How to spend ONE DAY in the Everglades from Miami

If you are taking a road trip through the Florida Keys or even just looking for an outdoor activity while in Miami, the Everglades makes a great one day trip. There are many different parts to the Everglades and to completely cover the Everglades would take multiple days. We wanted to get it done in just a few hours, so we chose to stop at the Homestead entrance to the Everglades. This was very convenient from Miami and to US 1 – we were practically headed towards the Keys before we even left the park.

We are not Everglades experts – this is just what we were able to see and do in a quick stop to the park.

We started our visit in the evening. I had read online about a good place to view the sunset in the park. We ran into traffic and were running much later than we meant to be, but we went ahead and made a bee-line for the park. We were able to drive right in the park, take the obligatory photos with the sign and enjoy the first wildlife sighting!

After spending way too long taking pictures of the sign, we continued on though the open park gates and into the Everglades.

I read somewhere that the Pa-Hay-Okee was the best lookout spot for viewing the sunset. That was a lie. But it was a nice spot to take a short stroll on a boardwalk. That is one nice thing about the Everglades – there are several walking trails that are boardwalks and under a mile long.

Pa-Hay-Okee boardwalk in the Everglades National Park

This particular spot was not a great sunset spot, but it was still very pretty. It was also great weather and we enjoyed our .5 mile stroll around the loop boardwalk.

After a while, we had seen enough clouds and what looked to us like an African savannah and we decided to head on to the hotel.

The next morning, we were grateful when we got into the Everglades that we had already taken our iconic photos with the sign so we were able to go straight into the visitor center. Unfortunately, most of the exhibits were closed – I’m assuming there was some interactive element to them and they didn’t want people touching everything – so we just wandered out to the porch for a quick view of the pond.

Lake behind the visitor center at the Homestead entrance of Everglades National Park

And then we headed down the very dangerous road to the first trail of the day. Wouldn’t it have been exciting to actually see a bobcat from the safety of the car?

Bobcat crossing sign — These signs are all over the place in the Everglades, but unfortunately we did not actually see a bobcat.

The first trail of the day was the Anhinga Trail. Like the Pa-Hay-Okee trail the night before, the Anhinga was also a board walk and we enjoyed it very much. It was kind of crowded, but in some cases the crowds were a good thing because they showed us where we needed to look for the alligators and turtles!

It’s funny how every time we thought we had seen something cool, we found something even more amazing around the next corner.

First an alligator below the pathway, then the turtle eating breakfast, then a whole bunch of alligators below the board walk, then an alligator just parked right next to the path.

The grand finale was the alligator just swimming by…a little too close for comfort!

It was amazing how many interesting animals were packed into a trail that is less than a mile long!

After finishing the Anhinga Trail, we walked over to the Gumbo Limbo Trail, which was very different. It was kind of like walking through a tropical rainforest, except it wasn’t raining. But no more open vistas, now it was all a very close, almost claustrophobic feeling trail.

Gumbo Limbo trail in the Everglades National Park

Somehow the two trails are a similar length but the Gumbo Limbo felt much longer! Both the Anhinga and the Gumbo Limbo are under a mile each and both are paved and easy to walk. The Anhinga definitely had better animals and better views. The Gumbo Limbo was a much different feel because it was so closed in. It was very humid in there, but at least it was in the shade!

After that, we drove on down to the furthest point we were planning to go in the park, which was the Mahogany Hammock Trail. (A hammock is a set of trees surrounded by grasses or marshes.)

The Mahogany Hammock Trail is also a short boardwalk and is mostly through trees, with some views of the savanna-like grasses.

Funny how the trees kept trying to invade the boardwalk because it had the best sun!

After that we went up to the Long Pine Key which had a lot of great choices for picnic tables. Can’t beat this spot for a picnic lunch!

Salad and bottle of water at Long Pine Key

After lunch, we wandered around the little lake for a few minutes then hit the road.

However, we needed to make one last stop before we got out of Homestead. Robert’s Fruit Stand for some milkshakes. Located on the main road headed towards the Homestead entrance to the park, Robert’s Fruit Stand has been selling tropical fruit and milkshakes for decades. There was a long line to get the milkshakes, but they had a ton of choices! I had a strawberry mango smoothie and Emily had an Oreo coconut milkshake. Both were delicious but we each were glad we had our own.

Robert is Here is a fascinating fruit stand. There were lots of different things to purchase from fresh fruits and vegetables to canned goods. We did not purchase anything because we weren’t sure when we would eat it, but some of the more tropical fruits were very tempting. And Robert was there giving samples to people as they were making their purchases.

After waiting in a long line and finally getting our milkshakes it was time to head onto our next adventure!