Miami day trip! Florida Everglades airboat tours to see alligators in South Florida?! 🐊 Florida vacation travel tips

Hi there!

An airboat ride is a classic Everglades activity!

If you ever watched CSI Miami and remember those scenes of an aerial view of a boat ride through the Everglades, that’s an airboat ride!

Doing an Everglades airboat tour is riding through the Everglades through tall grasses as seen on TV!

So you might consider it a mandatory activity to do an Everglades airboat tour as part of your one day in Everglades National Park.

And aside from airboats, you know that the Everglades are known for alligators. (And if you didn’t… well now you know!)

So then…

Can you see alligators on an Everglades airboat tour?!

According to a park ranger at an Everglades National Park visitor center, the airboat tour seems to be more about the ride in an airboat than it is about seeing alligators.

Still, I did see a few alligators during the Everglades airboat tour!

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So, yes, it’s possible that you can see alligators on an Everglades airboat tour.

Although to avoid extreme disappointment, it will be good to have the expectation that you might not see an alligator.

Because it’s possible that you may not see any alligators on your airboat tour in the Everglades.

Everglades airboat tour tickets

The Everglades airboat tour starts outside Everglades National Park along the Tamiami Trail.

The Tamiami Trail is US-41 and a road that you can drive if you will be driving between Miami and Naples.

There are 3 airboat tour companies that are conveniently located along US-41 Tamiami Trail that are also partners of Everglades National Park.

Where to go for Everglades airboat tours along the Tamiami Trail in South Florida

If you want to take an airboat tour in the Everglades, you can do so with these authorized airboat businesses:

• Coopertown
• Everglades Safari Park
• Gator Park

These are the “authorized airboat businesses,” as authorized by the National Park Service to do business in Everglades National Park.

Out of the 3 Everglades airboat companies, I ended up doing a Coopertown airboat tour, more or less because the name sounded less commercialized and more “natural” and “wild” compared to “safari park” or “gator park.” 😜

But well, it turns out Coopertown one also had a “gator show.” (And you might as well go see it because it’s included in your ticket cost!)

The gator show lasts about 10 minutes and they will tell you about the alligators they have in captivity.

It’s even said that one of the alligators has a claim to fame with an appearance on CSI Miami! (And other movies and TV shows.)

Aside from that, I asked one group on the tour why they chose Coopertown and one of the reasons they said was because it had the best reviews.

So, there’s that!

Everglades airboat ride: alligators!

👆 Everglades airboat ride: Spot the swimming alligator!

👆 Everglades airboat ride: Spot the swimming alligator!

And that’s a bit about an Everglades airboat tour!

There are places along the Tamiami Trail that have chances for alligator sightings, so it’s a drive you might want to do if seeing alligators is very important to you.

More for your trip to South Florida and beyond:

• Miami to Key West road trip things to do
• Where to see alligators in Everglades National Park
• Where to see crocodiles in Everglades National Park
• Best things to do in Everglades National Park
• Tamiami Trail alligators
• Fakahatchee Strand State Park alligators
• Myakka River State Park alligators
• Wakulla Springs State Park alligators

HAPPY AIRBOAT RIDE IN THE EVERGLADES!