Everglades City: Florida ecotourism destination day trip column for summer

photo courtesy Visit Florida

Everglades City is truly in the Everglades.

Florida Ecotourism Destination
Summer Day Trippin' Column: Everglades City

Tucked away behind major highways, cypress swamps and mangroves, you’ll find Everglades City. With its neighbor, Chokoloskee -- which is hardly more than a few marinas and boat ramps -- Everglades City is the end of the road before reaching Florida Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands.

That’s not to say it’s necessarily quiet here. Laid-back and less populated, the town can still be abuzz with boaters, paddlers and anglers heading out on the bay. Look for kayak, airboat and airplane tours on the road into town. Reminiscent of small towns in the Keys or the way Marco Island used to be, Everglades City thrives on its location on the water south of the Tamiami Trail east of where that road turns near Naples. Bait and marine shops are about as prevalent as seafood restaurants, true to the town’s history as a commercial fishing center beginning in the 1930s.

Before that, the town was the base for the building of the Tamiami Trail -- a major undertaking by developer Barron Collier and an engineering feat for its time. In fact, by some accounts, Everglades City wouldn’t have come into existence without this operation because dredging for the project created the land the town is built on. As its name suggests, Everglades City is truly in the Everglades. The Everglades City Museum, located in a building constructed under Collier’s direction, preserves the town’s history and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Another place to visit -- and the main one for nature travelers -- is Everglades National Park Gulf Coast Visitor Center, standing visibly on the main road into town. (Although the Everglades cover many miles, don’t expect this visitor center, one of 4 in the national park, to be large. One uneducated visitor was overheard saying, "This isn’t very big for a national park.") From here, you can take a boat tour into the park’s mangrove islands. The visitor center is open daily from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. November through April, and 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. May through October. The 1-hour, 45-minute tours leave every half-hour. Price varies depending on where you go; $16 or $25 for adults and $8 or $12.50 for children 6 to 12. Traveling by boat is the only way to see this portion of the Everglades. Adventurous folks begin their multiday paddling trips through the Everglades at the visitor center, but usually not now in the summer, which is too hot and buggy.

Nearby, Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park provide additional places to experience southern Florida nature.