How to Take An Everglades Day Trip from Miami

Taking an Everglades Day Trip is one of the most memorable things you can do when visiting Miami. Just an hour outside of the city, the Everglades are one of the state of Florida’s most enduring images. This National Park covers a vast river basin filled with unique flora and fauna. With over 350 bird species and hundreds of animals, the most well known resident of the Everglades is the alligator. By taking an Everglades day trip, you’ll be able to see alligators and much more. There’s numerous parks throughout the Everglades that you can visit from Miami. On my recent day trip, I took an organised tour to Sawgrass Recreational Park. While you can go far deeper into the Everglades on a multi-day tour, Sawgrass is convenient to get to, making it perfect for your first Everglades experience.

• If you’re off to Miami, check out my city guide and itinerary in which I cover some of the best things to do in the city HERE.

Sawgrass Recreational Park – The Basics:

• Where? 1006 US Highway No 27, Weston, Florida
• When? 9.30am – 5.30pm daily
• How much? Admission to the park (including an Airboat tour) costs $26.95 + tax.
• How to get there: Sawgrass Recreational Park is about a 45 to 60 minute drive from Miami Beach. To get to the park, you’ll either need to arrange your own transportation or take an Uber, or you can visit as part of an organised tour from Miami, such as this one, which will include transportation by bus. If you’re driving to Sawgrass from Miami, take the I-95 north and the 595 West. From there, follow the 595 West onto I-75 North, then get off at US 27 North (Exit 23).
• Website: https://www.evergladestours.com/

What Are the Everglades?

The Everglades National Park is the third largest National Park in mainland USA (sitting behind Death Valley and Yellowstone). It consists of a huge array of tropical wetlands, exceeding 2,300 square miles in area. Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve, the Everglades are fed by Lake Okeechobee. Rarely exceeding 3 feet in depth, the sheet river system moves across a limestone bed, broken up by clumps of vegetation. The most prevalent form of vegetation is the appropriately named sawgrass, which definitely should not be touched (if you do, you’ll understand the name!). The tropical climate has resulted in the area’s distinct ecological profile, with manatees, alligators, crocodiles and much more calling the region home.

As with many natural wonders, the Everglades is under threat today. Humans have encroached on the Everglades since the 1900s, with irrigation canals being built to divert water from Lake Okeechobee and draining land for development and agriculture. Today, the Everglades National Park makes up a mere 20% of the original area covered by the wetlands and many animal species from the region are now critically endangered. Thankfully, under the National Park Services, a massive restoration project is being carried out in the Everglades, with water being diverted back into the system. Bird populations have been among the first species to see their numbers increase once again.

I have never been to an ecosystem like the Everglades. The wetland is definitely unique and I’m glad efforts are being made to preserve it for the future.

What is Sawgrass Recreational Park?

Originally a fishing camp, Sawgrass Recreational Park was established in the mid-1950s. Over the next 30 years, the park became a tourist attraction with a single airboat by the 1970s. Today it is one of the top tourist destinations in South Florida, with numerous airboats in its fleet. Following a change of ownership in 2005, the park expanded dramatically in area, in turn allowing for a major boost to its animal adoption and rescue program. Sawgrass Recreational Park’s mission statement is to make every visitor aware of the importance of the Everglades ecosystem. On a guided airboat tour, your guide will make sure you leave with that knowledge.

My Everglades Day Trip Experience

While Sawgrass is definitely one of the more tourist oriented Everglades experiences, I think doing something like this is an excellent way to see the wetlands on a limited schedule. I only had a few days in Miami on my recent visit, and so I booked this trip with Viator. When planning day-trips in a destination, I find Viator to be great at finding deals. The tour cost under $30.00 USD, which considering it included transportation to the Everglades, was an excellent deal. Catching an Uber to the park would have cost far more than extra $5.00!

My tour met at the Tourism Center at 305 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. We had to be there for a 9.30am departure. Considering this was around the corner from my hotel in Miami (the excellent Albion Hotel), that worked out perfectly for me! Boarding a luxury coach, we set off on our journey, with our tour guide giving us a bit of history about Miami and the Everglades along the way. We were at Sawgrass Recreational Park before 10.30am.

My Everglades day trip departed back to Miami at midday. While that only gave us 90 minutes in the Everglades, that’s really all you need to see everything at Sawgrass. We got back into Miami Beach an hour later, and I was back in the water by 2.00pm. If you want to maximise your time in Miami, this Everglades day trip is a really good choice! And if the morning start isn’t for you, they offer the same tour with a 1.30pm departure as well.

I had a lot of fun on my Everglades day trip from Miami. I’ll now cover what we were able to do in our 90 minutes at Sawgrass Recreational Park.

Riding an Airboat

The highlight of any Everglades day trip is an airboat ride over the wetlands. Our tour included a 30 minute airboat tour, and it was the first thing we did at Sawgrass Recreational Park. Upon arriving, our tour guide handed us stickers to designate our group and we proceeded towards the docks for boarding. Sawgrass Recreational Park owns the largest fleet of airboats in the United States, with each boat carrying between 20 to 25 guests. If you’re coming to the park without a tour, its highly recommended you book an airboat departure time to avoid disappointment.

Once on board, we were handed a pair of ear plugs (I didn’t need them, but the airboats are louder than you’d think) and after a brief introduction to our knowledgeable skipper, we were whisking across the wetlands at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. If you can, try to sit in the front row of the airboat. The view as we rushed along the the sawgrass prairie is something I won’t soon forget! We stopped aboard the boat a few times throughout the journey, with our skipper telling us interesting facts about the history of the Everglades, the ecosystem today and the abundance of wildlife within. We also learnt about their most famous residents, the American Alligators, and while we didn’t see any on our airboat run, we did get to see a baby alligator lazing about by the docks before boarding!

I took my Everglades day trip in the middle of July. Apparently the summer isn’t the best time of year to see alligators (try the winter). Even so, I immensely enjoyed our airboat ride. Just being out in the swamp is the allure of an Everglades day trip, and we got to see all kinds of other reptiles and birdlife in the process.

Exhibits at Sawgrass Recreational Park

By the time we got off the airboats, we only had about half an hour left at Sawgrass Recreational Park. In all honesty, you don’t need much more than that to see the rest. We used the rest of our time checking out the park’s wildlife exhibits, which definitely made up for the lack of gators on the airboats.

The headliner here is Cannibal, a 1000 pound alligator. While checking out this immense gator, it was interesting to learn that most alligator attacks on humans typically come about due to humans feeding gators. Once they’ve been fed, these gigantic reptiles expect food every time they see someone!

In addition to Cannibal, the Reptile Exhibit showcases various other alligator species, both from Florida and further abroad. You’ll also come across exotic snakes and turtles. We actually saw a baby alligator lazing on top of a turtle. Neither seemed fussed with the other’s presence!

Other reptiles throughout the mini-zoo include African Spur Thigh Tortoises (the oldest of which at Sawgrass is over 50 years old – quite young for its species!) and Hybrid Rock Iguanas (an invasive species resulting from breeding between Cuban Rock and Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas).

In addition to all the reptiles, you’ve got roosters and peacocks roaming freely throughout the exhibit space. There’s also a few smaller exhibits about the Everglades ecosystem, where you can learn about the latest conservation efforts.

Eating at Sawgrass Recreational Park

Before leaving Sawgrass, we also had the chance to grab a quick bite to eat before getting back on the bus to Miami. If you’re taking a similar Everglades day trip to the one I did, you’ll want to place your order as soon as you get off the airboat. That way you can check out the reptile exhibits before coming back to eat about 15 minutes later. Being the Everglades, its only fitting that the Gator Grill cafe here gives you the chance to try alligator. Served with wedges of lemon and special sauce, the gator bites are actually a delicious snack. If you’re feeling less adventurous, they also serve burgers, sandwiches and tacos. After downing my food, I took a quick look in the Gator Emporium Gift Shop before getting back on the bus to return to Miami.

My Everglades Day Trip was a short but memorable experience. With Sawgrass Recreational Park being so easy to get to, I definitely recommend spending a morning (or afternoon) there on a trip to Miami. Hopefully you’ll see more gators than I did on your airboat tour, but even if you don’t, I think you’ll enjoy the time you spend here. While there are many ways you can experience the Everglades (tell me some of your favourite destinations in this National Park!), Sawgrass passes the test for me, even if I was skeptical about it being a tourist trap at first.