Biscayne National Park

Year Established: 1980
Annual Visitors: 706,000
Size: 172,971 Acres
State: Florida

Best Time to Visit Biscayne National Park

December to February

If you are planning to visit more national parks, check out our complete list of all US National Parks here.

Best Experiences in Biscayne National Park

• Elliot Key
• Boat tour to Boca Chita Key
• Snorkel the barrier reef

A Brief History

As the largest marine sanctuary in the National Park Service, it is home to dozens of threatened or endangered species, such as manatees, crocodiles, and sea turtles. It is made up of a number of islands and is surrounded by mangrove forests. It also has the Florida Reef, which is one of the largest reefs in the world and the only living coral barrier reef in the United States.

This marine wonderland is best seen by boat, which makes sense. The Dante Fascell Visitor Center is your starting point on land. It’s at Convoy Point in Homestead, which is less than an hour’s drive from Downtown Miami. From here, you can talk to park rangers and watch audio-visual presentations about Biscayne National Park’s interesting ecosystems to plan your trip. After that, it will be hard to choose which adventure to do next.

Biscayne RV Camping

If you are looking for nearby RV camping options for Biscayne National Park or Florida in general, consider checking out our other post:

• Best RV Parks in Florida
• Best RV Resorts in Florida

Visitor Information

Fees

The park has no entrance fees.

Contacting Biscayne National Park

Visitor Centers

Dante Fascell Visitor Center

Dante Fascell Visitor Center is on Convoy Point. Convoy Point is the only part of Biscayne National Park on land that has things for tourists to do, like a picnic area, a short trail, and a place to launch canoes and kayaks. Even though the shoreline is also part of the park, it is not sandy beaches but thickets of mangroves that you can’t get through.

With dioramas, audio, and video, a beautiful museum takes you on a virtual tour of the park’s four ecosystems. There are several films you can watch to learn more about the park, like the 20-minute long Connections. The works of local artists who get ideas from the park are shown in the Gallery.