There is no in-park brick-and-mortar lodging at Biscayne National Park in Southern Florida, but there are two campgrounds for sleeping beneath the balmy night skies. You can only access them by boat, however.
Biscayne’s close proximity to a major metropolitan center, its suburbs, and other sizeable cities means there are plenty of lodging choices from hotels and motels to resorts to B&Bs to vacation rentals for every budget. Homestead and Florida City are the two closest cities to the Dante Fascell Visitor Center (about 10 miles/16 kilometers) and a Google search will pull up many overnight choices.
If you’ve never visited here before, make sure you read the reviews by others who have. Tripadvisor is a great place to start. A whole host of lodging sites can help you make a choice. Hotels.com and Trivago.com are two good places at which to start your search. If you are considering a vacation rental, Vrbo, Hometogo, and Airbnb are the places to start with your search as well as with reviews.
If you’d rather pitch a tent, there is a campground on Boca Chita Key (the park’s most popular campground) and a campground on Elliott Key (the park’s largest island). Sites at both are first-come, first-served payable with recreation.gov’s Scan and Pay mobile app and can only be reached by boat.
Boca Chita Campground is open year-round and offers 21 sites (according to recreation.gov), each large enough for two tents and a maximum of six people. Instead of designated slips, boats dock here by tying off to cleats along the concrete bulkhead, much like cars parked alongside a curb. Larger boats take up more space. Daily dock rent is $25 Friday-Monday and on Federal Holidays. The camping fee is $35 per night, regardless of whether you are in a tent or sleeping on your boat at the marina. Seniors with valid America the Beautiful passes receive a 50 percent discount. There are picnic tables and grills. Toilets are available, but there are no showers, sinks or drinking water. The harbor entrance at low tide is approximately four feet.
Elliott Key Campground is open March 2 – December 31, 2026, and offers 33 boat slips in the marina and 32 campsites which are large enough for two tents and a maximum of six people. Daily dock rent is $25 Friday-Monday and on Federal Holidays. The camping fee is $35 per night, regardless of whether you are in a tent or sleeping on your boat at the marina. Seniors with valid America the Beautiful passes receive a 50 percent discount. There are restrooms with sinks and cold-water showers. Picnic tables and grills are available. Drinking water is available but bring water as a precaution if the system goes down. Elliott Key harbor is approximately 2 ½ feet at low tide.
Wondering if you can rent a houseboat and just spend the night on the water in the park or at one of the boat slips at Boca Chita Key or Elliott Key? The only overnight options within the park are the two campgrounds or the Boca Chita Key and Elliott Key marinas. Perhaps a small houseboat might be able to dock overnight, but the shallow marina entrances at both keys (shallower at Elliott Key) would make it problematic for most houseboats or any other large vessel.
- By Rebecca Latson - March 2nd, 2026 2:57pm
