Private Everglades tours

Two ways to make it private

The whole van and guide

Your group gets the van, the naturalist and the schedule. You can spend longer on the airboat, skip the museum, add a stop at the Oasis Visitor Center, or build the day around photographers who want to be somewhere at first light. Pricing is based on buying every seat in the van, so the group pays for up to thirteen places however many of you travel.

Step-aboard guide service

If you are travelling on your own coach, our naturalist joins you, navigates and narrates the day, and handles the airboat and boat reservations along the way. The price is lower than a private van because you are providing the transport — call for a quote based on your itinerary and group size.

Published private pricing

The one private price we publish is the Miami full-day safari: $2,700 per group for 2 to 12 guests, leaving from West Miami. Everything else — private departures from Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers or Naples, direct hotel pickup in Collier and Lee counties, step-aboard guide service — is quoted by phone because it depends on your dates and itinerary.

Who books private tours

• Multi-generational families who need one schedule that suits a four-year-old and a seventy-year-old
• Groups of friends travelling together who would rather not share a van
• Photographers and birders who want to stop when something interesting happens
• Companies and incentive groups adding a day to a conference in Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Naples
• Guests staying in Fort Myers, Estero, Bonita Springs or Naples who would like pickup at their own hotel

What a private day includes

The same inclusions as the public day safari — airboat ride, wildlife drive, nature walk, lunch in Everglades City with a drink, Smallwood’s Store Museum admission and the Ten Thousand Islands boat cruise — arranged around your group. Minimum ages and cancellation terms are the same as our public tours.