The best place to stay to access the eastern side of the Park, particularly Royal Palm and the road down to Flamingo is either Homestead or Florida City. I have counted them as one place as when driving between the two there is little to tell you have left one settlement and entered another apart from the signs……
We recommend…
There is no real centre to either place, Florida City straggles alongside Highway 1 with a series of retail and commercial outlets. We have stayed in both the Travelodge and the Holiday Inn Express
. They were both absolutely fine with decent sized rooms with fridge and microwave, free wi-fi and an outdoor pool. The Travelodge throws in free continental breakfast. We were able to walk from both to Captain’s Restaurant and Seafood for dinner and a much needed pitcher of cold beer.
We have also stayed in Homestead in the Marriott Courtyard. This a simple hotel right off the Florida turnpike. It offers large rooms with kitchen areas (microwave & fridge), it has a pool, complementary wi-fi and it is clean and modern. Hampton Suites is a very similar hotel adjacent to the Marriott with similar amenity.
We had planned to walk down NE8th Street to various chain restaurants just along the way but these are not restaurants we like to frequent and the road is not especially pedestrian friendly (a common problem in America outside the city centres). We lucked out and found a Cuban restaurant opposite the hotels which although a chain it does appear at least to be a small locally owned one and the menu was more fun than the Chillis and Olive Garden alternatives.
As well as being a good gateway to The Everglades, Florida City and Homestead are useful stopping off points if you are heading south to the Florida Keys. We have flown into Miami a couple of times on a late afternoon flight, stopped overnight in Homestead and driven down into the Keys the following day.