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The sun setting over the sea beside the long Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon

Sample journey · 8–10 days

Wild Florida: the Everglades and the Keys

Miami, the Everglades, Key Largo, Islamorada, Big Pine Key & Key West

Photo: Nils Huenerfuerst / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

For many people Florida means theme parks and beach hotels. Its southern tip is something else entirely: the Everglades, a vast, shallow sheet of water and sawgrass where herons and ibises nest among alligators and crocodiles, and beyond them the chain of the Keys, linked by bridges for more than 180 km to Key West. Between them lies the only living coral reef off the continental USA, which children can see with a mask straight from the boat.

The journey is designed for families and first-time visitors to the USA: drives are short, usually an hour or two, each day has one big adventure and time for the water, and the stays are simple, welcoming places by the water where you can watch pelicans dive for fish in the evening. It begins in Miami's Little Havana with Cuban coffee and domino players, and ends with a Key West sunset, bicycles and streets of timber houses.

The route

The journey

  1. Miami & Little Havana
  2. The Everglades: Shark Valley
  3. The Everglades: Anhinga Trail & Flamingo
  4. Key Largo
  5. Islamorada
  6. Big Pine Key & Bahia Honda
  7. Key West
  8. Miami
  1. A pink building with trees and palms in Little Havana, Miami

    01Days 1–3 · Miami

    Cuban coffee and dominoes

    Two nights in Miami, to give time to recover after the long flight. On the first day, Little Havana: Calle Ocho, where strong Cuban coffee is sold through street-side windows, cigar rollers, and the little park where older men play dominoes for hours. Children love the colourful murals and the mango and guava pastries; parents, the story of the Cuban community that made this part of the city its home. In the afternoon, the beach at Miami Beach and a walk past the pastel Art Deco hotels of Ocean Drive. The second day offers a choice: the street art of Wynwood, or a quiet morning at Bill Baggs park on Key Biscayne with its lighthouse and swimming. The slow pace at the start is deliberate: the time difference from Lithuania is large, and children need a day or two to adjust.

  2. An alligator resting at the water's edge in the Everglades

    02Days 3–4 · The Everglades

    In the river of grass

    In the morning, about an hour west along the Tamiami Trail to Shark Valley, where a 24 km paved loop through the sawgrass suits bikes or an open-air tram tour with a ranger. Alligators often lie right beside the road, and at the far end of the loop an observation tower looks out over the whole sea of grass. In the afternoon, south to Homestead and a night there. The next morning, the Anhinga Trail: a short boardwalk over the water where alligators, turtles and anhingas holding out their wings to dry are often seen, and ranger-led walks explain how the whole system works. Then the road to Flamingo in the far south: kayaks or canoes among the mangroves with a guide, and at the marina manatees and American crocodiles sometimes appear; the Everglades is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles live side by side. We watch from a distance and never touch or feed the animals. In the evening, about an hour and a half to Key Largo.

  3. Green mangroves and a rocky shore beside turquoise water on Key Largo

    03Days 4–6 · Key Largo & Islamorada

    A coral reef from the boat

    Two nights on Key Largo, the first island in the chain. The key day is a boat out to the Florida reef from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the USA. The shallow, calm water over the reef suits snorkelling and children: parrotfish, corals and sometimes sea turtles or rays. When the wind is strong the boats stay in, which is why there are two days for it. For children who are not yet confident swimmers, life jackets and a glass-bottomed boat. The next day, about half an hour to Islamorada, the 'sport-fishing capital': the History of Diving Museum with its old helmets and diving suits, kayaks or paddleboards in quiet mangrove creeks, and sunset on a dock where pelicans wait for the fishermen's catch. In the Keys you first feel their rhythm: nobody hurries, and evenings end when the sun goes down.

  4. A sandy beach and trees beside clear water in Bahia Honda State Park

    04Days 6–7 · Big Pine Key & Bahia Honda

    Tiny deer and seven miles of sea

    About an hour and a half south on the Overseas Highway, across the Seven Mile Bridge, where there is nothing but sea on either side of the road. At Marathon you can walk or cycle the old bridge, now reserved for people on foot and bikes. One night in the Lower Keys, on Big Pine Key or nearby. This is home to the Key deer, the smallest deer in North America, hardly bigger than a large dog. Early in the morning or in the evening they often appear in the national refuge and even in gardens; they are an endangered species, so we drive slowly and never feed them. In the afternoon, Bahia Honda State Park, with one of the loveliest beaches in the Keys, a shallow lagoon for children and the old railway bridge, which looks out over both seas, the Atlantic and the Gulf.

  5. A bicycle leaning on a white fence facing the beach and the sea in Key West

    05Days 7–9 · Key West

    By bike to the southernmost point

    About half an hour to Key West and two final nights. The town is small, so it's best explored by bike: timber houses with verandas and porches, chickens wandering the streets, the Hemingway Home, where six-toed cats still live, and the concrete buoy marking the southernmost point of the continental USA. In the evening, Mallory Square, where street performers, jugglers and the whole town gather for sunset. On the second day, the beach and snorkelling at Fort Zachary Taylor or, with the time and appetite for it, Dry Tortugas National Park: a nineteenth-century fort on a remote island about 110 km to the west, reached by ferry or seaplane. Places are few, so we book them very early. On the last day, about four hours' drive back to Miami, or a short flight from Key West.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    Shark Valley & the Anhinga Trail

    By bike across the sea of grass and on boardwalks over water where alligators and birds are often seen.

  2. 02

    The Florida reef

    Snorkelling from the boat over a shallow coral reef, suitable for children too.

  3. 03

    The Seven Mile Bridge

    A road across the sea, and the old bridge you can walk or cycle.

  4. 04

    Sunset in Key West

    Mallory Square, street performers and the whole town gathered to see the sun down.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • At a slower pace

    With younger children, Miami Beach and Wynwood can go, and the time be given to a longer stay in one place in the Keys with a pool and a lagoon.

  • For couples

    More nights in Key West, waterfront dinners and a sail at sunset, with a night in the Keys straight after the Everglades instead of starting in Miami.

  • By season

    The dry season (roughly December to April) is the best time for the Everglades: fewer mosquitoes, animals gather by the water, and in winter manatees often move into warm canals.

  • With the Dry Tortugas or the Caribbean

    One or two more days would allow a night by the Dry Tortugas fort, and from Miami it's easy to continue to the Caribbean islands.

Practical considerations

  • The best time is roughly December to April: dry and warm, with fewer mosquitoes in the Everglades. Hurricane season runs roughly from June to November, usually most active from August to October, so trips then are planned flexibly.
  • The journey is planned as a self-drive; distances are short, the longest being the return from Key West to Miami (about four hours).
  • Snorkelling and boat trips depend on wind and waves, so they have time in reserve; children always wear life jackets, and sun protection, long sleeves and hats are essential here.
  • Alligators, crocodiles, manatees and Key deer are wild animals: we watch them from a distance and never feed or touch them, as the parks' rules require.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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