Our Travel Guides
We’ve been writing Florida hiking and travel guides since 2002.
Florida Trail Hikes outlines great day hikes along the Florida Trail for scenic beauty and suggests ecotours in nearby towns. We’ve also partnered with FarOut to bring you our trail information in a series of apps. These all include both our “what to do” in trail towns and Florida Trail Gateway Communities.
Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.
Ecotours
With so much outdoors to explore, Florida leads the way in ecotours! Some are intimate experiences, following a guide or two deep into a tropical forest or along a crystalline stream in a canoe.
Others pile on plenty of people, taking large groups by boat, tram, or bus into the wild.
A handful let you come to them: walking between interpretive stations within a preserve or natural attraction, you learn from naturalists about the fauna or flora that they know and love.
Several self-guided interpretive drives fall into the ecotour category, as well.
In general, you should expect some sort of fee to participate in an ecotour. Check the list below for specific ecotours we recommend. You can find them geographically on the map above.
Among the Wolves When getting to know wolves means sitting among them, it's a bit intimidating. But being among the wolf packs of Seacrest Wolf Preserve near Chipley will open your eyes as to why wolves are well worth protecting.
Billie Swamp Safari With airboat and swamp buggy rides as well as interpretation of native species, Billie Swamp Safari is a nature-based attraction providing immersion into the Big Cypress Swamp.
Black Hammock Fish Camp Taste a bit of Old Florida at the crazy quilt of outdoors and dining that is Black Hammock Fish Camp along Lake Jesup.
Crane Point Hammock Part native, part cultivated, Crane Point Hammock is 63 acres of tropical hammock in the heart of Marathon, with one of the most extensive trail networks in the Florida Keys. 
Floating in Florida Drifting across placid waters, find your bliss with the perfect adventure on Florida's hidden waters, with Lucy Tobias your guide.
Gatorland Gatorland is not just a historic Florida attraction but an immersion into what this part of Central Florida used to be, a cypress swamp full of critters.
Indian Key: An Unusual Ghost Town John takes a trip back in time with Florida Keys historian Brad Bertelli to discover the layers of history found on Indian Key, once the county seat of Dade County
Kayaking Oleta River State Park Paddling within sight of downtown Miami? Kayak or SUP from Blue Moon Outdoor Center in Oleta River State Park to explore mangrove shorelines along Biscayne Bay
Kings Bay Park Edging Kings Bay and spring-fed waterways flowing into it, this wooded downtown park provides some of the best views of Kings Bay.
Naples Nature Center Edging the mangrove-lined Gordon River immediately south of the Naples Zoo, this 21-acre Conservancy of Southwest Florida complex pairs learning with nature trails and wildlife.
Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens Established in 1919 by botanist Henry Nehrling, what is now the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens has improved over a century's worth of expansion into an accredited zoological park.
On a Bartram Adventure Tour On a guided Bartram Adventure Tour, we hiked, biked, and paddled to follow the travels of William and John Bartram along the St. Johns River in Palatka, Florida
Paddling the Bartram Trail in Welaka Learning how botanists William and John Bartram traveled along the St. Johns River in the 1700s, I followed an experienced river guide for a look at part of the Bartram National Recreation Trail from the water on our Bartram Adventure Tour in Palatka.
Rookery Bay NERR Protecting vast mangrove forests and coastal habitats between Naples and Ten Thousand Islands NWR, Rookery Bay NERR encompasses a mind-boggling 110,000 acres.
Sea Turtle Walks in Florida Watching a sea turtle come ashore to lay its eggs is an incredible experience. Here are some of the places where you can join sea turtle walks in Florida.
Spirit of Pennekamp Cruising on the Spirit of Pennekamp is how landlubbers - and snorklers uncomfortable with ocean swells - get to experience the living coral reefs of the Florida Keys
Ten Thousand Islands Where the waters of Big Cypress and the Everglades meet the Gulf Coast, the Ten Thousand Islands are a maze of mangrove forest: the second largest mangrove forest in the world, bested only by Bangladesh
The Deering Estate The Deering Estate at Cutler, a Miami-Dade county park, preserves both the historic buildings and a remnant of the Addison Hammock, a pine rockland along the old road following Cutler Ridge.
There are Oysters Down There A fourth-generation Apalachicola oysterman teaches us how to tong for oysters while recounting the cultural history and modern issues of Apalachicola Bay.
Zipping Over Gators at Gatorland What's it like to sail over a pondful of alligators on a zip line in Florida? Contributor Sally White of the Adventures of Mom shares her experience on Gatorland's Screamin' Gator Zip Line in Orlando.