The most utilized entrance to Everglades National Park is southwest of Homestead and Florida City. If you're traveling from Miami, take State Road 836/Dolphin Expressway West to State Road 826/Palmetto Expressway South to the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike, U.S. 1, and Krome Avenue (State Road 997). Once you're in Homestead, go right (west) from U.S. 1 or Krome Avenue onto Palm Drive (State Road 9336) and follow signs to the entrance.
This road runs 38 miles from the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center to the Florida Bay at Flamingo, the southernmost headquarters of Everglades National Park. On the way it crosses a section of the park's eight distinct ecosystems: hardwood hammock, freshwater prairie, pinelands, freshwater slough, cypress, coastal prairie, mangrove, and marine-estuarine. Highlights include a dwarf cypress forest, the transition zone between sawgrass and mangrove forest, and a wealth of wading birds.
