Happenin’
Places › Florida › The Everglades › Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park

Photo: National Park Service Digital Image Archives / Public domain · source

🌊 Lakes & rivers

Biscayne National Park

Homestead, FL · The Everglades

About

Just south of Miami, Biscayne is a national park you mostly explore by boat: about 95 percent of it is water, protecting the northern reaches of the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States. Snorkel or dive the Maritime Heritage Trail, a chain of six shipwrecks spanning nearly a century, or paddle the mangrove shoreline. Boca Chita Key, with its 1930s ornamental lighthouse, makes the classic day trip across the turquoise bay.

Highlights

About 95 percent water, best explored by boat, snorkel, or kayakPart of the Florida Reef, the only living coral barrier reef in the continental U.S.Maritime Heritage Trail with six historic shipwrecks to snorkel or diveBoca Chita Key and its 1930s ornamental lighthouseMangrove shorelines and the calm turquoise water of Biscayne Bay

Getting there

Dante Fascell Visitor Center, 9700 SW 328th Street, Homestead, FL 33033

Related places

Everglades National Park Lakes & rivers

Everglades National Park

Homestead, FL · The Everglades

Everglades National Park protects 1.5 million acres of subtropical wilderness at the southern tip of Florida, the largest such ecosystem in North America. It is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site home to manatees, wading birds, and the elusive Florida panther. Visitors can walk the famed Anhinga Trail, paddle mangrove waterways, or take an airboat-free ranger tour through the 'River of Grass.'

Big Cypress National Preserve Lakes & rivers

Big Cypress National Preserve

Ochopee, FL · The Everglades

Big Cypress is the wild, watery buffer that wraps the western edge of the Everglades, a vast freshwater swamp of dwarf cypress, pine islands, and sawgrass prairie just off the Tamiami Trail in Ochopee. Drive the 24-mile gravel Loop Road to spot alligators, wading birds, and the occasional river otter from your car, or wade in on a ranger-led swamp walk. The cooler dry season, December through April, brings the best wildlife and the fewest mosquitoes.

Dry Tortugas National Park Lakes & rivers

Dry Tortugas National Park

Key West, FL · Florida Keys

Located almost 70 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, Dry Tortugas National Park is a remote cluster of seven small islands reachable only by ferry or seaplane. Its centerpiece is Fort Jefferson, one of the nation's largest 19th-century masonry forts, surrounded by crystal-clear waters renowned for snorkeling, coral reefs, and shipwrecks. The park is also a haven for nesting seabirds and migratory birds.

Part of these collections

Curated guides that feature Biscayne National Park.

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63 of America's national parks in one place: the geysers and canyons, glaciers and giant sequoias, coral reefs and live volcanoes the country set aside for everyone. From the Grand Canyon to the Everglades to the wilds of Alaska, this is the complete collection, each one worth building a whole trip around.