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WhenToVisitParks

Updated June 2026

Best Time to Visit Everglades

National ParkFlorida

Our recommendation

Visit Everglades in May

May offers pleasant weather with noticeably thinner crowds (shoulder season). For comparison, February is the most crowded month (~1.5× the average month) and September is the quietest.

Annual visits

778K

2025

Busiest month

Feb

1.5× avg

Quietest month

Sep

0.6× avg

10-yr trend

steady

+1.4%

How crowded is Everglades by month?

Relative crowd level by month (1.0 = the park's average month), from NPS visitation records 19792025.

1.4×Jan
1.5×Feb
1.5×Mar
1.1×Apr
0.8×May
0.9×Jun
0.8×Jul
0.8×Aug
0.6×Sep
0.6×Oct
0.9×Nov
1.2×Dec

Month-by-month crowd, weather & daylight

MonthCrowd levelBest-time scoreAvg high / lowDaylight
JanuaryBusy49 Fair76°F / 58°F10.6 h
FebruaryBusy47 Fair78°F / 60°F11.1 h
MarchBusy48 Fair81°F / 62°F11.8 h
AprilAverage61 Good84°F / 66°F12.6 h
May★ bestQuiet65 Good87°F / 70°F13.2 h
JuneAverage55 Fair89°F / 75°F13.6 h
JulyQuiet58 Fair90°F / 76°F13.4 h
AugustQuiet57 Fair91°F / 76°F12.9 h
SeptemberQuiet67 Good89°F / 75°F12.1 h
OctoberQuiet71 Good87°F / 71°F11.4 h
NovemberAverage67 Good82°F / 65°F10.7 h
DecemberBusy58 Fair78°F / 61°F10.4 h

Climate normals (1991–2020) from the nearest NOAA station (USC00083020, ~16.1 mi away).

About visiting Everglades

Everglades National Park is a National Park in FL and a moderately visited park, drawing about 778,000 recreation visits in 2025. Visitation has held fairly steady over the past decade. Crowds concentrate sharply by season: February is the busiest month at about 1.5× the park's average month, while September is the calmest at roughly 0.6× — a 3-to-1 swing between high and low season. Roughly 21% of the year's visitors arrive in the three summer months of June, July and August alone, so timing a trip outside that window is the single biggest lever on how crowded the park feels. Weather swings from an average high-season warmth near 83°F in July down to about 67°F in January, with the wettest stretch in September. About 8 months a year see comfortable average temperatures in the 50–80°F range, which is part of why crowd timing and weather timing don't always line up. The sweet spot is May: pleasant weather with noticeably thinner crowds (shoulder season). Visit then and you trade a little peak-season certainty for noticeably shorter lines and easier parking than the February rush. Daylight ranges from about 10.4 hours in midwinter to 13.6 hours near the summer solstice, which shapes how much ground you can cover in a day. A standard private-vehicle entrance pass runs about $35, valid for several days, so a shoulder-season trip stretches that fee across quieter, more comfortable days. These crowd figures are drawn from 1979–2025 of National Park Service visitor-use records, paired with 1991–2020 NOAA climate normals, and are updated as new monthly data is released.

Park overview

Established in 1947 as the first national park created for its biodiversity, Everglades National Park protects 1.5 million acres of wetland, forest, and marine habitats and the native plants and animals that call it home. With several international designations, the park provides a major source of drinking water for local residents of South Florida and recreational opportunities for all.

Weather & conditions

The climate in Florida is known to be mild and sunny.The average annual temperatures for South Florida and the Keys range from 74° to 77°F (23° to 25°C). There are two seasons at the Everglades National Park: the wet season and the dry season. The wet season runs from Mid-May to November and the dry season runs from December to mid-May.

Park overview text courtesy of the National Park Serviceofficial park site.

Entrance fees

A standard private-vehicle entrance pass is about $35, typically valid for several days.

Frequently Asked Questions

May offers pleasant weather with noticeably thinner crowds (shoulder season) at Everglades National Park. The park is busiest in February (about 1.5× the average month) and quietest in September.

February is the busiest month at Everglades National Park, running roughly 1.5 times the park's average monthly visitation.

September is the quietest month at Everglades National Park, at about 0.6× the average month — a good choice if you want to avoid crowds.

Everglades National Park recorded about 778,198 recreation visits in 2025. Visitation has been steady over the past decade (+1.4%).

Based on 1991–2020 climate normals, the warmest month at Everglades National Park averages about 83°F (July). See the month-by-month table above for the full picture.

Sources: National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics (19792025), NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020. Crowd index = a month's visits ÷ the park's average month.