Experience the best of Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park covers the southern end of the Florida peninsula, the largest protected part of the Everglades, a shallow river of grass that flows slowly south to Florida Bay. Sawgrass marsh, hardwood hammocks, pinelands, cypress swamp and a tangled mangrove coast make up the landscape. The park was dedicated in 1947 and is also a World Heritage Site.

The Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm is a short boardwalk where alligators, turtles and wading birds gather at a pond, and Shark Valley has a loop road about 24 kilometres long, travelled by bicycle or tram, leading to an observation tower. At Flamingo, on Florida Bay at the end of the park road, manatees and crocodiles can be seen, and boats from Everglades City explore the Ten Thousand Islands. It is one of the few places where alligators and American crocodiles live side by side.

Roadside stands around Homestead, outside the park, sell mangoes, avocados and key limes, and restaurants in Everglades City serve stone crab claws, fried catfish and alligator tail. Birds crowd the shrinking pools in the winter dry season, and the wet summer fills the marsh with afternoon storms.