Everglades Attractions

The Everglades is a magical, mysterious place — two million acres of true wilderness. But this vast wetlands area is not without its tourism attractions. They’re just not anything like what you find a little farther north in the center of the state. In the Everglades, the water comes from rainfall and rivers, the vast grasslands are made of real grass, and the alligators live in the wild.

For those staying in the tamer areas of Florida’s Paradise Coast, a day trip to the Everglades can provide an exciting contrast to luxurious resorts, beaches, pools, museums, and restaurants.

The western half of the Everglades is part of Florida’s Paradise Coast. Here’s  an overview of some of the fun excursions you can take. 
 

Gulf Coast Visitor Center, Everglades National Park

If you’re venturing into the Everglades from Naples or Marco island, Everglades City is a good place to get your bearings. At the southern end of this funky fishing village you’ll find the Everglades National Park Gulf Coast Visitor Center. Besides getting important information for your visit, you can book a boat tour in the remarkable Ten Thousand Islands.

The Visitor Center is favored by canoe and kayak paddlers, who come here to obtain their backcountry camping permits for expeditions along the Everglades Wilderness Waterway. (We don’t recommend backcountry camping in the Everglades for anyone other than highly experienced kayakers and campers.)  

The Visitor Center also has kayaks and canoes available for rent.
 

Take an Airboat Ride 

Everglades City and its outlying areas are home to numerous airboat tour operators. These unique vehicles are designed specifically to navigate the shallow waters and swamps of the Everglades.

Riders sit in rows, strapped in, ooh-ing and ah-ing as the craft makes sharp turns and tilts slightly sideways, zig-zagging between the mangrove islets. Talk about hair-raising! The captains usually make a couple of stops, sometimes to greet a curious alligator. (Don’t fret — you’ll be well out of reach.) Along the way, you’ll see myriad animal species, especially birds, and native plant life.

Here are a few airboat tour companies: Captain Jack’s Airboat Tours, Wooten’s, Jungle Erv’s Airboat Tours, Down South Airboat Tours. If you want to ride an airboat without delving into the full Everglades experience, Corey Billie’s Airboat Rides is just 18 miles southeast of downtown Naples, and even closer to Marco Island.
 

WATCHING (AND PHOTOGRAPHING) WILDLIFE

There’s wildlife everywhere you look in the Everglades. On the western side, you need only drive along the Tamiami Trail — aka Alligator Alley — to spot gators and numerous bird species. Within the 730,000-acre Big Cypress National Preserve, you can take a few side trips to capture critters with a camera. Loop Road and Turner River Road provide ample opportunities for up-close pics. For more information on these scenic drives, stop in at the Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center on Tamiami Trail.

If you want to click your camera while sitting and relaxing, Everglades City has the banks of the Barron River, where you can spot everything from tarpon in the waters to raccoons and otters on the mangrove islands. The town has a few restaurants alongside the river, including Triad Seafood Market & Cafe and Camelia Street Grill, where fresh seafood awaits.

The ‘Glades offer plenty of boat tours, of course, some of which embark from the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. You can also hire a private guide. By boat, you'll marvel at native birds, dolphins, manatee, alligators and more.

The Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge is a vast network of mangrove islands and islets that is stunning in its natural beauty. You won’t be far from civilization, but it’ll feel like it. Numerous Ten Thousand Island boat tours leave from Naples, Marco Island, Everglades City and Chokoloskee Island.
 

Fishing

Ten Thousand Islands is known as an angler's delight, with tarpon, snook, redfish, permit, pompano and many other species in abundance. Fishing guides are highly recommended for navigating the shallow water and labyrinth of mangrove islands. Click here for much more information on fishing in this wonderland.

And if snook are in season, by all means ask your guide to go hunting for this prized sportfish that’s indigenous to South Florida. 
 

Museum of The Everglades

This inviting pink building displays artifacts and exhibits covering 2,000 years of regional history, from the Calusa Indians through the development of Everglades City. The Museum of the Everglades dates back to 1927 when it was the town’s first commercial laundry. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

Smallwood Store Trading Post & Museum

Located on Chokoloskee Island just across the causeway from Everglades City, historic Smallwood Store, which sits on stilts over the water, features an extensive collection of artifacts from early Florida pioneers and Native Americans.

Established in 1906 by Ted Smallwood as a trading post, it served a remote area. He bought hides, furs and farm produce, and sold goods to the area’s tiny population. Smallwood Store was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and remained open and active until 1982. In 1990, it reopened as a museum and today serves as a time capsule of Florida pioneer history.
 

Ochopee Post Office

The Ochopee Post Office is the smallest post office in the country — and that’s according to the USPS itself. About the size of a tool shed, it’s located just east of State Road 29 on the Tamiami Trail.

The building was once a storage facility for an adjacent tomato farm, but when the original Ochopee PO burned down, it was converted into the new post office in 1953.

It’s open Monday through Saturday, with postcards and stamps on sale. Hundreds of visitors stop by each week to get the Ochopee postmark on letters and postcards and to have their picture taken in front of the tiny structure.
 

Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve State Park

For a capsule experience of the Everglades, check out Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, west of Big Cypress. Janes Scenic Drive, which provides miles and miles of opportunities to see and photograph wildlife, will take you to the entrance. Within the park’s boundaries, there’s the Big Cypress Bend boardwalk, canoe launches and lots of trails where you can see wetlands, grasslands, small lakes, canopies of green, weirdly shaped trees and other sights. Park rangers lead swamp walks between November and February.

Fun fact: The rare ghost orchid — made famous in the movie Adaptation and the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean — grows in Fakahatchee Strand.

For an up-close overview of the park, take the Ghost Rider Tram, a two-and-a-half hour guided tour that’s named after the famed flower.
 

Collier-Seminole State Park

This 6,400-acre park showcases the wildlife splendor that is the Everglades. Explore mangroves and cypress swamp by land or water, with a guide in a boat or by kayak. Tent and RV camping is available. Collier-Seminole State Park is located just 17 miles southeast of Naples on the Tamiami Trail.

Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery

World-famous Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher's black-and-white photography is on display at his gallery located on Tamiami Trail within the Big Cypress National Preserve. Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery displays an extensive selection of the artist’s work, which ranges in size from 16x20 inches to 5x9 feet.

While there, consider donning an old pair of sneakers and taking a Guided Swampwalk Eco-Tour, where the water can run from ankle-deep to almost waist-high. On these leisurely paced jaunts, you’ll walk through crystalline fresh water for an intimate encounter with the swamp. You’ll see mostly plant life and birds.
 

Roadside Attractions

A few old-Florida roadside attractions remain in the Everglades. Animal handlers get up close with alligators to show visitors the power of their jaws and surprising quickness at Wooten's on Tamiami Trail.

If you’re looking for something quirky, be sure to learn about the legend of the Everglades skunk ape at the Official Skunk Ape Research Headquarters alongside Trail Lakes Campground. You’re not likely to spot the elusive “sasquatch of the Southeast,” but you can buy a T-shirt with its supposed image on the front. The Research Center does not confirm or deny the Skunk Ape’s existence. (Wink wink.)