Trips & tickets
A narrated 35–40-minute airboat ride in Everglades National Park, then a 30-minute wildlife and alligator show. The listing puts the park fee at $8 per person, paid on site, and free with a National Park pass.
An air-conditioned bus from Miami to Sawgrass Recreation Park, outside the national park, for a 45-minute airboat ride at up to 40 mph with priority boarding, then a reptile exhibit with over 50 rescued and adopted animals.
A guided sit-on-top kayak tour into Everglades National Park, through mangrove tunnels, tidal creeks and small lakes, with a naturalist guide and a 2-person kayak. Watch for herons, spoonbills and wood storks.
The full GetYourGuide listing for the Everglades: airboat rides inside and outside the national park, private airboats, day trips from Miami, kayak tours and boat tours, with live prices.
The Everglades is not one trip but several. The National Park Service runs no airboats: the park lists three airboat concessions inside its boundary, all on the Tamiami Trail (US 41) east of Shark Valley, and every other airboat ride sold as an Everglades tour runs on the wetlands outside it. Inside the park the main paid experiences are the Shark Valley tram, the boat tours from Flamingo and Everglades City, and kayak and bike rentals.
The park's three road entrances do not connect inside it, so where you are staying decides the day: Shark Valley and the airboats from Miami, the Anhinga Trail and Flamingo from Homestead, and the Ten Thousand Islands from Naples. These pages compare them plainly.
Plan it properly
How to reach the Everglades from Miami, Naples and the Keys: the three park entrances, the Tamiami Trail airboat stops, driving times by road, the seasonal trolley and how to plan a day.
What it costs to visit the Everglades: the $35 vehicle pass, the $100 nonresident fee, annual and America the Beautiful passes, opening hours at each entrance, and what the tram, boats and airboats charge.
Which Everglades airboat rides run inside the national park and which do not, what a ride includes and costs, private airboats, and how airboats compare with the tram, the Flamingo and Gulf Coast boats and kayaking.
The river of grass
Photographs licensed from Shutterstock.
On the park's fees page, a private vehicle pass costs $35, a motorcycle $30 and a visitor on foot or by bike $20, each valid for 7 days at all entrances. Under-16s are free. Non-US residents aged 16 and older pay an extra $100 unless they hold an Annual or America the Beautiful pass; our tickets and entrances guide has the details.
Only three. The park lists Coopertown, Gator Park and Everglades Safari Park, all on the Tamiami Trail (US 41) 15 to 20 minutes east of Shark Valley. The park runs no airboats itself, and every other Everglades airboat ride is outside the national park; our airboat tours guide explains the difference.
Everglades Safari Park lists its 30 to 40-minute ride at $44.00 per adult, with an $8 park fee included. Outside the park, Everglades Holiday Park lists $41.99 per adult plus tax and fees. The tours page compares shared, private and Miami-pickup rides.
For Shark Valley and the airboats, take the Florida Turnpike to US 41 and drive 25 miles west. For the main entrance, take the Turnpike south to Florida City and Palm Drive. Without a car, the seasonal Homestead trolley is the only public transportation into the park; see our guide to getting there from Miami and Naples.