Myakka River State Park Alligator Viewing — Local services in Venice

For those living in or visiting Sarasota, a visit to Myakka state park is highly recommended. I've lived in Sarasota for over 7 years and I visited the park at least a dozen times. The best time to visit is during relatively dry weather. If the water levels are too high alligators are seldom seen, and reaching several of the best sites within the park is difficult if not impossible.

The skywalk is a must. It is a wooden structure approximately 70 ft tall that gives a rather commanding view over much of the park and beyond. From the top you can see birds flying, the rivers and lakes associated with a park, and you develop a great appreciation for just how flat most of Florida really is.

I have previously gone out on the tour boats and they often provide a great view of concentrated areas of alligators as well as a better appreciation for the size of lake Myakka.

During this trip there was a food truck in operation since there's construction going on where the cafe had the previously operated. I did not visit the food truck and I hope the cafe returned because it is a favorite place for homemade potato chips, fried alligator and alligator stew.

Don't miss the bird walk, on good days it provides a great opportunity to see nature, including birds feeding, alligators, turtles,...

Myakka State Park is by far one of the most beautiful state parks in Florida. The alligator viewing area is the best place to start . The video this is Big Head. One of the resident alligators. He always goes to the right side of the bridge. You can look through the bushes and see him hanging out on the edge. You can walk down the side of the bridge to get a better picture. Please don't get too close . He is huge. The Gators can move really quickly. And you don't want to find out just how fast. This park has everything to offer for the wildlife enthusiast. There's so much to capture and experience here, especially for wildlife photographers . Also beautiful bird sanctuaries and viewing center .Camping, hiking, fishing, and bird watching. Different areas have different activities available. My favorite place is Fisherman's Cove. That's where I see the most alligators present . It's a beautiful preserve area and amazing views of the wetlands. It's also a great lunch spot. Don't forget whenever around any waterway no matter whether it's retention Ponds lake or river you need to be ALERT AT ALL TIMES ...

Great park. Lots of trails to hike, restrooms, food and drink, gift shop, canoe rentals, bike rentals, boat tours, campsites, viewing areas. Really just a nice relaxing place. Saw tons of wildlife; alligator, hog,deer,birds. When you walk the trails and look into the woods you really can see the remnants of the last few hurricanes and how much they blew down. But it's also beautiful to see how natures takes care of itself and how the ecosystems cycle does its work. There are some structures that are still damaged as well which was a bit of a bummer, for example the birdwalk was down so unless you just want to walk out into the water (no thank you) you can't really view that section of the lake too well. But there's so much water and so many places to see it that it's not that big of a deal. Surely they'll get it fixed at some point. They also have the canopy walk and observation tower open again. If you can make it to the top you'll see for miles out...