Coral Castle: tickets, hours and how to make the drive to Homestead worth it
Coral Castle costs $25 for adults, film and guided tour included. Here are the hours, the story and three stops nearby that make the drive worth it.
The short version
- Tickets: $25 adults, $10 ages 5 to 12, under 5 free, bought at the gift shop.
- Hours: Opens 9 am daily; last tour 6 or 7 pm depending on season.
- Included: A 30-minute documentary and a guided public tour.
- Where: 28655 S. Dixie Highway, Homestead.
- Pair it with: Fruit & Spice Park, the Everglades Alligator Farm or Biscayne National Park.
Coral Castle is a one-to-two-hour stop, not a day: go for the strange story of one man and 1,100 tons of stone, then spend the rest of the day in the Redland and Homestead.
Hour by hour
- 9:00Coral Castle opens · Buy tickets at the gift shop when you arrive: $25 adults, $10 children 5 to 12. Admission includes a 30-minute documentary and a guided public tour, so start with the film.
- 10:15Walk the grounds · After the tour, take your time with the stones: the nine-ton gate, the table shaped like Florida and the polar telescope.
- 11:00Fruit & Spice Park tram · Fruit & Spice Park opens at 10 am. Its free garden tram tour runs at 11 am and 1:30 pm. Adults pay $15, children 6 to 11 pay $8.
- 12:00Tasting tour · The park's tasting tour runs at noon and 3 pm, $15 adults and $8 children, capped at 30 people. Call ahead to hold a spot.
- 14:00Alligators or the bay · Head to the Everglades Alligator Farm, open until 5:30 pm with gator shows eight times a day, or to the free Biscayne National Park visitor center, open until 5 pm.
What Coral Castle actually is
Coral Castle is a garden of carved limestone blocks built by one man, Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant. The attraction says he built it single-handed between 1923 and 1951, channeling a broken engagement into the work. Wikipedia, which we use here only for context, describes about 1,100 tons of stone, which is oolite limestone rather than true coral.
The castle did not start in Homestead. It stood in Florida City until about 1936, when Leedskalnin moved it roughly 10 miles north to the current site, a job that took about three years. Nobody saw how he lifted the blocks, and that mystery is what the tour is built around. The best-known piece is a revolving gate of about nine tons, 8 feet tall; it jammed in 1986, was reset, and failed again in 2005. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Be honest with yourself about scale. It is a single walled yard, not a palace, and the visit is the film, a guided talk and a wander. People who love oddities and local legends love it. People expecting a castle feel short-changed at $25.
Tickets and hours
| Item | What Coral Castle lists |
|---|---|
| Adults | $25 |
| Children 5 to 12 | $10 |
| Children 4 and under | Free |
| Where to buy | At the gift shop when you arrive |
| Included | 30-minute documentary and a guided public tour |
| Hours, schedule one | 9 am to 8 pm, last tour 7 pm, gates close 7:30 pm |
| Hours, schedule two | 9 am to 7 pm, last tour 6 pm, gates close 6:30 pm |
| Accessibility | Wheelchair accessible |
The attraction's own pages show both schedules without saying which season each applies to. Plan to arrive before 6 pm, or call ahead if you are cutting it close.
Coral Castle visit page and home page, checked October 2026
Fruit & Spice Park
A county-run tropical fruit garden in the Redland, open daily 10 am to 5 pm except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Adults 12 and up pay $15, children 6 to 11 pay $8, and 5 and under are free; seniors and military get 10% off with ID.
The free garden tram tour runs at 11 am and 1:30 pm and may be delayed or canceled when lightning is within 10 miles. Homestead residents get half off on Tuesdays.
Everglades Alligator Farm
Open daily 9 am to 5:30 pm, with live alligator feeding and handling shows eight times a day and airboat tours running through the day.
The Airboat + General Admission ticket bundles an airboat ride, a gator show and park entry. Prices are on its booking page, so check before you go.
Where they are
Before you go
- Bring a card or cash for the gift shop; that is where tickets are sold, on arrival.
- Watch the hours. The last tour is at 6 pm on one posted schedule and 7 pm on the other.
- It is an open-air yard. Bring a hat and water; Homestead is hot most of the year.
- Combine it. Coral Castle alone rarely justifies the drive from Miami Beach.
- Coral Castle also rents the grounds for events and filming, so check its site for any private closures.
Questions people ask
How much does Coral Castle cost?
$25 for adults, $10 for children 5 to 12 and free for 4 and under, as listed on its own site in October 2026. Tickets are sold at the gift shop when you arrive.
What are Coral Castle's hours?
It opens at 9 am daily. Its site shows two closing schedules: last tour at 7 pm with gates closing at 7:30, or last tour at 6 pm with gates closing at 6:30. Arrive before 6 pm to be safe.
Is Coral Castle really made of coral?
Not quite. The blocks are oolite limestone, a stone formed in the sea. Edward Leedskalnin carved about 1,100 tons of it, by most accounts, between the 1920s and 1951.
How long do you need at Coral Castle?
About one to two hours. Admission includes a 30-minute documentary and a guided tour, then time to walk the grounds.
What is near Coral Castle?
Fruit & Spice Park in the Redland, the Everglades Alligator Farm near Florida City, and the free Biscayne National Park visitor center on the bay.
More guides
Things to do in Homestead: two national parks, a coral castle and a fruit parkHomestead · Day trips · 5 min readBiscayne National Park: how to actually see a park that is 95% waterNational park · Boat tours · 6 min readMiami to Key West: driving the Overseas Highway, the bus, shuttles and the flightKey west · Road trip · 4 min readTickets, hours, inclusions and accessibility from Coral Castle's own visit and home pages; history from the attraction's site, with move dates, stone tonnage, gate repairs and the 1984 National Register listing from Wikipedia as context only; Fruit & Spice Park hours, prices and tours from Miami-Dade County's park page; Everglades Alligator Farm hours and shows from its own site. All checked October 2026.