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This trip guide to planning a two day trip to Everglades National Park is for my mom. My parents are “snowbirding” this winter down in Florida. For those who don’t know, “snowbirding” is spending the winter somewhere warm when you normally live somewhere cold. Do I need to explain this concept? If you are, like me, from the Midwest, this is a pretty common thing for your grandparents to do. If you live elsewhere in the world, think of Florida like the southern coast of Spain or something. You need warm weather in the winter, and Florida can provide.
My mom asked me the other day about planning a quick, two day trip to Everglades National Park, which I visited about a year into the pandemic. I realized that while I had posted a few photos on my IG, I had never captured the details here on HFIL. This post is to right that wrong: a guide for a long weekend trip to Everglades National Park – Gulf Coast Edition. Below is a summary of my trip plus a general guide to spending two to three days at the Gulf Coast entrance of Everglades National Park.
About the Park
The first thing to understand about Everglades National Park is that it’s enormous – practically the entire southern tip of Florida is either ENP, a state park, or a national preserve. Everglades National Park has four visitor centers over its 1.5 million square acres. Three VCs are closer to Homestead and Miami, and one on the Gulf Coast near Everglades City. Since I was already on the Gulf side, I visited the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in late March, 2021. UPDATE: The Gulf Coast Visitor Center was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in 2022. I’ve checked all the websites for places below, but be sure to double check for operating hours.
The second thing to know is that the Gulf Coast side of the Everglades is not all what we see on CSI:Miami, where sunglasses guy zips over the water in an airboat to strains of The Who. Gulf Coast is also made up of thousands of small islands in the Gulf of Mexico, built up over decades from discarded shells beneath mangroves, creating tunnels into the brackish fresh water just off the coast.
What we see on CSI: Miami is often the sawgrass slough, or “rivers of grass”, which are a critical part of the Everglades ecosystem, literally cleaning the water as it flows down the state. Before your trip, read “The Swamp” by Michael Grunwald to hear how we’ve basically destroyed this ecosystem in the past century in pursuit of sugar, housing, and Disney.
The third thing to know is that WHEN you visit makes a big difference in how enjoyable your trip is. If you only have two or three days, you want to make the most of it. Everglades has two seasons: dry and wet. March was warm enough to wear shorts and tank tops and the bugs were only moderately bad. Visiting in the summer (or wet season) is insane – the mosquitoes will bite your face and it’s hot and humid. Plus you have hurricanes to worry about. Unlike most national parks out there, Everglades is a fall-winter-spring park, not a summer park. That means you can plan a visit in January when the rest of the country is knee-deep in snow!
Planning my two day trip to Everglades National Park
My trip to Everglades was two years ago, so my memories of planning are a little rusty. I checked my trusty Pinterest page to find an “Everglades” board with…one pin. A+ research, Laura. I’m sure I checked my trust Moon USA National Parks Guide (Bookshop.org af link) and the NPS website for planning my two day trip to Everglades National Park. Beyond that, idk – I went to my photos and IG to refresh my memory.
How much time do you need
I had planned to spend two nights and roughly two days in Everglades City sightseeing. As you’ll see below, EC is a little smaller than anticipated so I had quite a bit of time on my hands. Were I to go back, I would spend the second day kayaking around the Ten Thousand Islands in the Gulf. I thought two days was a great amount of time in this part of Everglades National Park. Gulf Coast alone could be done easily as a day trip from Sarasota, Fort Myers, Naples, Marco Island or Miami. If you have more than two days to spend, add on time in Miami or Homestead to explore the rest of the park and Biscayne NP.
Where in Florida is Everglades
I was visiting my grandfather near Sarasota, so I drove south on I-75 in my old Honda Civic. There is not public transport to Everglades City, so owning or renting a car is a necessity. It’s too far from major cities to rely on Uber. The drive to Everglades City was about 2.5 hours in moderate traffic. The drive passes by a number of popular retiree/vacation towns along the coast, so expect heavy traffic but plenty of places to stop for gas, food, or a beach break. Drive times to Everglades City:
- Tampa: 2.5-3 hours
- Sarasota: 2 hours
- Fort Myers: 1.5 hours
- Marco Island: 30 minutes
- Orlando: 4+ hours
- Miami: 1.5-2 hours (via Shark Valley across the park)
About the town
Everglades City is tiny. Tiiiinyyyy. It was much, much smaller than I expected for the entrance to a national park. A handful of restaurants, a gas station, no coffee shops, and more fishing shops that one would expect running along a main drag less than a mile long. The town, however, is steeped in history. The Museum of the Everglades (free) provides a primer on the Calusa Indians, the ecology of the area, and the history of white settlers coming in to muck it all up. (It’s true, read “The Swamp”. (af link)) I found a terrific book on Kindle Unlimited all about the history of the town. What a gem! “Hidden History of Everglades City” by Maureen Sullivan-Hartung was worth a to get a historical perspective on the town, including some small town gossip.
The town of Everglades City is small, with less than 500 residents, but it is steeped in history. It is on land from Glades culture of Native Americans, followed by the Calusa, and eventually the Seminoles. The highest point nearby is a shell island, Chokoloskee Island, built by the Native Americans of the Glades culture from discarded mollusk or oyster shells. If you are interested in learning more about the Everglades, the Native American cultures, and naturally how white folks pretty much ruined the entire ecosystem of Florida, check out the local free museum.
Also in town is the historic building Bank of Everglades, which a local historical society is turning into the new town visitor center. I chatted with the nice ladies from the society, and got a peek at the original bank vault still inside. It looks like they are still raising money to preserve the building at ESHP.
Day One
I made it to Everglades City to drop my bag off at my motel, Everglades City Motel (VRBO affiliate link; rooms from $209). It was clean, quiet, and had amazing air conditioning. For a two day trip to Everglades by myself, I did not need anything super fancy. For something a step up, try the historic hotels Everglades Rod & Gun Club or the Ivey House (VRBO affiliate link; rooms from $249). The Ivey has discounted kayak tours if you stay there. There are some other hotels and campgrounds in the area, as well, although your mileage may vary with AirBnbs. The nearest major towns are Marco Island and Naples, where you can find larger chain hotels like Marriotts.
Since my trip was a year into the pandemic, the Gulf Coast Visitor Center was actually closed (UPDATE 10/2023: The visitor center is closed due to Hurricane Ian. Boat trips are currently suspended due to construction. Check the website prior to your visit!!!) so I was not able to get a stamp in person. However, the Everglades Florida Adventures boat tour was open for a harbor cruise around the Ten Thousand Islands. For 90 minutes, cruise around Chokoloskee Bay to learn the history and nature that makes up this part of SW Florida. The official concessionaire site requires online reservations for the tour ($40 adults, $20 kids). Trips leave the visitor center hourly.
You KNOW I love a tour, so I thought it was fantastic. Did you know that the Gulf Coast Visitor Center is not actually IN the national park? It’s on state land! I had no idea until our naturalist guide told us on the tour. Everglades is also the third largest park by size in the lower 48! We saw loads of birds, including osprey, AND dolphins! They swam along our boat pontoons over and over again. This section of the park made me really want to spend more time in it. I mentally began planning a multi-day kayak trip through the islands the next time I visit. Several local outfitters have kayak or motorboat tours, or rent kayaks/canoes in the area.
Day Two
The next day I joined a friend of mine and his wife, who drove over from Miami. We did a kayak tour through the mangroves with Tour The Glades (239-260-4577). I originally picked this kayak outfitter because they offer a private kayak tour for just one person. My solo travel friends out there will understand how nice it is to be able to book an affordable excursion for just yourself. Since my friends joined me, this was not necessary after all.
Tour the Glades meets you ahead of time at a local spot, and then caravans with you to the put-in point at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park at the East River Paddle Trail. Our guide was a local named Kalen who was one of the best kayak tour guides I’ve ever had. He was a character!
Those in the know might recognize Fakahatchee as the location of the ghost orchid from the Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. Sadly, I saw no orchids while kayaking. However, we did see alligators, and lots of them. Like, so so many enormous alligators. Our guide said that the male gators were especially ornery lately, and to paddle clear of them as much as possible. I have one photo where I could see about eight alligators in it!!
We paddled for three hours through the tunnels created by mangrove trees. When we hit a small glade, my friend brought out stone crabs and White Claws for a snack. Stone Crabs are a local favorite, where (allegedly) fishermen take one claw from the crabs, which then grows back, making it a sustainable food (again, allegedly). Highly recommend! Pro tip: pick them up at Grimm’s on the way into town. You could get them at the gas station but…just go to Grimm’s (919 Dupont St, Everglades, FL).
On our afternoon paddle, Kalen regaled us with stories of his youth (a mere two years prior), partying in the glades, fighting alligators; real Florida Man stuff. I cannot imagine trying to paddle through the glades without him – he knew this park like the back of his hand. At one point he asked us which way we thought was the way out, and we were dead wrong. While you can rent kayaks locally for the state park, a local guide is worth the price for the safety, expertise and experience. The tour for the three of us was $100 apiece (plus a great tip). Had I been solo, it would have only been $125. Well worth it in my book to protect me from the alligators!
Dining in Everglades City
My trip was during 2021 amid shutdowns. Though Florida was mostly WIDE OPEN (I checked my IG stories and I mention this several times), few dining establishments were actually open. I had lunch at the Rod & Gun Club, a historic building with a lot of charm. For dinner, I literally followed the black vultures to find a place that was open. My photos just show a oldboat with “Beach Bar” painted on it. It must have been fine? How can you go wrong with a Corona and seafood in Florida, right?
For breakfasts, Island Cafe was able to supply me with a large styrofoam cup of coffee. Where I really struck out for food was at the Havana Cafe on Chokoloskee Island. The outdoor dining area is stunning – filled with philodendrons, stag ferns and more – but the service was non existent. Maybe it was staffing shortages in the pandemic, or maybe not. On my next trip, I willstop at Grimm’s for stone crabs and some White Claws to call it a night.
What else to do on a two day trip to Everglades
- Love history? Visit the Smallwood store on Chokoloskee Island. This historic store was built in 1906 by the early white settlers and still stands today! Check hours – it was closed when I went to visit.
- A ten minute drive from town is Big Cypress National Preserve, where you can take a boardwalk over and above the water to look down upon the wildlife, including, of course, more alligators. You can also drive through the preserve and find other walking or biking trails. They have a great gift shop, where I met a terrific ranger, Ranger Athena, who took my picture for me. Thanks Ranger Athena!
- Nearby you can visit the smallest post office in the US, the Ochopee Post Office. It was previously a pipe shed.
- Fakahatchee Strand State Park is also about a ten minute drive, which has walking boardwalks, kayak trails and more. Parking is $3.
- Continue visiting the Everglades! Drive across the park on US 41 to the Shark Valley Visitor Center, close to Homestead, FL. If you continue through Homestead off 997, you can also visit the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center and the Flamingo Visitor Center to see other parts of the park. All VCs should be open year-round, although staffing hours may vary by season.
- Miami is also the entrance to Biscayne National Park.
Helpful Links to plan a two day trip to Everglades City & Everglades National Park Gulf Coast Visitor Center
- Everglades National Park NPS site: Admission is $30 credit/debit or pre-pay only. Check the site for openings/closures.
- Tour the Glades Kayak Tours
- Hi Friends It’s Laura Pinterest Page for Everglades
- A+K: 7 Things to do in Everglades National Park: good orientation to the park regions and things to do on the Miami side.
- Bey of Travel: 12 Best Hikes in Everglades Florida: Florida is VERY FLAT so hikes is being very, very generous here. Many are on wooden boardwalks, which makes Everglades more accessible to strollers, wheelchairs or other accessibility devices than other parks.
- Rileys Roves: The Expert Guide to Everglades National Park: Solid maps, weather stats, and details about the park
Books to read about Everglades
- Hidden History of Everglades City and Points Nearby by Maureen Sullivan-Hartung: A really enjoyable look at this small town through the lens of newspaper articles and memoirs
- The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald: An unbelievable history of this state, how this complex ecosystem works, and how we ruined it in less time than it took you to read this blog
- The Everglades: River of Grass by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas: Marjorie was an early proponent of protecting this wilderness.
- The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean: They made this into the movie Adaptation, set in Fakahatchee State Park (still on my to-read list honestly)
- Totch: A Life in the Everglades Loren G. “Totch” Brown: Also still on my to-read list, a memoir
- Ten Thousand Islands by Randy Wayne White: OK this was a fairly terrible cozy mystery/thriller but it’s set on Marco Island so I read it anyway. Two stars.
- All links are to Bookshop and are affiliate links.
Where to stay
- Everglades City Motel: I was very happy with my stay here. Basic motel suitable for one person, with outdoor grill and patio area, rooms from $209 (VRBO affiliate link)
- Ivey House historic hotel: What a great hotel to stay at! rooms from $249 (VRBO affiliate link)
- Budget Everglades City Cabin w Screened Porch and Boat slip: How adorable is this little cabin? The screened in porch is clutch for those summer nights for only $103/nt. (VRBO affiliate link)
- Larger Kayaker’s Paradise Home: Sleeps 7 and comes with a kayak, from $329/nt. (VRBO affiliate link)
- Private Eye House: Look idk why it’s called a private eye home, but you KNEW I would include it for that one detail. Sleeps 6 from $239/nt. (VRBO affiliate link)
I acknowledge Everglades National Park is on the ancestral lands of the Calusa, Glades, Seminole and Miccosukee peoples.
Check out my top ten dog-friendly National Parks guide.
Want to read more about taking my dog to the national parks? All of my dog-friendly posts are here.
If you visit Everglades National Park or find this information helpful, please let me know. Follow me on IG: @HiFriendsItsLaura
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