Shark Valley Observation Tower — Attraction in Homestead

With approximately 1.5 million acres of subtropical wilderness in south Florida, the Everglades National Park is one of the nation’s larger parks to explore.

This park is so large it has three entrances in three different cities. Driving from the Everglades City Entrance (NW side of the park) to the Homestead Entrance (SE side of the park) would take you two hours by car. In between these two entrances is the Miami Entrance where Shark Valley is located. This was the entrance we visited.

One of the “must do” things at the Shark Valley Entrance of the Everglades National Park is the 15-mile loop road. This road provides a way for you to see wildlife up close as you work your way to the Observation Tower. No public cars are allowed on the loop road. So, it’s quite popular to walk, bring your own bike, or rent a bike at the visitors center. If you decide to rent, I highly recommend you reserve your bike online in advance. The park has limited bikes, and they typically sell out. For those visitors who are not a fan of biking or walking 15 miles, the park also provides a scenic tram tour along the loop road. Again, reserve your tickets online if possible.

Parking lots at the Shark Valley Entrance do fill up. We went early one day and had no trouble finding parking. The next time we went, we didn’t arrive until mid morning and parking spaces were filled and we had to wait to enter the park.

Visiting the Everglades was not like the zoo. There are no cages, there’s no plexiglass, and no one was personally feeding the alligators. So, being this close to the wildlife took some getting used to. If you visit the observation tower at the park, you will see alligators on the way! We saw over 50 the day we were on loop road.

In addition to spotting alligators, bird watching is another interesting activity. Anhingas are one of the easiest birds to spot at the Everglades. Although they are a water bird, their feathers are not waterproof. So after taking a dip into the swamp to hunt, Anhingas need to dry their wings in order to fly. So, chances are you will spot Anhingas in a tree with their wings spread like the one pictured above. Also pictured above is a Great Blue Heron. It stood so still in the shallow water for the longest time, making it a pretty easy subject for wildlife photography.

The Everglades has a really nice observation tower with restrooms located at about the halfway point on the loop road. It was a great place for us to take a break and eat our picnic lunch. From the top of this tower, you can see for miles and miles.

Can you believe there is only one place in the world where crocodiles and alligator coexist in the wild? Only in southwest Florida do you have a chance of seeing both free roaming animals. The Everglades National Park has two known crocodiles. We were lucky to spot both crocodiles near the observation tower the day we visited.

Toward the end of our 15-mile bike ride, we saw fewer alligators and more trees. Check out a couple of the scenic landscape shots pictured above.

I had high expectations going into this visit. Shark Valley Entrance of the Everglades National Park did not disappoint. Shark Valley can be seen in a day. However, you will probably need multiple days if you want to explore all three...

I was only driving through the Everglades/Big Cypress area but I had located this on Google maps and it looked cool. I stopped in just after 9am which ended up being great timing because while the parking lot was already full, there was plenty of parking up on the highway so I never waited to park. On the way out it was packed and parking even on the highway was limited. You do have to walk a good ways down to the entrance though but you’re walking past all the cars waiting to park and it makes you want to snicker at them ha. It was MLK day so I walked right in free of charge. It was around $23 to rent a bike and the path is 7mi in 7mi out. It’s pretty much a completely flat ride. The bike I rented was surprisingly great for being a frequently used rental bike. I brought a small tube of sunscreen and 2 big bottles of water that i bought at the visitor center. It was plenty and there’s a basket on the back of the bike. Now, the part you really want to know about- I saw probably 60+ gators on the ride in, 5-6 from the observation tower and maybe 20-30 on the way out. None of them were massive but maybe you’ll get lucky and see a huge one. Some of them were definitely big enough for shock value though. They’re also really close to the path so best to stay vigilant. But they were not aggressive. I’m 33 and do a lot of biking but am a bit out of shape. I did the ride and it was a great workout. If you’re very out of shape I wouldn’t suggest. It’s a long ride. There’s a bus you can take but I don’t know the...

We visited on a late Friday afternoon in Dec 2024. We did have the 4PM tram tour tickets and stopped here on our tour.

The observation tower was amazing during sunset. It was very similar to the observation tower at Kiwohi (formerly Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountain NP). The difference here is altitude. We could see so far and I think the most interesting thing was seeing the limestone formations under the clear water from the top. If you do the tram tour, try to "run" and get to the tower first so you can get all your pictures without a million people in them and then slowly make your way back. If you arrived via hiking or biking, I'd wait for the tram tour to leave. it's like a big influx of people.

There are also bathrooms and water fountain with bottle filler at the bottom of the observation town but I'm not sure they were open. We didn't try. There was a long row of porta potties out by the trail loop where the tram stops. Not sure why they were there if the bathrooms worked. Maybe for after hours?

We would definitely visit this Everglades NP site again as we rushed through everything so fast. I would grab bikes the next time and...