40 to 50 minutes from South Beach, depending on traffic. Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale is the closest airboat dock to Miami Beach.
What better way to liven up your time in Florida than with a day trip to Everglades Holiday Park?
What better way to liven up your time in Florida than with a day trip to Everglades Holiday Park, where you can catch an airboat tour, rent a bike and hit up some trails, or hold baby alligators? The adventures within the Everglades are thrilling and new even to a lot of native Floridians.
From South Beach, Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale is a 40 to 50 minute drive, depending on traffic: across the causeway, up I-95 or the Turnpike to I-595 West, then US-27 South to Griffin Road.
Buy airboat tour tickets online and pick your boat time before you leave the beach.
No car? The VIP tour with round-trip transportation picks up at Miami Beach hotels and stops across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and brings you to the park and back the same day.
South Beach is excellent for the ocean, and downtown Miami is great for shopping and cultural attractions, but you can’t beat the raw and untamed beauty of the Everglades.
The Everglades are a subtropical wetland ecosystem that spans two million acres across central and South Florida. During the wet season, Lake Okeechobee overflows and releases water. It creates a very slow-moving, shallow river flooded with sawgrass marsh. Because of this, that river has been named the “River of Grass.”
The Everglades are known for being a diverse landscape that includes Cypress swamps, wet parries, and mangroves. Originally, the Greater Everglades had an even greater diversity, but since the 1800s, the Everglades landscape has been being changed by humans.
The best way to see the Everglades is on an airboat tour. The airboats at Everglades Holiday Park are state-of-the-art and guided by experienced and professional captains. From these boats, you will see lots of animals in their natural habitats. Since they’re pointed out by your tour guides, you won’t have to worry about missing even the ones that are hardest to see.
Other ways to see the Everglades that are a little more personally intensive include bike rentals and kayak rentals. You can also hike any of the numerous trails that wind around the park.
The Everglades are always changing. They’re massive and grand. The landscape and the wildlife are always morphing into something you’ve never seen before. You can visit the Everglades every year of your life, and you’ll always see something new.
The Everglades are home to hundreds of species. There are more than 360 species of birds, 300 types of salt and freshwater fish, 40 mammal species, and 50 reptile species. 23 of these species are on the federal endangered and threatened species lists which means you are fairly likely to see something rare as well as incredible.
The airboat tours are always thrilling. The boats speed across the water, ignoring the bounds of human capabilities. Wildlife teems on the shores and beneath the waters. You can’t be in an airboat on the waters and not experience a new depth to the Everglades.
The tours are approximately 60 minutes long; they’re educational, exciting, and engaging for all ages.
It’s not a long drive from South Beach to the Everglades, as mentioned above. With traffic, it will take you less than an hour and a half to arrive at your closest access.
The Everglades have access points, and each one has a visitor’s center.
The Shark Valley Visitor Center is named for two of the Everglades estuaries: Shark River and Little Shark River. At the center, you will see all kinds of wildlife, such as alligators and egrets, Key deer, and herons. It’s a beautiful, bustling place.
The two-hour guided tram tour will take you up to the Shark Valley observation tower, where you can see sights unlike anything you’ve seen before.
It’s always best to be prepared, so take a look at what you’ll need for your trip.
Hiking shorts/pants
Moisture wicking shirt
Light rain jacket
Plenty of sunscreen
Wide-brimmed sun hat
Sunglasses
Hair tie
Bug repellant
Water bottle
Moisture wicking socks
Sandals
Hiking shoes
At Everglades Holiday Park, the airboat tours are always fun and engaging. Because they’re so mixed up with wild sightings and fun facts, topped with the beautiful Florida sun and easy breeze, there’s hardly a person alive who doesn’t find the airboat tours a fantastic way to spend an hour.
The Everglades are teeming with the great American alligator. They love entertaining the tourists with their sunbathing. They’re around the shores and under the waters.
Remember to never feed the alligators. When people feed alligators, the animals become aggressive towards humans, which they begin to see as a source of food. When this happens, it’s a problem for everybody.
If you see an alligator, always maintain a calm demeanor and give it a wide berth. You don’t want to make the animal feel threatened in any way. Thankfully, they’re not aggressive until they’re taught to be or until their space is invaded. Keep your distance, don’t feed them, and you’ll be fine.
The park has everything you could need for a full day of entertainment. There is a gift shop, concessions store, café/deli, bait room, fishing docks, boat ramps, an animal sanctuary, the renowned gator pit, and a beautiful picnic area.
The park itself is intriguing, and we’re careful to keep it well-maintained so that our guests have the best experience possible. There are employees all around to answer any questions you have or help you with a rental, maybe a tour. Whatever you need, we’re there to help you.
We love our Everglades, and we’re passionate about sharing breathtaking beauty with everyone we come into contact with. We want to encourage being informed and caring for a landscape that has already blessed us and housed hundreds of incredible species for so long, which is why our park will not only give you the time of your life, it will leave you knowing so much.
Animal Encounters & Everglades VIP Tour Pick-up service:
Open 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM daily. Park hours are subject to unpredictable weather.
Park Info:
Open 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM daily. Park hours are subject to unpredictable weather.
7 Days a week: 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Open daily 9:00 AM. Last full 60-minute tour 4:00 PM. Last boat 4:30 PM (30-minute ride). Arrive 30 minutes before the tour you want.
**All prices are subject to change without notice at our discretion. Please call our office directly for the most up-to-date pricing information.
