Everglades National Park

The Everglades is not a swamp. This correction matters more than it might seem, because the word “swamp” implies stagnant water and rot, and the Everglades is something closer to the opposite: a slow-moving river, barely two feet deep and up to 60 miles wide, flowing south from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Marjory Stoneman Douglas named it the River of Grass in 1947, and her phrase did more to save this ecosystem from drainage projects and developers than any piece of legislation managed before it. The park that protects the southern tip of this system holds UNESCO World Heritage status, International Biosphere Reserve designation, and Wetland of International Importance status, making it one of only three places in the world to carry all three simultaneously.

A Few Things Most Guides Miss

The Everglades is geologically young, around 5,000 years old, formed when sea levels stabilised after the last ice age and the shallow limestone bedrock began accumulating organic sediment. The Miccosukee and Seminole peoples survived 19th-century U.S. military campaigns specifically because the terrain was impassable for infantry. Deep sloughs, sawgrass sharp enough to cut through clothing, and hardwood hammock islands rising only a few feet above flood level gave the tribes a natural fortress. They built chickees, open-sided structures with raised cypress-log floors and palmetto-thatched roofs, on these islands to stay above seasonal inundation. Their descendants still live on Miccosukee land along the Tamiami Trail.

By 1900, egret plumes had become more valuable than gold by weight, driven by the hat fashion trade. Market hunters wiped out entire colonies. The near-extinction of these birds was a direct cause of the founding of the Audubon Society and eventually shaped the first federal wildlife protection laws in the United States.

In some areas of the park, Burmese pythons introduced by the exotic pet trade have eliminated up to 98 percent of the mammal population. The Florida Python Challenge held in 2025 set a new record: over 900 participants removed 294 pythons. The state’s PATRIC program removed more than 1,000 pythons in just a three-month window during May to July 2025. This is an ecological disaster playing out in real time, and it has meaningfully reduced the number of mammals visible on trails that were once reliable for raccoon, rabbit, and deer sightings. The birds and reptiles are largely unaffected; the mammals are not.

Entrance Fees in 2026

The park’s fee structure changed significantly at the start of 2026. U.S. residents pay USD 35 per vehicle for a seven-day pass. Non-U.S. residents now pay an additional USD 100 nonresident surcharge per person aged 16 and over, on top of the standard vehicle fee. A Non-Resident Annual Pass costs USD 250 and covers the surcharge for all 11 designated parks where it applies; if you are visiting multiple parks on the same trip, the pass pays for itself quickly. The resident America the Beautiful Pass (USD 80) covers standard entrance but does not waive the nonresident surcharge.

Everglades is one of 11 parks that implemented the surcharge from January 1, 2026. NPS recorded an overall drop of about 2.7 percent in visits during 2025, suggesting the announced increases had already shifted behaviour before the policy formally took effect.

The Homestead Main Entrance on SR-9336 is open 24 hours. The Shark Valley entrance on US-41 opens at 08:30 and locks at 18:00. The Gulf Coast Entrance near Everglades City keeps the same hours as Shark Valley.

When to Visit

December through April is dry season, and this is when the park is at its most accessible. Rainfall is minimal, temperatures sit between 15C and 25C, mosquito populations drop to tolerable levels, and wildlife concentrates around shrinking water sources in ways that make every trail productive for animal sightings. Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm becomes one of the best accessible wildlife-watching spots in North America during this period: anhingas, great blue herons, purple gallinules, and American alligators are all visible within a few metres of the boardwalk.

May through November is wet season. Afternoon thunderstorms arrive almost daily, water levels rise, and mosquitoes become severe enough that some trails are effectively unusable without heavy repellent. The crowds are far smaller, and the light on the sawgrass prairie in low-angled morning sun is extraordinary, but the insects make this recommendation conditional on your tolerance for discomfort.

What to Do

The Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm, a 0.8-kilometre loop, offers the densest wildlife viewing per metre walked of any trail in the park. Arrive at opening to see cormorants, herons, and alligators before the day-trip buses arrive from Miami.

Shark Valley’s 24-kilometre paved loop road is the best option for cycling: rentals are available at the Shark Valley Visitor Center for around USD 20 per hour. The observation tower at the midpoint gives a 360-degree view over the sawgrass that makes the otherwise flat landscape suddenly comprehensible as a single moving system.

The 10,000 Islands area, accessible from the Gulf Coast Entrance near Everglades City, is where the park’s kayaking and canoeing becomes serious. Nine Mile Pond is a manageable five-mile loop for beginners, mixing open water with mangrove tunnels. The 150-kilometre Wilderness Waterway, running from Everglades City to Flamingo, is a multi-day backcountry paddle for experienced paddlers with navigation skills; the mangrove tunnels disorient without a GPS track and a waterproof map.

Flamingo, at the southern tip of the park on Florida Bay, received major facility investment after hurricane damage and offers cabins, a campground with hook-ups, and kayak rentals. It is one of the only places in the continental United States where American alligators and American crocodiles share the same body of water.

The Restoration Picture

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, launched in 2000, is the largest ecosystem restoration project in U.S. history, and it is finally producing visible results. The Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project completed rehabilitation of 190 acres of freshwater wetlands in 2025, improving seagrass beds and oyster reefs. The Picayune Strand Restoration Project, the first CERP construction project started, recently reached its ribbon-cutting stage: old drainage canals are being filled, roads removed, and pump stations built to redistribute water more naturally across the landscape. Florida allocated USD 1.4 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality in 2025 alone. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers anticipates finalizing CERP by 2035. The water flows are improving; the pythons remain a separate problem without a clear solution yet.

Where to Stay

Flamingo Campground, inside the park, takes reservations through recreation.gov and is the closest base to Florida Bay. The campground has both tent sites and RV hook-ups. During dry season weekends, sites book out weeks in advance.

Outside the park, Homestead has a range of motels and mid-range hotels within 20 kilometres of the main entrance. Everglades City, on the Gulf Coast side, has several small lodges and B&Bs with a fishing-village atmosphere; the Ivey House Boutique Hotel there has been a reliable choice for kayaking travellers for many years.

Miami is the obvious base for day trips to the Shark Valley entrance: the drive from South Beach takes around an hour with no traffic, closer to 90 minutes during morning rush hours.

Where to Eat

Inside the park, options are limited. The Flamingo area has a café with basic hot food, and the visitor centres sell packaged snacks. Plan meals around what is available outside.

In Homestead, Robert Is Here is a roadside fruit stand and restaurant that has been operating for decades, selling Florida produce including mamey sapote, carambola, and sugar cane juice alongside sandwiches and smoothies. It closes during September and October. Casita Tejas on Krome Avenue serves Nicaraguan and Cuban food at prices that remain reasonable by South Florida standards.

In Everglades City, the Seafood Depot on the waterfront does stone crab, grouper, and local fish at mid-range prices. Stone crab season runs October to May; outside those months, expect a more limited menu.

Getting There

The Homestead entrance is 55 kilometres southwest of Miami International Airport, roughly an hour by car under normal conditions. No public transit runs directly to any park entrance. From Miami, the 500 bus connects downtown to Florida City, and from there a taxi or rideshare to the park gate adds another 15 minutes.

The Shark Valley entrance on US-41 (Tamiami Trail) is about 50 kilometres west of central Miami and is the closest entry point for visitors based in Miami Beach or the airport area.

One Practical Tip

Pack insect repellent regardless of season, but in dry season treat it as optional rather than essential. The single biggest mistake first-time visitors make is arriving at Anhinga Trail after 10:00 on a weekend morning in February, when the boardwalk is packed and every alligator has a phone pointed at it from two metres away. The same trail at 07:30 on a Tuesday in January is one of the genuinely great wildlife experiences in the eastern United States. Getting the timing right costs nothing extra.