A Complete Guide to Visiting Everglades National Park

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References: https://www.floridarambler.com/everglades-getaways/everglades-national-park/ https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm https://floridanationalparksassociation.org/everglades-national-park https://www.visitflorida.com/things-to-do/outdoors-and-adventure/parks/everglades-national-park/

The Everglades National Park is a place of wonder. It’s a true nature lovers ‘ paradise, from diverse landscapes to various animal species throughout. Visitors can explore wetlands, forests, swamps, mangroves, and more within the park. This national park is the largest protected sub-tropical conservation area in North America. Because of its vast size, planning a trip to the Everglades can seem overwhelming. The below guide offers tips and advice on how to visit Everglades National Park.

What You Need to Know Before Visiting Everglades National Park

This park covers a large area of Southern Florida. The Everglades National Park is vast, encompassing 1,625 square kilometers of the Florida Bay. Because of the park’s sheer size, it is nearly impossible to visit without a plan in place. So, ensure you carefully create an itinerary with notes on which entrance to go through, whether you want to camp overnight in the park, what activities you want to pursue, and which trails you’d like to visit.

When planning a trip and considering how to visit Everglades National Park, it’s essential to know there are two distinct seasons each year: wet and dry. According to the National Park Service, the wet season typically occurs between May and November. Meanwhile, the dry season lasts from December to April. As a note, the dry and wet seasons vary annually. However, the noted months are generally accurate.

The dry season is the most popular time for tourists to visit the Everglades National Park, as it offers warmer winter weather. This weather brings more animal species to check out. Additionally, the wet season typically features many mosquitoes each year.

Everglades National Park Visitor Centers

Four primary visitor centers are available at this national park. When planning out how to visit Everglades National Park, it’s essential to know where each center is. You’ll find important information on the park, maps, and helpful staff at the centers. The visitor centers in the park are the Shark Valley Visitor Center, Gulf Coast Visitor Center, Flamingo Visitor Center, Royal Palm Visitor Center, and the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center (also known as Coe Visitor Center). The

Shark Valley and Gulf Coast Visitor Centers are easy to access from Naples, FL. The Coe, Royal Palm, and Flamingo Visitors Centers are accessible from Miami and Key West.

Which entrance to Take to Everglades National Park

There are three entrances to this stunning park: the Homestead entrance, the Shark Valley entrance, and the Everglades City Entrance. It’s essential to decide which area of the park you want to visit so you can head to the proper entrance. The entire park stretches 1.5 million acres, and the three main entrances are not connected. In fact, these entrances are each located in a different city.

If you’re unsure of which areas you’d like to see, start with the Homestead entrance. This entry is the primary way of getting into the national park. It offers access to the Coe, Royal Palm, and Flamingo visitor’s centers. Shark Valley, also known as the Miami entrance, is the closest entry to the Greater Miami, Florida, area. At this entrance, you’ll find the Shark Valley Visitor Center. The final main entryway is the Everglades City entrance, which is closest to Naples.

The Anhinga Trail: A Must-Do Route

Those visiting the Everglades National Park with wildlife in mind will want to plan on hiking the Anhinga Trail. While not the longest trail in the park, it offers some of the best wildlife views. It’s a 0.8-mile trek round-trip that guides visitors through a sawgrass marsh. You can check out anhingas, herons, turtles, alligators, and many other birds along the route. Because of the wildlife views, it’s one of the most popular hiking trails in the park.

Hiking Trails

Quite a few hiking trails are available throughout the park, offering spectacular views of the varying natural landscapes. Many trails are under two miles, so you may want to combine a few to create longer hikes. There are also canoeing and biking trails in the park. Some must-do trails include the Tamiami Trail, Bayshore Loop, Three-in-one Trail, and Snake Bight Trail. Those interested in longer routes can check out Shark Valley Tram Trail, Long Pine Key Trail, and Coastal Prairie Trail. Each of these treks is over 10 miles.

How to explore Florida’s Everglades National Park

This is one of the national parks that caters to nature lovers of varying interests. There are quite a number of available activities you can do in the park. No matter how often you visit, you can experience the Everglades in a new way. Some available things to do in the park include bicycling, boating, bird watching, kayaking, fishing, camping, geo-caching, canoeing, and wildlife viewing. For a more immersive experience, you can go slough-slogging. Slogging, aka off-trail hiking, is a way to get closer to nature and some of the park’s wildlife.

While you can do the activities on your own, you can also join ranger-led programs or tours for a more in-depth experience. These programs and tours will allow you to learn about the park as you sightsee on a boat, trek behind park rangers on a hike, explore the area via tram, and more.

When to visit Everglades National Park?

Avoid the Everglades National Park during the summer, if possible. With the warmer weather come mosquitoes, no-see-ums, and swelteringly hot days. The best time to visit is winter, as you can avoid the bugs while getting stunning views of the local wildlife. Fall and spring are also great times to head to this national park, especially if you want to avoid the winter crowds.

Tips to Have the Best Experience at Everglades National Park

1. Make a plan before heading into the park. This Florida park is so large it’s necessary to make a plan before you visit. Additionally, many sections of the park do not have cell service. For safety (and a better experience), plan ahead and become familiar with the park maps before visiting.

2. Don’t expect to see the entire park in one day. As mentioned, the park is quite large. It’s impossible to explore the entire Everglades National Park within one day. Set correct

expectations and allow multiple days to visit to see as much as possible. If you only have one day, focus on either the south or north part of the park.

3. Plan extra time for activities outside of the park. There’s so much to see in the southern tip of Florida. Ensure you plan plenty of time to visit additional attractions, like Big Cypress National Preserve, Dry Tortugas National Park, and the observation tower at Pa-hay-okee Overlook.

Now that you’ve gotten the low-down on how to visit Everglades National Park, you can successfully plan a trip to one of Florida’s natural wonders. Find more details, tips, and advice on national parks in our blog.