National parks in Florida

A small alligator basking on top of dry vegetation.

100ESSENTIAL NPS Photo

National Preserve · FL

Big Cypress National Preserve

Big Cypress is one of the most genuinely wild places in the lower 48, and the free admission makes it almost absurdly accessible for what you get.

Coral reef with two snorkelers diving below the surface

100ESSENTIAL NPS image by Shaun Wolfe

National Park · FL

Biscayne National Park

Biscayne is one of the most underrated parks in the entire system, hiding in plain sight south of Miami with 95 percent of its area underwater.

A sunset creates a silhouette of a cypress tree with needle-like leaves that is shaped like an 'N'.

100ESSENTIAL NPS Photo by Miguel Salas

National Park · FL

Everglades National Park

The Everglades is not a park you hike to a summit or chase a single iconic viewpoint.

90ESSENTIAL NPS/Doggrell

National Seashore · FL

Gulf Islands National Seashore

Gulf Islands National Seashore is one of the most versatile coastal parks in the country, and at $15 it is a serious bargain.

slave cabins made of tabby with wooden roofs

88ESSENTIAL NPS Photo/Darryl Herring

Ecological & Historic Preserve · FL

Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve

Timucuan is a rare find: a free, sprawling coastal preserve in northeast Florida that bundles serious ecological richness with two genuinely compelling historic sites.

A few of the stars at night with a view of Fort Jefferson.

85ESSENTIAL NPS Photo / Brett Seymour

National Park · FL

Dry Tortugas National Park

Dry Tortugas earns its reputation as one of America's most dramatic destination parks.

75EXCELLENT NPS Photo Lord

National Seashore · FL

Canaveral National Seashore

Canaveral is Florida's longest undeveloped Atlantic coastline, and that scarcity alone makes it worth the $15 entry.

Fort Matanzas, a fortified watch tower made form coquina.

57WORTH IT NPS Photo

National Monument · FL

Fort Matanzas National Monument

Fort Matanzas punches above its size by delivering a genuinely rare thing: an 18th-century Spanish coquina watchtower you can reach only by a free ferry across the Matanzas River.

Reenactor Bill Boston on his horse Dixie in front of the De Soto Monument.

56WORTH IT Tim Ohr

National Memorial · FL

De Soto National Memorial

De Soto National Memorial marks the contested 1539 Tampa Bay landing of Hernando de Soto, a genuinely significant and dark chapter in American history.

Drawbridge entrance to the Castillo de San Marcos

37NICHE NPS Photo

National Monument · FL

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

Castillo de San Marcos is a single-structure monument, not a sprawling park, and visitors should calibrate expectations accordingly.