Camping options in Everglades National Park range from a first-come, first-served tent site to a rebuilt lodge room with air conditioning. Here's what's actually available, and what it costs.
Quick Answer
Long Pine Key Campground is the simplest option -- first-come, first-served, no reservation needed, about $33/night. Flamingo Campground is larger, takes reservations, and has electric hookup sites. If you want a roof and air conditioning instead of a tent, the Flamingo Lodge and eco-tents both reopened in recent years after a full rebuild. Backcountry camping (chickees, remote sites) requires a separate wilderness permit through recreation.gov.
Long Pine Key Campground
Long Pine Key has 108 drive-up sites on a strictly first-come, first-served basis -- no individual site reservations are accepted. The only way to reserve ahead is a group site (minimum 15 people), booked by calling 1-855-708-2207. The campground is open seasonally, roughly November through May. Rates run about $33/night for a regular site, $29.70 for seniors and other park pass holders, and $60 for group sites.
Flamingo Campground
Flamingo is the larger of the two frontcountry campgrounds, with 235 drive-up sites, including 41 electrical hookup sites in the T-Loop. Unlike Long Pine Key, reservations are recommended here, especially during the winter high season -- book through Flamingo Adventures at 1-855-708-2207. Fees vary by day of week: non-electric sites run about $33 Monday-Thursday and $38.50 Friday-Sunday; electric sites run about $50 Monday-Thursday and $60 Friday-Sunday. Group sites are $60.
Flamingo Eco-Tents and Lodge: The Non-Tent Options
If you'd rather not pitch a tent, Flamingo has two rebuilt lodging options run by the park's concessioner. The eco-tents are 20 elevated, safari-style glamping tents with electricity, a queen or two full-size beds, a dresser, bookshelf, and real bug-protection screening -- genuinely useful in an area known for mosquitoes. Furnished eco-tents run around $149/night in winter, roughly half that for unfurnished tents in summer. The Flamingo Lodge is a newly rebuilt 24-unit hotel, designed with storm resilience and sea-level rise in mind after the previous lodge was destroyed by hurricanes years ago -- a genuine air-conditioned option inside the park itself, something that didn't exist here for over a decade.
Backcountry Wilderness Camping
For chickees, ground sites, and beach sites out in the backcountry -- covered in detail in our kayaking and canoeing guide -- you'll need a separate wilderness camping permit through recreation.gov: a $21 non-refundable reservation fee plus $2 per person per night, bookable up to 90 days ahead. This is a different system entirely from the two frontcountry campgrounds above, and it's the only way to camp overnight anywhere off the main park road.
How Long Can You Camp?
Camping anywhere in the park is capped at a total of 30 days per calendar year, with no more than 14 consecutive days allowed from November 1 through April 30 -- the park's busiest stretch.
Camping Outside the Park
If the park's campgrounds are full or you want hookups and amenities the NPS sites don't offer, Southern Comfort RV Resort in Florida City is a private option just outside the main entrance, useful as a base for exploring both the park and the Keys.
Bottom Line
Long Pine Key for simple, no-reservation tent camping; Flamingo if you want electric hookups or a shot at reserving ahead; the eco-tents or Lodge if you want a real bed and air conditioning without leaving the park; and a wilderness permit if you're headed into the backcountry.
