The two national parks are the main reason to stop in Homestead. Everglades National Park — the largest subtropical wilderness in the US — is 15 minutes west, its main road threading south through sawgrass prairie to Florida Bay at Flamingo; alligators and (more rarely) crocodiles are both visible from the boardwalks. Biscayne National Park is mostly water — a marine park east of town with glass-bottom boat tours and snorkeling on some of Florida's best-preserved offshore reefs.
In town, Coral Castle is a genuinely strange monument: 1,100 tons of coral rock carved and assembled by one small Latvian immigrant working alone over 28 years, the mechanics of which remain unexplained. The Fruit & Spice Park is a 37-acre tropical garden where fallen fruit can be tasted freely, and Schnebly Redland's Winery makes wines from lychee, mango, and other local tropical crops.