Probably the most distinguished options of Florida’s nationwide park websites are coasts and seashores. Lengthy seashores, crystal clear water, coastal wildlife, and infinite alternatives for water actions. However that’s not all these eleven nationwide park websites supply. You possibly can discover America’s oldest fort, fly in a seaplane to the biggest fort, and go to the positioning the place De Soto’s expedition landed within the 1500s.
Florida is named the “Sunshine State,” a moniker that precisely describes the tropical local weather. The nationwide park websites capitalize on this attribute with seashores, coastal campgrounds, mountain climbing trails, and water trails.
Some nationwide park websites are good for day journey visits whereas exploring Florida. However others, like Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park, require planning to get essentially the most out of your journey.
Learn this checklist of the 11 Florida nationwide park websites to be taught what to do at every website, discover hyperlinks to extra data, and save the handle to your Google Maps account.
Be aware | The nationwide park websites are listed so as of look on the map from left to proper. This isn’t a rating of the nationwide park websites.
Florida Nationwide Parks Map
Easy methods to use this map | Click on the icon within the top-left nook to open the Map Legend, then click on on any of the legend gadgets to show extra data. You probably have a Google account, click on the (very faint) star on the finish of the map’s identify to avoid wasting this map to your account, then entry the map out of your smartphone throughout your journey.
Nationwide Park vs. Nationwide Park Unit
When somebody searches for a “nationwide park,” they’re often searching for details about one of many 63 nationwide parks—the top of the Nationwide Park System. Nevertheless, nationwide parks solely account for 15% of the system’s items.
What about nationwide monuments, nationwide seashores, and nationwide army parks? What are these parks collectively referred to as?
The Nationwide Park Service explains, “Whereas there are at the very least 19 naming designations, these items are generally known as parks.” Nevertheless, two adjectives had been used of their clarification: items and parks.
I exploit the time period “nationwide park unit” to explain any of the 429 particular person named items of the Nationwide Park System, after which I exploit the time period “nationwide park” particularly for these vaunted parks.
Once I write a roundup of Nationwide Park Service websites, I embrace all of the nationwide park items as a result of every park is price visiting for its personal cause.
Learn Extra | Full Listing of All 429 Nationwide Park Models | Interactive Map + NPS Web sites
Nationwide Park Service App
The official Nationwide Park Service app is an all-in-one device for planning a nationwide park journey and discovering your manner across the park. The app has details about each nationwide park website throughout the nation, primarily placing all the web data at your fingertips.
The free app options interactive maps, self-guided excursions, facilities like restrooms, and lists of issues to do. The highly effective app has an offline mode – with a single faucet, it can save you the park for offline use to entry all the knowledge later. You’ll even have entry to necessary data like alerts, contacts, charges, and working hours.
America the Stunning Go
A lot of the Nationwide Park Service’s items are free to go to, however some require an entrance payment. Happily, there are methods to save cash on these charges if you happen to frequent the items.
The Normal Go permits one individual to enter one park for seven consecutive days. The Annual Go supplies entrance to at least one park for a yr.
The America the Stunning Go is the golden ticket hidden in a chocolate bar. This go covers the doorway and day-use charges for as much as one car or 4 adults for all Nationwide Park Service items.
There are a number of sorts of America the Stunning Passes catering to completely different segments of society and with completely different value tags:
- Annual Go is obtainable for everybody for $80
- Annual Senior Go is obtainable to US residents 62+ for $20
- Lifetime Senior Go is obtainable to US residents 62+ for $80
- Annual Navy Go is obtainable to energetic obligation US army and dependents at no cost
- Lifetime Navy Go is obtainable to Gold Star Members of the family and veterans at no cost
- Entry Go is obtainable for US residents with a everlasting incapacity at no cost
- 4th Grade Go is obtainable to US fourth graders at no cost
One of the best place to buy an America the Stunning Go is at a nationwide park unit. Go to the Nationwide Park Service’s web site to be taught extra about interagency passes.
Gulf Islands Nationwide Seashore
Gulf Islands Nationwide Seashore is an attention-grabbing combination of nature and historical past on barrier islands in Mississippi and Florida. Discover historical past at locations like Fort Barrancas and Fort Pickens, forts constructed through the nation’s early years. Then, spend a day on the seaside at Okaloosa, Perdido Key, or Santa Rosa.
Spend just a few nights in coastal consolation on the 200-site Fort Pickens Campground. The campsites characteristic electrical hookups and are appropriate for tents or RVs.
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Protect
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Protect covers 46,000 acres of wetlands and waterways close to Jacksonville, Florida. Established in 1988, the protect is a wonderful alternative to look at coastal wildlife and luxuriate in water actions like kayaking and scenic coastal views.
Go to Kingsley Plantation, the oldest extant plantation within the state, after which take a self-guided tour of Fort Carolina Nationwide Memorial.
Fort Caroline Nationwide Memorial
In 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established a French settlement on the banks of the St. John River. A yr later, Spanish troops from St. Augustine, led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, captured the settlement and ultimately destroyed it.
Fort Carolina Nationwide Memorial preserves the positioning of the French settlement. Nothing stays, however the customer heart has reveals concerning the early colonial historical past and the battle between France and Spain.
Castillo de San Marcos Nationwide Monument
In 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés based St. Augustine, Spain’s first settlement in North America. After 100 years of relative peace, the settlement was brutally attacked by English pirate Robert Searle. Queen Regent Mariana of Spain ordered the Florida governor to construct a masonry fort – the Castillo de San Marcos.
Development on “Citadel of Saint Mark” started in 1672 and was accomplished in 1695. It’s America’s oldest fort within the oldest city.
Learn Extra | Exploring America’s Oldest Fort – Castillo de San Marcos Nationwide Monument
Guests to Castillo de San Marcos Nationwide Monument can take self-guided excursions of the fort’s inside, discover the canons mounted alongside the fort’s partitions, and go to the cell the place Patriot Christopher Gadsden was held in solitary confinement through the Revolutionary Conflict. It takes about two hours to see every thing within the fort.
Professional Journey Tip | A big car parking zone on the nationwide park website’s entrance is usually crammed early within the day. The Historic Downtown Parking Facility behind the St. Augustine Customer Middle is one of the best place to park. It’s a 10-15 minute stroll from the parking storage to the fort.
Fort Matanzas Nationwide Monument
In 1742, Fort Matanzas was constructed alongside the Matanzas River to guard St. Augustine from a southern strategy. The fort isn’t typical – there aren’t any partitions, motes, or courtyards to discover. It’s a blockhouse constructed from native coquina.
Guests should trip a free ferry from the park’s customer heart on Florida Freeway A1A. The ferry takes about 10 minutes to cross the river to Fort Matanzas.
Canaveral Nationwide Seashore
At 24 miles lengthy, Canaveral Nationwide Seashore is the longest stretch of undeveloped beachfront remaining in Florida. The seashore stretches from the Kennedy House Middle to New Smyrna Seashore.
One of many park’s hottest actions is watching launches from Kennedy House Middle. Playalinda Seashore is the closest viewing spot on the seashore. However arrive early if you happen to plan to look at a launch – there are a restricted variety of parking spots, and the park employees closes the doorway when it’s full.
Apollo Seashore is the closest parking space to the northern finish of the seashore. There aren’t any roads for 13 miles between Apollo Seashore and Playalinda Seashore. It’s a uncommon alternative to get pleasure from a spectacularly peaceable Florida seaside.
De Soto Nationwide Memorial
In 1539, Hernando de Soto landed on Florida’s Gulf Coast with over 600 troopers. Lustful for gold and beneath orders from King Charles V to beat the natives, de Soto led the expedition on a 4,000-mile journey throughout North America.
De Soto Nationwide Memorial in Bradenton, Florida, preserves the widely accepted website of De Soto’s touchdown. Guests can discover historic artifacts and be taught concerning the expedition’s historical past on the customer heart.
Large Cypress Nationwide Protect
In 1974, Large Cypress Nationwide Protect in Florida and Large Thicket Nationwide Protect in Texas grew to become the primary nationwide preserves within the Nationwide Park System. The 720,000-acre Large Cypress Nationwide Protect covers an enormous space of southern Florida between Miami and Fort Myers.
The simplest approach to discover the big protect is the 27-mile Loop Highway Scenic Drive or the 17-mile Turner River / Wagonwheel / Birdon Roads Loop Drive. It’s a wonderful alternative to benefit from the protect’s wildlife and landscapes.
Different actions embrace bicycling, kayaking, and mountain climbing alongside dozens of trails all through the protect.
Biscayne Nationwide Park
95% of Biscayne Nationwide Park’s 172,000 acres is underwater. The park preserves Biscayne Bay, islands and keys, and coral reefs, together with the northern portion of the Florida Reef. Ten thousand years of human historical past lay throughout the park’s boundaries – most of it in sunken ships on the backside.
One of many park’s hottest actions is scuba diving to the shipwrecks on the ocean ground. Different actions embrace snorkeling, kayaking, boating, and fishing. The Biscayne Nationwide Park Institute provides a collection of guided excursions to discover the watery parts of the park.
Everglades Nationwide Park
The 1.5 million acre Everglades Nationwide Park is the biggest tropical wilderness in the US and the third largest unit of the Nationwide Park Service. The park preserves 20% of the southern Florida Everglades south of Miami.
The preferred actions within the park are mountain climbing, birding, kayaking, and fishing. Should of the park is an authorized Darkish Sky Park, good for astronomers of all ranges to get pleasure from stargazing.
The park’s tropical local weather hardly ever sees in a single day lows under 40 levels. Common highs all year long vary from 78-94 levels. One of the best time of yr to go to Everglades Nationwide Park is February, March, October, and November.
Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park
Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park is among the most original items within the Nationwide Park Service. Nevertheless, that uniqueness additionally makes it the most costly nationwide park within the nation.
The nationwide park is 70 miles west of Key West within the Gulf of Mexico. The 100-square-mile park contains a number of keys – Loggerhead Key, Backyard Key, Bush Key, Lengthy Key, Hospital Key, Center Key, and East Key.
Fort Jefferson was constructed between 1846 and 1861. Comprised of 16 million bricks, it’s the biggest masonry fort within the Western Hemisphere. Regardless of the heavy funding in constructing the distant fort, it was solely used for just a few years till 1874. Throughout its brief tenure, the fort was a jail for Accomplice troops captured through the Civil Conflict.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Fort Jefferson Nationwide Monument. The deserted fort was stabilized and renovated. In 1992, the positioning was redesignated as Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park.
Guests to the distant nationwide park get pleasure from snorkeling the crystal clear water, taking self-guided excursions inside Fort Jefferson, and spending just a few hours on one of many keys. A primitive campground with eight campsites, every website massive sufficient for 3 2-person tents.
There are solely two methods to get to Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park; both possibility makes it the nation’s costliest nationwide park to go to. One possibility is a 4-hour roundtrip trip on the Yankee Freedom III, a passenger boat with a capability for 150 passengers. The boat trip is $220 per grownup and $165 for kids aged 3 to 17.
The second possibility is a 2-hour roundtrip flight on a seaplane. Tickets for the half-day tour are $466 per grownup and $372 for kids aged 2 to 12. Tickets for the full-day tour are $820 for adults and $655 for kids.
Professional Journey Tip | Though the seaplane is the quickest approach to Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park, I like to recommend taking the extra inexpensive boat. The boat has two totally stocked bars, sodas, and snacks for the lengthy trip.