Visiting the Florida State Capitol

Yes, the 22-story Florida Capitol at 400 South Monroe Street in Tallahassee is open to visitors on weekdays, starting at the Florida Welcome Center on the Plaza Level (Florida Senate directions).

The Florida Senate lists the Florida Welcome Center on the New Capitol Plaza Level at (850) 488-6167, and links a Chamber Reservation Policy and a Capitol Area Map and Public Parking guide (Florida Senate Visit Us); the Senate directions page gives the Capitol Complex ZIP code as 32399-1100 (Florida Senate directions). VISIT FLORIDA, the trade name of the Florida Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation, says its self-guided tour begins there and that the center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (VISIT FLORIDA Capitol tour). Separately, state law requires that corporation to establish, maintain and operate a Capitol information center somewhere within the Capitol Center; the statute does not name the center (Chapter 272, Florida Statutes).

The newest official hours on file for the building itself are older. A Department of Management Services brochure dated 2018 lists Capitol public hours of Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., round the clock security seven days a week, and a Capitol telephone of 850-488-1790, and it says visitors enter the Executive Tower from the east entrance, where a security check is required (DMS Capitol Complex brochure, 2018). The 7:30 a.m. opening in that brochure and the 8 a.m. Welcome Center opening differ, and no current state page fetched for this guide states which applies to the building today.

The self-guided Capitol tour that VISIT FLORIDA publishes runs from the Plaza Level Welcome Center past the House and Senate viewing galleries on the 5th floor to the 22nd floor observation deck and gallery (VISIT FLORIDA Capitol tour).

At the Welcome Center, the tour points to two murals on the west-facing walls by James Rosenquist titled Images of the Sunshine State, and it says complimentary Florida orange juice is offered during the legislative session. On the 4th floor the route passes a reproduction of the Historic Capitol built from about 370,000 Lego blocks. In the public viewing galleries over the Senate and House chambers, quiet observation is required during session: no cheering, clapping or flash photography, and a disturbance can be grounds for ejection (VISIT FLORIDA Capitol tour).

On the 22nd floor, the tour describes an enclosed observation deck with kiosks naming points of interest, the Capitol Gallery with rotating exhibits by Florida artists, and the Freedom Shrine, a set of reproductions of historical documents. The tour says the deck is reached by elevator, or by 499 stairs for anyone who prefers to climb (VISIT FLORIDA Capitol tour). These are the tour publisher's descriptions of its own route; no Department of Management Services page found today gives separate hours for the 22nd floor.

The next regular session of the Florida Legislature convenes in Tallahassee on March 2, 2027 and its 60th and last day is April 30, 2027, according to the Senate's posted session dates (Florida Senate 2027 session dates).

Those dates follow the Florida Constitution, which sets a regular session on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March of each odd-numbered year and on the second Tuesday after the first Monday in January of each even-numbered year, and limits a regular session to sixty consecutive days unless three-fifths of each house extends it (Florida Constitution, Article III). The Senate calendar also marks April 20, 2027, the 50th day, as the last day for regularly scheduled committee meetings (Florida Senate 2027 session dates).

The 2018 DMS brochure says public access to the Senate and House is allowed only during legislative session, according to their schedules, and that the courtyard gives year-round access to the Senate and House buildings (DMS Capitol Complex brochure, 2018). For an organized group that wants a chamber outside a floor sitting, the Senate posts a Chamber Reservation Policy and Request Form on its Visit Us page (Florida Senate Visit Us). The Constitution names the City of Tallahassee, in Leon County, as the place where sessions of the Legislature are held (Florida Constitution, Article II).

The Florida Senate points Capitol visitors to a public parking guide and a downtown parking map, and the 2018 state brochure tells them to enter the Executive Tower from the east entrance (DMS Capitol Complex brochure, 2018).

The Florida Senate's Visit Us page links a Capitol Area Map and Public Parking guide, and its directions page links a Capitol Complex information sheet and a downtown Tallahassee parking map (Florida Senate directions). State law limits the share of Capitol Center parking that the Department of Management Services may set aside for people visiting from outside the City of Tallahassee to not more than 15 percent, and leaves parking in the legislative office buildings to the presiding officer of each house (Chapter 272, Florida Statutes).

For wheelchair users, the 2018 brochure describes an accessible ramp from the accessible parking area west of the House Building and a ramp from the South Monroe Street crosswalk, with measured walking directions to each building, and it warns that columns stand in some walkways around the tower and the House and Senate buildings (DMS Capitol Complex brochure, 2018).

Food service is dated in the brochure. In 2018 it listed a full-service Capitol cafeteria on the Lower Level and a snack bar on the 10th floor, each open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus vending machines on several floors (DMS Capitol Complex brochure, 2018). No current Department of Management Services page fetched for this guide confirms whether those counters are open today.

The Legislature funded the new Capitol Complex in 1972 and its twenty-two-story executive office building was completed in 1977, the Florida Department of State says (Florida Department of State).

The 1972 authorization covered House and Senate chambers and offices along with the tower. The older building came close to removal: in 1978 Governor Reubin Askew and House Speaker Donald Tucker favored outright demolition of the old Capitol, but it was saved, refurbished and reopened to the public in 1982 (Florida Department of State).

The DMS brochure places the restored Historic Capitol directly east of the Executive Tower, restored to its 1902 version in 1982, and notes that the 1902 building was the last statehouse in which all of Florida's government business was housed under one roof; the Knott Building, southwest of the tower, holds offices and several large committee rooms (DMS Capitol Complex brochure, 2018). The same brochure printed weekday Historic Capitol hours of 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the museum's own page now posts Monday to Friday hours of 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with free admission (Florida Historic Capitol Museum).

The Florida Department of Management Services has general control, custodianship and supervision of the state buildings in the Capitol Center at Tallahassee, with title held by the state (Chapter 272, Florida Statutes).

Chapter 272 defines the Capitol Complex as the Capitol, the Historic Capitol, the Senate and House Office Buildings, and the Knott, Pepper, Holland, Elliot and R.A. Gray buildings with their parking garages and curtilage, in an area bounded by and including Calhoun, East Pensacola, Monroe, Jefferson and West Pensacola streets, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Gaines Street. The portion between and including the Elliot and Holland buildings is known as Memorial Park, and the Supreme Court Building is excluded (Chapter 272, Florida Statutes).

The same chapter requires DMS to report by December 1, 2022, and every year after that, to the Governor, the Senate President and the House Speaker on Capitol Complex maintenance, structural repairs, costs and schedules. DMS may not close or reopen any part of the Capitol Complex used for legislative business without the approval of the Senate President and the House Speaker (Chapter 272, Florida Statutes). The Florida Constitution fixes the City of Tallahassee as the seat of government, where the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, cabinet members and supreme court are maintained (Florida Constitution, Article II).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the Senate's 2027 session calendar, the 2018 DMS Capitol Complex brochure, Chapter 272 of the Florida Statutes and the VISIT FLORIDA Welcome Center hours for the Tallahassee Capitol.