9 Unmissable Everglades Eco Tours To Immerse Yourself In

by Lori Sorrentino

If you’re looking to get off-the-grid for the day in the watery wilderness of the Florida Everglades, here are 9 unmissable and sustainable Everglades eco tours offered by 4 local tour companies we’ve worked with and highly recommend.

There are many Everglades nature tours to choose from, but the 9 unique tours listed here offer hours of adventure through some of southwest Florida’s most beautiful wildlife preserves and parks and are a good way to safely explore the Everglades wilderness.

So if you want some top-rated tours led by experienced biologist guides and knowledgable Florida naturalists that are immersive and easy on the environment, these eco tours are for you, and they’re perfect for families and travelers looking for fun, educational experiences.

To get to the heart of the Everglades, just head east on the Tamiami Trail to Ochopee, Everglades City, and into Big Cypress.

It’s an easy day trip from Naples and well worth a visit.

Exploring the Everglades

With over 1.5 million acres, the Florida Everglades are a vast, expansive wilderness, not to mention the dozens of ancillary parks, preserves, wildlife reserves, and nature trails adjacent to them.

Clearly it is a destination on its own when you visit south Florida and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to explore them from camping, kayaking, taking a swamp walk through the water, airboating, pole boating, regular boating and the list goes on.

While you can clearly visit the Glades as a day trip from Naples or Miami, you’ll only have time for a quick tour.

But to really experience the Everglades takes spending time, slow traveling the National Park and surrounding Preserves for a few days and getting to know the indigenous culture and the local history.

Simply sitting and listening, taking in the smells, and resting quietly in nature appreciating the incredible amount of wildlife that emerges can be an amazing experience.

The Florida Everglades is a complex and fragile watershed ecosystem that spans thousands of square miles. Starting well north near Kissimmee, the watershed flows south into Lake Okeechobee and down into southwest Florida, the Ten Thousand Islands and into Florida Bay like a giant funnel of slow-moving water.

This is a rare and wet wilderness that requires planning to visit, and lots of careful planning to visit for a few days or longer.

Which is why we love working with and promoting tour operators who have a passion for all that is the Everglades — a love and respect of the environment so deep that those values can’t help but influence each and every guest they take through.

Whether you only have a day, or just want to supplement your own independent travel with a day tour, consider taking one or more of these tours.

Here are our favorites!

9 Unmissable Everglades Eco Tours

Friends of Rookery Bay Tours

300 Tower Road Naples, FL — RookeryBay.org

4 Recommended Tours

The Mangrove Tunnels and Mudflats Kayak Tour - a highly recommended family kayak tour!
Life's A Beach Barrier Island Shelling Tour
Essence of the Estuary Eco-Cruise
High Points Ancient Island Excursion

Tour Overview

The Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve between Naples and Marco Island is one of the region’s most important ecosystems and also one of our favorite places to explore nature in SWFL!

Supported and maintained by the non-profit organization Friends of Rookery Bay, the 110,000-acre reserve is close to everything yet a world away.

The Reserve encompasses a staggering forty percent of Collier County's coastline and extends from Keewaydin Island near downtown Naples through the Ten Thousand Islands and western Everglades.

Rookery Bay tours are family friendly Everglades eco tours around the waters of Rookery Bay, which are mostly sheltered from the Gulf and therefore usually calm and shallow back bay waters.

There are several ways to explore Rookery Bay:

1. Rent a kayak (or bring your own) and paddle on your own - through mangroves, tunnels, and around the small rookeries where local bird species love to roost.

Friends of Rookery Bay offers hourly, daily and weekly kayak rentals.

But you don’t necessarily have to paddle the Bay to go kayaking in Marco Island. They can drop off kayaks at the Isle of Capri Paddlecraft Park and Shell Island Road kayak launch area (for paddling on the Bay), or at homes/locations in Marco Island, Isle of Capri, Goodland and South Naples (for paddling other waterways).

2. Book an organized kayak tour - The Mangrove Tunnels and Mudflats Kayak Tour runs daily from 9 am - noon with up to 8 paddlers, and welcome children ages 3 and up in a tandem kayak.

Tours launch from the Isle of Capri Paddlecraft Park.

3. Take a guided Rookery Bay boat tour - Three unique private boat tours run daily for 2-4 passengers in one party, and leave from the Rookery Bay Shell Island Road Field Station:

Life's A Beach Barrier Island Shelling Tour - This tour explores a remote part of Keewaydin Island with incredible nature and some of the best shelling in Naples and Marco Island.
Essence of the Estuary Eco Cruise - You’ll be immersed in some of the most beautiful areas of natural Southwest Florida, along the western part of the Everglades ecosystem and learn all about the amazing relationship between the mangroves and the local wildlife. Dolphins, manatees, and birds galore!
High Points Ancient Island Excursion - This unique tour cruises the back part of Rookery Bay to visit one of the most remote and unusual places in the reserve — Sand Hill. This ancient sand dune relic from the Pleistocene Era is one of the highest points in all of Collier County — a whopping 21’ above sea level!

What’s Included

Kayak trips include use of a single or tandem kayak, all equipment and paddling instruction.

Boat trips include all equipment, licensed Captain and knowledgable guide.

What to Bring

Bring a sun hat, bottled water, sunscreen, and bug repellant.

In addition, we recommend wearing closed-toed shoes, long pants, and long-sleeved shirts on the High Points Ancient Island Excursion, as you’ll be hiking through sandy brush where fleas, chiggers, and fire ants can be present.

On the other boat tours, wear clothes that you do not mind getting wet.

And leave all electronic equipment locked in your car, as they may get wet.

What We Loved

Both the kayak tours and the boat tours offered by Friends of Rookery Bay are lead by local biologists and naturalists with expert knowledge and a passion for the local Everglades ecosystem.

The tours are fun and educational and you’ll come away with a new appreciation for the region!

Cost

Half-Day Tour: 2-3 Hours

Tours with Friends of Rookery Bay range in cost from $65 - $100 for a 2-3 hour tour.

Jenny’s Eco Everglades Wilderness Tours

PO Box 228, Everglades City, FL — EcoEverglades.com

Recommended Tour

Majestic Mangrove Kayak Tour (Sunrise in summer)

Tour Overview

One look at the photos on their Facebook page tells you a lot about Jenny Walls, the owner of Jenny’s Eco Everglades Wilderness Tours who by the looks of it must get up and out on the water at the crack of dawn!

If you love the quiet stillness of the Everglades at sunrise as much as we do, you should join her.

Jenny is a former US park ranger and trained naturalist with a USCG Master Captain's License who began guiding professional tours as a National Park Service Interpretive Park Ranger in Big Cypress over a decade ago.

And it seems a natural evolution that she started running her own tours and Jenny’s Eco Wilderness Tours was born in 2014.

Today she offers tours in the western Everglades launching out of Fakahatchee and the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge areas.

Our morning tour with Jenny began at 8:00am and lasted well past noon, although we took a few detours along the way.

The small group of 4 was flexible on time and Jenny showed us a part of the western Everglades that we’d never seen before, including a marshy area that provided amazing glimpses of wading and migrating birds, invasive schools of cyclids. jumping all around our kayaks, native mullet, and other species of wildlife.

What’s Included

All the necessary gear including the kayak, paddle, and comfortable life vests is provided, as well as bottled water, snacks, dry bags, mosquito head nets if needed, insect repellent, sun protection, and everything else you might need.

What To Bring

A hat, polarized sunglasses (bring an inexpensive pair in case they fall in the water), lip balm, tennis shoes, water shoes, or waterproof sandals such as Keens or Merrill with stability and traction.

Loose lightweight long pants and long-sleeved shirts are most comfortable to wear due to the mosquitoes but not necessary.

What We Loved

Jenny’s Everglades Eco Tour feels like an extension of her personality, which overflows with passion for the ecosystem and a willingness to share it.

She knows the Everglades well and is super knowledgable on local wildlife and the unique qualities of the Everglades watershed.

We especially enjoyed hearing her insight on current local conservation efforts and water projects designed to improve water quality and infrastructure in the Everglades.

Her knowledge of the history of the Glades as well as past conservation efforts is extensive and gives a unique perspective on the current state of the ecosystem.

Jenny’s son Clint also accompanied us on our tour and supplemented his Mom’s knowledge of wildlife, kayaking skills, and stories of the Everglades.

Together they provided a relaxing, extensive, and super informative tour and an excellent value.

We highly recommend spending the morning with them on the water!

Cost

Kayak eco-tours are limited to 4 guests and the guide(s) to provide a quality intimate Eco Everglades experience!

All parties with 5 guests or more will be private tours.

Prices:

Adults - $149.00, Adolescents 12 to 17 yrs - $99.00, Children 11 yrs and Under - $89.00.

Solo Travelers - $179.00 this cost only applies if no other guest is scheduled for a tour.

Prices include all fees and taxes, including the state or county park fees. No surprises at checkout :-)

Everglades Area Tours

PO Box 824, Chokoloskee Island, FL — EvergladesAreaTours.com

3 Top Recommended Tours

Mangrove Tunnel Kayak Eco Tour
Their Marco Island Dolphin, Birding and Shelling tour is an exciting 2-hour boat tour into the Ten Thousand Islands from Marco Island!
The 10,000 Islands Boat Excursion gets you up close to the Cape Romano dome houses, one of the most unusual sites in SWFL!

Tour Overview

Everglades Area Tours specializes in several different tours into the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands, including a 2-hour Birding, Dolphin, and Wildlife Tour; a Dolphin, Birding, and Shelling tour into the Ten Thousand Islands; and boat-assisted kayak tours in the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands.

They also offer multi-night kayaking and camping adventures in the Everglades, as well as guided fishing kayak excursions.

But one of the most interesting day tours they offer is the Mangrove Tunnel Kayak and Eco Tour.

Kayaking is a great way to get up close and experience the Everglades — you can literally glide up close and observe native plants and animals.

From unique species of orchids or the ever-present alligator, kayaks are safe and quiet.

All of their guides are formally trained Florida Master Naturalists with years of experience, and our guide guide Don McCumber was a testament to that.

Most tours are limited to just 6 guests which allows the guides to share their in-depth knowledge so you don’t miss any of the unique plant and animal species that live in the Everglades, and is more conducive to hearing and learning when you’re clustered together in kayaks on the water.

What’s Included

Everglades Area Tours provides a professionally trained kayak guide, all the necessary gear including the kayak, paddle, and recommended flotation devices (life vests).

What To Bring

We recommend bringing a filled water bottle, sunscreen, and insect repellent. Wear clothing & footwear you don’t mind getting - flip flops are okay, but not ideal.

Try water shoes, or waterproof Keens or Merrill with stability and traction.

What We Loved

The depth of knowledge you’ll have with the guides at Everglades Area Tours is worth the price of admission.

We can’t say enough about our guide who was knowledgable, experienced, and obviously passionate about the ecosystem.

Don knew more facts about the Everglades, the variety of native orchids, the native birds and other wildlife, and especially the behavior of alligators.

Because of this, we felt at ease paddling through the mangroves during their mating season.

Most if not all of the kayaking tours and eco-tours with Everglades Area tours are appropriate and fun for families with children.

Tandem kayaks are available, and kids will have the appropriate flotation device.

Cost

Tours with Everglades Area Tours range in cost from $80 -150 for a 3-3.5 hour tour.

Shark Valley Tram Tours

Shark Valley Visitor Center, Shark Valley Loop Road, Miami, FL — SharkValleyTramTours.com

Top Recommended Tour

2-Hour Shark Valley Tram Tour

Tour Overview

Exploring the Shark Valley area by tram is a great way to see and learn about the wildlife and history of Everglades National Park.

One of the best ways to see the vast expanse of the Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park without hiking on your own is through their tram tours.

These two-hour guided tours on eco friendly biodiesel vehicles are offered year round along a fifteen-mile loop trail through the "River of Grass", and tours are given by friendly and knowledgeable Park-trained naturalists.

The open air trams allow for abundant wildlife viewing opportunities, and stop at the Shark valley Observation tower for a bird's eye view of the sweeping Everglades ecosystem.

Tours depart from the Shark Valley Visitor Center located along U.S. Hwy 41/Tamiami Trail, 25 miles west of Miami, FL.

Reservations are strongly recommended from November through April when Everglades National Park is at its busiest.

What’s Included

2-hour guided tour with a trained and knowledgable guide.

What to Bring

We recommend bringing a filled water bottle, sunscreen, insect repellent, and a UPF-rated sun hat.

The tram is covered but depending on the time of day and the time of year (angle of the sun) you will likely get direct sun at some point on the tour.

What We Loved

At the halfway point on the tram tour, you can walk to the highest accessible point in Everglades National Park, the viewing platform of the Shark Valley Observation Tower.

It’s one of the most unique panoramic overlooks in south Florida and an architectural marvel.

Tram tours are accessible for persons with disabilities.

Call ahead (305) 221-8455 so the staff can be ready for any special needs you may have.

Cost

National Park Entrance Fee: (Valid for 7 days at any Everglades National Park entrance.)