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Operating Hours and Visitors Centers
There are five visitor centers located in the park. Each area of the park has its own attractions, and features a different set of plant and animal life. All visitor centers are wheelchair accessible.
Main entrance (near Homestead and Florida City)
Hours: 24 Hours - Daily
Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center
Hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm - Daily
Phone - 305-242-7700
Location - Located at the main park entrance west of Homestead and Florida City
Educational displays, orientation films, brochures, and information are available. Books, film, postcards, and insect repellent may be purchased in the bookstore. No trails start from this visitor center. The Long Pine Key Campground and Picnic Area is six miles further west, and is surrounded by an abundance of hiking trails.
Royal Palm Visitor Center
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:15 pm - Daily
Phone - 305-242-7700
Location - Located four miles west of the main entrance station
Special Programs - Anhinga Amble: join this daily ranger-led walk to find out why this trail is an attraction to wildlife; anhingas, alligators and Florida gar can all be seen along this trail Glades Glimpses: Not much time? In 20 minutes, a ranger will introduce you to the subtropics, alligators, and other Everglades tidbits.
Exhibits - Artist Charles Harper's stylized images of Everglades wildlife are on display with recorded messages that interpret the park's unique ecosystems.
Available Facilities - The Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo trails begin here. Books, film, postcards, and insect repellent are available for sale, and vending machines dispense snacks and soft drinks.
Flamingo Visitor Center
Hours: 7:30 am to 5:00 pm - Daily - November through May
Intermittent hours - Dec through April
Phone - 941-695-2945
Location - Flamingo is 38 miles (61 km) southwest from the main entrance at the southern end of the park.
Exhibits - Natural history exhibits and information in the Florida Bay Museum.
Available Facilities - A restaurant, gift shop, lodge, and campground are nearby. Boat tours and canoe rentals are available at the marina. Several hiking and canoeing trails begin at Flamingo or nearby, including the south end of the Wilderness Waterway. Abundant wildlife may be found here year-round.
Shark Valley Visitor Center
Hours: 9:00 am. to 4:30 pm May through Nov
Hours: 8:30 am. to 5:15 pm. Nov through April
Phone - 305-221-8776
Location - Shark Valley is located along U.S.41 (Tamiami Trail) on the northern border of the park
Special Programs - A two hour narrated tram ride provides an overview of the freshwater Everglades
Available Facilities - Exhibits, information, and book sales. A fifteen mile (24 km) not open to private motorized vehicles) extends into the marsh, offering one of the best opportunities to view alligators and the endangered snail kite in Everglades National Park. Bicycles are available to rent. Those wishing to explore alone can walk the short trails and portions of the tram road, or bike. An observation tower located halfway around the tram road provides a spectacular view into the sawgrass marsh.
Gulf Coast Visitor Center
Hours: 7:30 am to 5:00 pm - Daily - November to April
Hours: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm - Daily - May to October
Open All Year
Phone - 941-695-3311
Location - The Gulf Coast Visitor Center is located in Everglades City, in the northwest corner of the park.
Special Programs - A 1 hour 45 minute narrated boat trip provides an overall description of this saltwater ecosystem.
Exhibits - The visitor center has natural history exhibits, park information, and issues backcountry permits and park passes.
Available Facilities - Gulf Coast is the gateway for exploring the Ten Thousand Islands, a maze of mangrove islands and waterways that extends south to Flamingo and Florida Bay. Canoes may be rented to explore Chokoloskee Bay and the Turner River. For the more adventurous, the 99 mile (159 km)Wilderness Waterway, accessible by canoe, kayak, or small motorboat, winds through the mangrove islands all the way to Flamingo. Backcountry permits are required for camping.
Chekika Area
Chekika re-opened for day-use activities on Saturday, December 16, 2000.
The campground remains closed, pending repairs of damage caused by Hurricane Irene in October 1999. Facilities at Chekika include a picnic area and nature trails. There is no visitor center at this location. Chekika is located six miles (10 km) west of Krome Ave (State Road 997) on SW 168 Street.
Everglades National Park is open year round. Highest visitation is from December through April, and the lowest visitation is May through November. Walking and canoe trails, boat tours and tram tours are excellent for viewing wildlife, including alligators and a multitude of tropical and temperate birds.
Ranger Led Programs
Ranger-led activities are limited until December however, there is still plenty to see and do! Activity schedule subject to change. Additional ranger-led activities may be offered. Contact area visitor center for details.
| Activity | Time | Days | Description |
| Early Bird Walk | 7:30 am | Sun | Join a ranger for an easy 1.5 hour stroll. Check at the Flamingo Visitor Center for location.Wheelchair accessible |
| Canoe Trip | 8:30 am 2:00 pm |
Sun / Mon / Sat | Morning, afternoon, sunrise, and sunset canoe trips offered. Call the Flamingo Visitor Center (239-695-2945) or stop by for more information. There is a fee of $7.00 - $12.00 per person. |
| Shoreline Stroll | 10:00 am | Sat | Meet on the Flamingo Visitor Center Breezeway for an easy walk along the shore of Florida Bay. 1.5 hours. |
| West Lake Walk | 10:00 am | Sun | Experience the wonderous world of subtropical vegetation. Meet in either the West Lake or Mahogany Hammock parking lot. Prepare for mosquitoes. 1.5 hours. |
| Bayside Talk | 10:30 am | Tue / Wed / Thur | Contact the Flamingo Visitor Center for more information. |
| Mahogany Hammock Walk | 2:00 pm | Sun | Did you ever want to touch an alligator skull or a sea turtle shell? See what might be pulled from the naturalist knapsack. A .5 hour talk at the benches below the Flamingo Visitor Center. |
| Naturalist Knapsack | 4:00 pm | Sun / Mon / Fri / Sat | Did you ever want to touch an alligator skull or a sea turtle shell? See what might be pulled from the naturalist knapsack. A .5 hour talk at the benches below the Flamingo Visitor Center. |
| Evening Program | 7:30 pm | Sun / Fri / Sat | From manatees to mosquito fish, come find out what makes the Everglades like no other place on earth. Meet at the Flamingo campground amphitheater for a different topic each scheduled night. |
| Activity | Time | Days | Description |
| Boat Tours | Various times | Every half hour daily | Led by a Concessions or Park Service Naturalist. Discover the 10,000 islands of the Gulf Coast, and look for dolphins, osprey and wading birds. Wheelchair assessible with assistance. 1.5 hour tours. Fee charged. |
| Eye on the Everglades | 11:00 am | Daily | Join a ranger for a talk on Everglade National Park's ecology, history or other issues. Meet at the visitor center chickee. Wheelchair assessible. 45 min |
| Activity | Time | Days | Description |
| Anhinga Amble | 10:30 am | Daily | Anhingas, alligators and Florida gar can all be seen along this trail. Find out why this trail is an attraction to wildlife. Lasts approximately 50 minutes. Meet at the Royal Palm benches.Wheelchair accessible |
| 'Glades Glimpses' | 1:30 pm | Daily | Learn about the subtropics, alligators, and other Everglades tidbits. Lasts approximately 30 minutes. Meet at the Royal Palm benches. Wheelchair accessible |
| Activity | Time | Days | Description |
| Tram Tours | Various times | Daily - on the hour | Led by a Concession or Park Service Naturalist; Venture into the heart of the 'Glades. Two hours. Fee charged. Reservations are recommended, call: 305-221-8455. |
| Shark Bites | 1:15 pm | Daily | Join a park ranger for "hands on" learning during a talk about little known aspects of the Everglades.Meet behind the Visitor Center. Wheelchair assessible. 30 min. |
Activity schedule subject to change. Additional ranger-led activities may be offered. Contact area visitor center for details.
Junior Ranger Programs
While becoming a junior ranger, you can learn more about South Florida's four National Parks, Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, their different habitats and why each park is a unique and special place.
Ask for a Junior Ranger booklet at any visitor center, and complete the section for the park you're visiting. When you're finished with the pages for a specific park, stamp the inside of the back cover with the stamp found in the park's visitor center. Tell the Park Ranger you have finished the pages for that park to receive a Junior Ranger badge.
If you collect badges from 3 or all of the different South Florida National parks, you can send a copy of the stamped booklet page to the address provided and you will receive a neat patch.
Artist in Residence
The Everglades National Park Artist in Residence (AIRIE) program offers artists the opportunity to live and work in this unique environment for a period of up to one month. The works completed under this program will contribute to the public understanding and appreciation of Everglades National Park. It is hoped that these works will characterize the Everglades for present and future generations, giving park visitors and the general public an opportunity to see our heritage through the eyes, and ears of the contributing artists.
A National Park Residency isn't for everybody. It is for serious professionals who wish to work alone and unfettered in the challenge and beauty of the American wilderness. It is for those who deeply care about the environment and wish to contribute to it as well as benefit from it. The park can accommodate three to six residents per year.
This program will invite visual artist and writers to seek both solitude and solidarity in the inspiring environment of Everglades National Park. Artists will have a choice of either a furnished apartment or a campsite for the length of the residency, usually two to four weeks. Visual arts include painting, sculpture, photography, video arts, and mixed media. Writers will include poets and authors of both fiction and non-fiction. Work submitted should be of professional quality. No student work will be eligible.
In return, the park asks each artist to donate a piece of art, representative of their style and reflecting their residency, to the park for the park collection, granting the park the right to reproduce the work for its use. Similarly, the park would require one-time publication rights to a portion of a literary work produced during a residency. Each resident must be willing to volunteer a few hours to interact with interested park visitors and staff during the residency. These interactions may take the form of slide lectures, exhibitions or "art walks" armed with cameras or sketchbooks, or even workshops.
The dry winter season begins in October and ends in April. The hot, wet summer season also brings mosquitoes. Furnished apartments or cottages, large enough to provide studio space, are available in three locations in the park and are available basically as follows:
A prominent panel drawn from varying fields of expertise prominent as professional artists, curators, or educators in the designated disciplines, along with park personnel, will review materials submitted. Selections will be made on the basis of merit and how a candidate's work can advance the mission of Everglades National Park and the National Park Service as well as enhance the growth of the artist's work. Selections will be made without regard to race, religion, sex, disability, marital status, age or national origin.
For further information contact:
Alan Scott
Everglades National Park
Phone:305-242-7750
Email: Alan_Scott@nps.gov;
or Donna Marxer
Phone: 212-966-5212
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This site is in no way associated with the United States Government, the Department of the Interior or the National Park Service
