestead to Flamingo on Florida Bay, about an hour's drive with a 45 to 55 mph limit in most places. Short trails leave from car parks along the way.

Royal Palm, four miles from the entrance, became a state park in 1916. In 1947 it was one of the original parts of the national park. Its Anhinga Trail, a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk of 0.8 mile round trip, is one of the most popular trails in the park. The Gumbo Limbo Trail starts beside it. The Pa-hay-okee Overlook, 13 miles from the entrance, reopened in winter 2026 after a full renovation and is a 0.16-mile round trip.

Pinelands and Mahogany Hammock are further short stops on the way. Nine Mile Pond marks the line between freshwater and saltwater fishing licences, and beyond it only AT&T phones get any signal. The Coe Visitor Center opens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until 15 December, and from 8 a.m. in winter. Food along the road is limited to snacks at the Coe and Royal Palm shops.

What can you do at Flamingo at the end of the road?

Flamingo, on Florida Bay at the end of the Main Park Road, has the park's only lodge and restaurant, as well as boat tours and rentals. The Park Service puts it about two hours from downtown Miami.

Two boat tours of 90 minutes leave from the marina. The Backcountry Tour to Whitewater Bay runs all year, daily at 9 and 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m. The Florida Bay tour runs from 1 November to 30 April, at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 and 4 p.m. We could not read either tour's price on the operator's site.

You can rent bicycles, canoes, kayaks and motorboats from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and they must be back by 5 p.m.

From the marina dock, the park suggests looking for manatees, tarpon and crocodiles. The Guy Bradley Visitor Center opens daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from 16 November to 30 April. From 1 May to 15 November it opens from 9 to 5 but closes on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The marina store sells fuel, and the Flamingo Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Where do you sleep inside the Everglades?

Flamingo Lodge is the park's only lodge, with 24 rooms built from shipping containers. It has been open since 1 November 2023, after hurricanes in 2005 and 2017 damaged the old lodge. Everglades Guest Services runs it and takes bookings for both drive-in campgrounds; Flamingo also has houseboats and eco-tents.

The lodge's current rates could not be read on the operator's site. Neither campground is on Recreation.gov, and the park has no other front-country campsites. On 3 November 2026 the Park Service's camping page showed Long Pine Key open for the season. Parts of Flamingo Campground close in the wet season, and every site is open by mid-January. Entrance fees are extra.

How do you get round the Shark Valley loop?

Shark Valley's 15-mile loop road is open only to trams, bicycles and walkers; private cars stop at the car park. The observation tower stands halfway round, seven miles from the car park.

Shark Valley Tram Tours, the park's concessioner, runs tours of about two hours. They cost $36 an adult, $27 a senior and $19 a child aged 3 to 12. Until 18 December 2026 they leave at 9:30 and 11 a.m., 12:30 and 2 p.m., with a 4 p.m. tour at weekends and in holiday weeks. The winter timetable had not been posted on 27 October. The tower, by the operator's account, is a 45-foot deck with views of 20 miles.

Bicycles rent for $27 a day, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a typical ride round the loop takes two to three hours. The gate opens from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and no cars may enter after 6. The Park Service lists a water fountain at the tower, while the tram operator says there is no drinking water on the road. Carry your own.

From December into April the car park usually fills by 10 a.m., and waits on the busiest weekends can top an hour. The Park Service advises arriving an hour and a half to two hours before a booked tram. Lightning-caused wildfires closed the whole Shark Valley area from 22 to 24 August 2026.

Where do airboats run in Everglades National Park?

Airboats run inside Everglades National Park only from three authorised businesses on the Tamiami Trail, US-41: Coopertown, Gator Park and Everglades Safari Park. They are 15 to 20 minutes east of Shark Valley and about an hour north of the Coe Visitor Center.

The park's rules confine airboats to one designated zone and ban private and commercial airboats in all other areas of the park. They cite noise and the harm to species such as the Cape Sable seaside sparrow. There are no airboats at Shark Valley, Flamingo, the Gulf Coast or the Homestead entrance.

No Park Service page we read states the $8 fee or whether the $100 surcharge is collected at the airboat docks.

What is at the Gulf Coast entrance in Everglades City?

The Gulf Coast entrance, at Everglades City, is a gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands, a part of the park reachable only by boat. Its new Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center, opened with a ribbon cutting on 12 December 2025, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a kayak launch and picnic area.

Hurricane Irma destroyed the original visitor centre in 2017, and Hurricane Ian its temporary replacement in 2022. The Ten Thousand Islands boat tour lasts an hour and a half and costs $49 to $55 an adult, with prices varying by demand. According to its operator, it has left from the new visitor centre at 815 Oyster Bar Lane since 12 March 2026.

The 99-mile Wilderness Waterway, a navigable route for boats, links the Ten Thousand Islands with Flamingo. Restaurants, lodging and campgrounds are all outside the park in Everglades City. The park's own pages disagree on whether passes are sold at the Gulf Coast visitor centre. Buy a digital pass beforehand, or pay at Homestead or Shark Valley.

Does the $100 non-resident surcharge apply at the Everglades?

The $100 surcharge applies at Everglades National Park, one of the eleven parks on the 2026 list. Every non-resident aged 16 or over pays it on top of the entrance fee, including on commercial and concessioner tours. Only an annual or America the Beautiful pass exempts them.

The entrance fee is $35 per private vehicle, $30 per motorcycle and $20 per person on foot or bicycle. Each is valid for seven days at all entrances. Children aged 15 and under enter free. Two adults from abroad in one car pay $235, and the $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass covers them. The $70 Everglades annual pass is sold only to US citizens and residents.

The park takes no cash: digital passes and debit or credit cards are the only payment at every fee point. The last fee-free day of 2026, 11 November, is for US residents only. Shark Valley's tram and bicycles cost extra.

Florida's two other national parks charge no surcharge, as our guide to Florida explains. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the rest. The other national parks in Florida are Biscayne National Park and Dry Tortugas National Park.

How close can you get to an alligator in the Everglades?

Keep at least 15 feet from alligators and crocodiles in the Everglades, the Park Service's minimum. If the animal hisses, you are too close, whatever the distance. Feeding or harassing wildlife is a criminal offence that carries a fine.

According to the Park Service, south Florida is the only place where alligators and crocodiles live side by side. Alligators keep mostly to fresh water, while American crocodiles are rare and secretive in coastal, brackish and salt water. In March 2024 a crocodile bit a man swimming at the Flamingo marina after his sailboat capsized.

Swimming is banned in every canal, pond, freshwater lake, marked channel and boat basin in the park. Pets are allowed only on a six-foot lead in car parks, campgrounds and on roads, never on trails. The park warns that alligators may see small dogs as prey. Vultures damage the rubber seals and wipers of parked cars, so the park suggests covering them.

When is the Everglades dry season?

The Everglades dry season runs roughly from December to April on the park's basic-information page, though its dry-season page says November to April, and it is also the busy season. Warm winters then draw the largest variety of wading birds and their predators. The wet season, from May to November, brings daily afternoon thunderstorms, humidity over 90% and more mosquitoes, and animals disperse as the water rises.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Royal Palm, four miles inside the Homestead entrance. May to October brings 78% of the year's 57 inches of rain. In 2025 March was the busiest month, with 99,017 visits, and October the quietest, with 19,008, half the 38,085 of October 2024.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November. The park may close all or part of its area before, during and after a storm. For Hurricane Ian, it closed its entrances on 27 September 2022 at 5:30 p.m. Ranger programmes are fewer in the wet season, and some facilities may close.

How far are the Everglades entrances from Miami airport?

Miami International is about an hour from both the Homestead and Shark Valley entrances, by our own routing without traffic. Fort Lauderdale's airport is an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half from them.

For Homestead, the park's directions take the Florida Turnpike south to its end at Florida City. For Shark Valley, they leave the Turnpike for US-41 and run 25 miles west. On 27 October 2026 the park warned of delays of up to 15 minutes on US-41, where the road is being raised for Everglades restoration. The park is on Eastern Time, and it is the main national park in our guide to Florida.