Everglades National Park is super accessible from Miami. It’s full of wildlife & makes for a good day trip, although I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to visit it.
Helpful Fast Facts
- Everglades NP is a huge park and split into four visitor centers: Gulf Coast, Flamingo, Ernest F. Coe, and Shark Valley. Ernest F. Coe and Shark Valley are on the Eastern side, the most accessible from Miami, and the area I visited
- Main activities are hiking, biking, or boating
- Because it’s the everglades, hikes are flat. Popular hiking trails include Gumbo Limbo Trail and Anhinga Trail in the Royal Palm/Ernest F. Coe area, and the 15 mile Shark Valley trail
- Shark Valley is also very popular for biking
- There are a lot of boat tours you can book, but I wasn’t as interested since I’ve been on similar experiences already.
- Food is very limited inside the park, would definitely suggest packing something
Hiking the Royal Palm Area
On my trip to Miami, I decided to stop by the Everglades NP to check it out. I had been in similar areas before but never the NP, so I was super excited! The Royal Palm Area seemed like the best bang for my buck – close to Miami, short hikes, wildlife guaranteed!
Anhinga Trail (0.8 miles): This is a very short trail that starts at the Royal Palm Visitor Center. You could walk this trail in flip flops. It winds around a marsh area, where you’ll see a lot of fish, birds, and alligators. On a weekday morning, there were already so many people here, including a tour group.
Gumbo Limbo Trail (0.4 miles): This trailhead is right next to Anhinga Trail, so it’s a good one to tackle after Anhinga. The trail is more shaded and goes through some unique trees. It was a little underwhelming to be honest but it doesn’t require much effort
Overall Thoughts
Overall I think the park is fine. For a younger, more active person I would give this park rating a 6/10. It’s nice but not nearly as exciting as some of the other NPs. I can see why some people love it, but it wasn’t for me. I was overhearing some conversations of older (70+) groups, and they were having a blast. There were a lot of excited dad-tographers with huge lenses too.
IMO you don’t need to spend more than 1 day here, but it’s great break from the hecticness of Miami.