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Top Reasons to Go | Getting Oriented | Planning
Updated by Lynne Helm
More than 1.5 million acres of South Florida’s 4.3 million acres of subtropical, watery wilderness were given national-park status and protection in 1947 with the creation of Everglades National Park. It’s one of the country’s largest national parks and is recognized by the world community as a Wetland of International Importance, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a World Heritage Site. Come here if you want to spend the day biking, hiking, or boating in deep, raw wilderness with lots of wildlife.
To the east of Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park brings forth a pristine, magical, subtropical Florida. It’s the nation’s largest marine park and the largest national park within the continental United States boasting living coral reefs. A small portion of the park’s 172,000 acres consists of mainland coast and outlying islands, but 95% remains submerged. Of particular interest are the mangroves and their tangled masses of stiltlike roots that thicken shorelines. These “walking trees,” as some locals call them, have curved prop roots arching down from trunks, and aerial roots that drop from branches. The roots of these trees can filter salt from water and create a coastal nursery that sustains myriad types of marine life. You can see Miami’s high-rise buildings from many of Biscayne’s 44 islands, but the park is virtually undeveloped and large enough for escaping everything that Miami and the Upper Keys have become. To truly escape, grab scuba-diving or snorkeling gear and lose yourself in the wonders of the coral reefs.
On the northern edge of Everglades National Park lies Big Cypress National Preserve, one of South Florida’s least developed watersheds. Established by Congress in 1974 to protect the Everglades, it comprises extensive tracts of prairie, marsh, pinelands, forested swamps, and sloughs. Hunting is allowed, as is off-road-vehicle use. Come here if you like alligators. Stop at the Oasis Visitor Center’s boardwalk with alligators lounging underneath, and then drive Loop Road for a backwoods experience. If time and desire for watery adventure permits, kayak or canoe the Turner River.
Surrounding the parks and preserve are communities where you’ll find useful outfitters: Everglades City, Florida City, and Homestead.
Top Reasons to Go
Fun fishing: Cast for some of the world’s fightingest game fish—600 species in all—in the Everglades’ backwaters.
Abundant birdlife: Check hundreds of birds off your life list, including—if you’re lucky—the rare Everglades snail kite.
Cool kayaking: Do a half-day trip in Big Cypress National Preserve or reach for the ultimate—the 99-mile Wilderness Trail.
Swamp cuisine: Want to chow down on alligator tail or frogs’ legs? Or how about swamp cabbage, made from hearts of palm? Better yet, try stone-crab claws fresh from the traps.
Gator-spotting: This is ground zero for alligator viewing in the United States, and there’s a good bet you’ll leave having spotted your quota.
Getting Oriented
The southern third of the Florida peninsula is largely taken up by protected government land that includes Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Biscayne National Park. Miami lies to the northeast, with Naples and Marco Island to the northwest. Land access to Everglades National Park is primarily by two roads. The park’s main road traverses the southern Everglades from the gateway towns of Homestead and Florida City to the outpost of Flamingo, on Florida Bay. To the north, Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) cuts through the Everglades from Greater Miami on the east coast or from Naples on the west coast to the western park entrance at Everglades City at Route 29.
Everglades National Park. Alligators, Florida panthers, black bears, manatees, dolphins, bald eagles, and roseate spoonbills call this vast habitat home.
Biscayne National Park. Mostly under water, here’s where the string of coral reefs and islands that form the Florida Keys begins.
Big Cypress National Preserve. Neighbor to Everglades National Park, it’s an outdoor-lover’s paradise.
Planning
When to Go
Winter is the best, and busiest, time to visit the Everglades. Temperatures and mosquito activity are more tolerable, low water levels concentrate the resident wildlife, and migratory birds swell the avian population. In late spring the weather turns hot and rainy, and tours and facilities are less crowded. Migratory birds depart, and you must look harder to see wildlife. Summer brings intense sun and afternoon rainstorms. Water levels rise and mosquitoes descend, making outdoor activity virtually unbearable, unless you protect yourself with netting. Mosquito repellent is a necessity any time of year.
Getting Here and Around
Miami International Airport (MIA) is 34 miles from Homestead and 47 miles from the eastern access to Everglades National Park. Shuttles run between MIA and Homestead. Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), in Fort Myers, a little over an hour’s drive from Everglades City, is the closest major airport to the Everglades’ western entrance. On-demand taxi transportation from the airport to Everglades City is available from MBA Airport Transportation and costs $150 for up to three passengers ($10 each for additional passengers).
Contacts
MBA Airport Transportation. MBA is the taxi concessionaire for Southwest Florida International Airport, providing transportation to Everglades City. Call for rates. | 239/225–0428 | www.mbaairport.com.
Hotels
Accommodations near the parks range from inexpensive to moderate and offer off-season rates in summer, when rampant mosquito populations discourage spending time outdoors, especially at dusk. If you’re devoting several days to exploring the east-coast Everglades, stay in park campgrounds; 11 miles away in Homestead–Florida City, where there are reasonably priced chain motels and RV parks; in the Florida Keys; or in the Greater Miami–Fort Lauderdale area. Lodgings and campgrounds are also plentiful on the Gulf Coast (in Everglades City, Marco Island, and Naples, the latter with the most upscale area accommodations).
Restaurants
Dining in the Everglades area centers on mom-and-pop places serving hearty home-style food, and small eateries specializing in fresh local fare: alligator, fish, stone crab, frogs’ legs, and Florida lobster from the Keys. American Indian restaurants serve local favorites as well as catfish, Indian fry bread (a flour-and-water flatbread), and pumpkin bread. A growing Hispanic population around Homestead means plenty of authentic, inexpensive Latin cuisine, with an emphasis on Cuban and Mexican dishes. Restaurants in Everglades City, especially those along the river, specialize in fresh seafood including particularly succulent, sustainable stone crab. These mostly rustic places are ultracasual and often close in late summer or fall. For finer dining, head for Marco Island or Naples.