Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. UNESCO declared the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and listed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1979.

It doesn't get much more isolated than this: 1.5 million acres of wetlands, where you'll find the largest tropical wilderness in the United States alongside hiking trails, tram tours, canoe trails and—brace for it—dark sky observation areas. The park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Thirty-six threatened or protected species inhabit the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, along with 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles. And if you want to see the Milky Way in all of its glory, come to the Everglades when it's dark out.

Address: Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, 40001 State Hwy 9336, Homestead, Florida

Official site: http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm

Phone: 305-242-7700

Entrance fee: $10 per private vehicle

Google rating: 4.5/5.0