The Best Things to Do in Everglades City, Florida

The Working Water

Everglades City sits at the edge of the Everglades, population 352, with more homes held for seasonal use than for year-round living. The median age is 59.1. The unemployment rate is zero. This is a working stone-crab town, and the work is the draw.

Barron Collier bought land here in 1922, incorporated the town in 1923, and built it to build a road. He funded State Road 29 from Everglades City to Immokalee, completed in 1929. The Atlantic Coast Line reached town in 1928, the southernmost point that railroad ever got. The town became a county seat in 1923 and lost it two years after Hurricane Donna struck in 1960. The legislature moved the seat to East Naples. The town kept the water.

Get Out on the Water

The main event is the swamp. Airboat tours are the standard way in, and the town has more than a few operators on Dupont Street and the Tamiami Trail.

Captain Jack's Airboat Tours runs out of 905 Dupont St with a 4.7 rating from 4,680 reviews. That is the largest review count in town. Speedy's Airboat Tours is on the same block, rated 4.6 from 488 reviews. Everglades City Airboat Tours sits at 907 Dupont St, rated 4.7 from 1,780 reviews. These are the boats that get you across the sawgrass fast.

If you want a different pace, the kayak outfits have exceptional numbers. Everglades Adventures Kayak & Eco Tours at 605 Buckner Ave N holds a 4.9 from 569 reviews. Everglades Kayaking on the Tamiami Trail matches that rating from 245 reviews. Paddling is quiet, slow, and closer to the water than any airboat will get you.

For private trips, Tour The Glades - Private Wildlife Tours at 32016 Tamiami Trl E carries a perfect 5.0 from 397 reviews. Jenny's Eco Everglades Wilderness Tours is at the same address, also 5.0, from 286 reviews. Serenity Fly at 875 Copeland Ave rounds out the perfect scores with 5.0 from 107 reviews. These are smaller operations, and the ratings suggest they earn the repeat business.

A few more operators fill out the list. Jungle Erv's Airboat Tours at 31222 Tamiami Trl E is rated 4.5 from 1,134 reviews. Everglades National Park Adventures runs from 815 Oyster Bar Ln, rated 4.7 from 494 reviews. Everglades Florida Adventures at 905 Copeland Ave holds 4.5 from 293 reviews. Down South Airboat tours at 209 Collier Ave is rated 4.8 from 270 reviews.

The dense concentration of tour operators on two streets is the point. You do not need to shop around much. Pick the one with the boat that looks right, the guide who talks straight, and go.

The Visitor Center

The Gulf Coast Visitor Center at 815 Oyster Bar Ln is the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center for Everglades National Park. It is rated 4.4 from 669 reviews. This is the park's western gateway, and it is where you sort out what you can do without a guide. Stop here first. The rangers know the tides, the weather, and which routes are actually open.

The Museum

Museum of the Everglades at 105 Broadway Ave W is rated 4.7 from 368 reviews. It is a history museum in a town that has one. The building holds the story of the county seat that lost its county, the railroad that came south to die, and the road that Collier paid for. If you want context before you get on a boat, this is the place.

The Festival

In February, the Everglades Seafood Festival brings 40,000 to 50,000 people into a town of 352. Three days of live country music, carnival rides, arts and crafts, and stone crab. The proceeds go to schools, local charities, hurricane relief, and the commercial fishing fleet. That last part matters. The festival is not a tourist trap; it is a fundraiser for the people who work the water.

The Numbers That Matter

The census data tells you what kind of place this is. Total housing units: 343. Vacant units: 234. Seasonal or recreational homes: 203. Median home value: $371,400. Median gross rent: $1,987. Median household income: $75,163.

Only 32.8 percent of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is not a knock. This is a town where people run boats, fix engines, and haul crab traps. The median age of 59.1 suggests a lot of people came here to retire, and a lot of people stayed after the work changed.

The population was 208 at the last census. The town has been called Everglades, the City of Everglades, and now Everglades City. It has been renamed twice since 1923. What has not changed is the position: the last place before the swamp swallows the road.

Go Now

Everglades City is not a resort. It is not a "hidden gem" or a "best kept secret." It is a small town on the edge of a national park, with a handful of streets, a few dozen boats, and a festival that briefly makes it the biggest town in South Florida.

Get on the water. See the visitor center first. Eat the stone crab in season. Walk the museum. Then leave the way you came, down State Road 29, the road Collier built to get here in the first place.