The Everglades is one of the only places in the U.S. where you can watch an alligator from a porch before breakfast, and staying in an Everglades cabin is how you get close enough for that to happen. Stay in Miami and you are an hour and a half from the good water. Stay in Everglades City and you are five minutes from it.
Below are 8 cabins, cottages and lodges you can book right now, all of them in or beside the park. Everglades City is the base for most of them, with one out in Big Cypress for anyone who wants to sleep in a chickee.
TL;DR: 8 Everglades cabins worth booking. Best for couples: Lostman’s Lodge, for the hot tub and the sunset. Most memorable: Everglades Chickee Cottage and Bungalow, a native-built hut in Big Cypress. Best with a boat: Everglades City Cabin with Dock and Heated Pool, which has its own dock. Easiest if you want tours laid on: Ivey House, where you can be paddling the Ten Thousand Islands by mid-morning without having arranged a thing, then come back to a pool with a tropical waterfall. Most character: Rod and Gun Club, two bars and a restaurant next door to the Museum of the Everglades, so your evening is arranged before you arrive.
Everglades Cabins in Everglades City
Everglades City is a grid of a few hundred people at the western edge of Everglades National Park, and it is the launching point for the Ten Thousand Islands. Almost everything here is within a few minutes of the water.
Everglades City Cabin with Dock and Heated Pool, Everglades City
A genuine cabin with its own dock and a heated pool, which is a rarer combination here than you would expect. The dock matters: half the point of the Everglades is getting out onto the water, and having your own means not queuing for a launch.
Good for two couples or a family who want the run of a place.
Lostman’s Lodge, Everglades City
Named after Lostmans River down in the backcountry, and set up for the end of the day rather than the start: a pool, a hot tub and a sunset view.
The best pick on this page for a couple. Everglades sunsets over flat water are the real thing, and watching one from a hot tub is not a bad way to spend an evening.
River Wilderness Waterfront Cabins, Everglades City
Simple cabins on the water in Everglades City, for people who came here to be on the water rather than look at it from a distance. You walk out of the door and you are more or less in it.
If you are bringing a boat or planning to fish the Ten Thousand Islands, this is the obvious base, and everything else in town is a few minutes away.
Ivey House Everglades Adventures Hotel, Everglades City
The practical choice if you want the trip organised for you. It is an eco-friendly hotel that rents canoes and kayaks and runs its own Everglades tours, so you can arrive without a plan and leave having paddled the Ten Thousand Islands.
There is an outdoor pool with a tropical waterfall, rooms have air conditioning and a fridge, and the Museum of the Everglades is a fifteen-minute walk away.
The Everglades House, Everglades City
A whole house in Everglades City, which suits a group that wants a kitchen and somewhere to spread out wet gear after a day on the water.
Everglades City is small enough that being anywhere in it puts you within a few minutes of the boat ramps and the restaurants.
Everglades Getaway with Deck and Water Views, Everglades City
The deck is the selling point. Water views, somewhere to sit with a drink, and the particular quiet the Everglades has after dark once the birds settle.
Bring insect repellent. This is not the place to discover you forgot it.
Rod and Gun Club, Everglades City
The one to book if you want the Everglades City everyone pictures. It sits by the Museum of the Everglades and the city hall, it has two bars and a restaurant, and it is the place people end up in the evening whether or not they are staying there.
Rated 7.6 out of 10 across 227 reviews. Free wifi in the public areas. Come for the setting and the porch rather than for slick modern rooms.
Everglades Cabins and Chickee Huts Near Big Cypress
Ochopee sits on the Tamiami Trail in Big Cypress National Preserve, about half an hour east of Everglades City. It is sawgrass prairie and cypress rather than mangrove and islands, and it is darker at night than almost anywhere else in Florida.
Everglades Chickee Cottage and Bungalow, Ochopee
The most distinctive stay in this guide, and the one you will still be describing to people a year later. It sits inside Big Cypress National Preserve and offers native-built chickees, the open-sided thatched huts the Seminole and Miccosukee have built here for generations, alongside small cottages looking out over the prairie.
Be clear about what this is before you book: the bungalows have air conditioning and there is free wifi and parking, but the bathroom is shared and it is at the campground. That is the trade for sleeping in a chickee in the middle of Big Cypress.
Search Everglades Cabins by Location
If everything above is booked, or you want to base yourself somewhere else entirely, the map searches the whole Everglades area at once.
Everglades Cabins: Your Questions Answered
Where is the best place to stay to visit the Everglades?
The best place to stay to visit the Everglades is Everglades City, for almost everyone. It sits at the western edge of the national park, it is the launch point for the Ten Thousand Islands, and every property in this guide but one is there. If you want sawgrass prairie and dark skies instead of mangrove and water, Everglades Chickee Cottage and Bungalow at Ochopee puts you inside Big Cypress National Preserve instead.
Are there Everglades cabins with a pool or a hot tub?
Yes, there are Everglades cabins with a pool or a hot tub. Lostman’s Lodge has both a pool and a hot tub, with a sunset view over the water. The Everglades City cabin with its own dock has a heated pool, and Ivey House has an outdoor pool with a tropical waterfall.
Can you sleep in a chickee hut in the Everglades?
Yes, you can sleep in a chickee hut in the Everglades. Everglades Chickee Cottage and Bungalow in Ochopee offers native-built chickees, the open-sided thatched shelters that have been built in this landscape for generations, alongside small cottages looking over the prairie. Worth knowing before you book: the bungalows have air conditioning, but the bathroom is shared and it is at the campground.
Which Everglades cabin is best if you are bringing a boat?
The best Everglades cabin if you are bringing a boat is the Everglades City cabin with its own dock, without much competition, because having your own dock means not queuing at a public launch. River Wilderness Waterfront Cabins is the other waterfront option in town.
Do you need a car to stay in the Everglades?
Yes, you need a car to stay in the Everglades. Everglades City and Ochopee are small, but the distances between them are real, and there is no useful public transport. Most people drive in from Miami or Naples and keep the car for the whole trip.
What is the most romantic cabin in the Everglades?
The most romantic cabin in the Everglades is Lostman’s Lodge in Everglades City, a holiday home with a garden, an outdoor pool and a hot tub looking out at the sunset over the water.
Which Everglades cabins are pet-friendly?
The pet-friendly places to stay in the Everglades in this guide are the Rod and Gun Club, which allows pets for an extra charge, and River Wilderness Waterfront Cabins, which takes pets on request. Lostman’s Lodge, Everglades Chickee Cottage and Bungalow, the Everglades City cabin with its own dock, Ivey House and The Everglades House do not allow pets.
What is the most family-friendly cabin in the Everglades?
The most family-friendly cabin in the Everglades is The Everglades House in Everglades City, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a balcony with lake views and an outdoor play area.
What is the best spa hotel in the Everglades?
There is no spa hotel in the Everglades in this guide. For a soak at the end of the day, Lostman’s Lodge has a hot tub and a pool, and Ivey House has an outdoor pool with a tropical waterfall.
So, Which Everglades Cabin Are You Booking?
Pick the one that matches how you want to spend the evenings: a hot tub and a sunset, a dock and a boat, or a thatched hut with nothing around it for miles. The Everglades rewards staying close to it, and every one of these does that.