Last updated: October 30, 2023

What a unique park! My time was not nearly long enough to do everything that The Everglades National Park had to offer, so I plan to go back and visit. So what’s there to know about this tropical National Park?

Fun Facts

It’s home to thirteen endangered and ten threatened species.
Established in 1934 as the 17th National Park.
The largest tropical wilderness in the US and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi.
There’s an average of 1 million visitors per year.
At 1.5 million acres, it’s the third largest National park in the contingent US (after Death Valley and Yellowstone).

Entrances

There are three entrances to Everglades National Park

Homestead Entrance – this is the main entrance. 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, FL 33034
Miami Entrance – this is the Shark Valley Visitor Center. 36000 SW 8th Street Miami, FL 33194
Everglades City Entrance – this is the Gulf Coast Visitot Center. 815 Oyster Bar Lane, Everglades City, FL 34139

We used the Homestead entrance which has two park signs, one on the road to the visitor center and one at the visitor center.

We stopped at the Earnest F. Coe Visitor Center and I grabbed my cancellation and talked to a Ranger who highly recommended we visit Royal Palm given we did not have a lot of time (we had a packed day planned!).

Royal Palm

In 1916 , before the Everglades National Park ever existed, Florida deemed Royal Palm it’s first state park. In 1947, it became the nucleus of the Everglades National Park.

There is a nice board walk and you have a good chance of seeing alligators, turtles and many other Everglade specific species. You can also get another cancelation at the visitor center and the stroll around the park is really nice and offers great views. I personally had never seen a tropical wilderness before and thoroughly enjoyed this.

You can take Anhinga Trail which is around a 1.5 mile round trip on a paved road and will offer opportunities to see lots of wildlife.

I am slightly disappointed I didn’t get to spend more time here because there is SO MUCH left to do! There’s a 10 mile bike ride along Shark Valley I’d love to do, and ranger led programs such as Starlight Walks and Slough Sludges. I could honestly see myself spending a whole weekend at this park and will definitely be back to explore all it has to offer. The small taste I got just wasn’t enough for this one.