One of the most unique things to do in Everglades National Park is to enjoy the incredibly scenic Shark Valley bike trail. Contrary to what its name might suggest, you probably won’t run into any sharks along this 15 mile trail, but you ARE likely to see another toothy creature here—alligators!—as well as get to climb to the highest point in all of the Everglades! So if you want to do this wild experience, here’s everything you need to know about the Shark Valley bike ride.
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About the Shark Valley Bike Trail
- Length: 15 mile loop
- Elevation gain: 0 feet
- Difficulty: Easy—other than the length, this trail is a cakewalk!
- Dog-friendly? No, unfortunately, like most U.S National Park trails, you’ll need to leave your furry best friend at home for this one.
- How much time does it take? If you’re planning on biking around the whole thing, I’d budget at least three hours. My husband, Justin, and I were constantly stopping and taking tons of photos and it wound up taking us a whopping five hours to complete the full loop!
How to get to Shark Valley in Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park sprawls for 7,800 square miles (the third largest national park in the Lower 48!), in the southern tip of Florida.
Shark Valley is located here, along the northern border of Everglades National Park, about an hour northwest of the small town of Homestead and an hour and a half west of Miami. Accordingly, I’d generally recommend having a car to get to Shark Valley, although there are a handful of tours from Miami that you can join to get here.
This section of the park has a gated entrance, which is open from 8:30 AM to 6 PM every day. Outside of this timeframe, you will not be able to get into or out of the park with a vehicle.
This area is one of the most popular things to do in Everglades National Park (for good reason!), so it’s not unusual for there to be a long line to get into its parking lot by mid-morning. I’d strongly recommend getting here early—as in, before the gates open early. When we visited, we arrived by 8:15 AM on a weekday and were still probably the 10th or so car in line for the gate!
If you cannot score a parking space in Shark Valley, many visitors decide to park outside the entrance on SW 8th Street and walk about 10 minutes to the gate. Parking here is technically not allowed, but, for what it’s worth, I haven’t heard of people getting towed or ticketed for doing so.
There’s an entrance fee (good for one week) of $35 per private vehicle or $20 per person if you decide to walk into the park. Alternatively, you can pick up an America the Beautiful Pass for $80, which gets you into all of the U.S. National Parks and over 2,000 federally managed sites for an entire year for free!
The Shark Valley Bike Path
The Shark Valley bike path is a 15-mile flat and paved route that loops through a largely untouched sawgrass marsh, full of wading birds, turtles, and, of course, lots of gators. You’re welcome to explore as much or as little of the pathway as you’d like.
There’s three different ways to explore the pathway:
- Running or walking (it’s ADA-accessible!);
- Taking a two-hour narrated tram tour, operated by Shark Valley Tram Tours, which costs $35 per adult; or
- Biking
Insider tip: If you're looking for an easier or shorter activity than the Shark Valley loop, I'd suggest heading to the Anhinga Trail in the Royal Palm section of the park instead. This flat, 0.8 mile trail leads you along and over a sawgrass prairie and it's usually an excellent spot to see alligators, turtles, and lots of species of wading birds.
How to get a bike for the Shark Valley Path
If you happen to have a bike of your own, great news—you’re free to ride it on the Shark Valley trail!
Otherwise, you can rent a bike (and a helmet!) from Shark Valley Tram Tours, for $25 a day. They conveniently have a walk-up window right in the Shark Valley Visitor Center.
Their bikes are nothing fancy—single gear coaster models with baskets and seats that you can adjust up and down to accommodate for your height—but, given the path’s flatness, they did the job just fine! There’s also a limited number of 20 inch children bikes and ones with child seats for rent as well.
I’d highly recommend booking your rental online ahead of time, especially if you’re visiting during the Everglades’ busy season, from December through April. We visited on the same week as Christmas and, when we went to book a bike rental a few days before our visit, we found that all of the bikes were totally rented out for the next several weeks!
If you’re lucky enough to snag a bike rental, you can pick it up anytime between 8:30 AM and 12 PM and are free to keep it until 5 PM (although many visitors usually finish the bike loop in just a few hours). If you arrive after noon, your reservation will still be honored, but you’ll need to wait for one of the first-come, first-serve bikes to become available.
If all of the online reservations are taken, not to worry—they also save a small percentage of their bikes on a first come, first serve basis. However, if you’re relying on this, I’d highly recommend getting here first thing in the morning. During our visit, we were the third party in line to rent bikes for the day and somehow managed to grab the last two “first come, first serve” options!
Once the first come, first serve bikes are rented out, you can still get on a waitlist and rent out bikes as other visitors return them. Just be prepared to wait for a few hours or longer, especially if you’re with a larger group. They stop renting out the bikes at 4 PM (which, frankly, wouldn’t give you a whole lot of time to explore anyway!).
What to expect along the Shark Valley Bike Ride
The Shark Valley loop consists of two connected paths—the seven-mile West Tram Trail, which follows along a grassy canal, and the eight-mile East Tram Trail, which snakes through a variety of environments, including a sawgrass prairie, tropical hardwood hammock, and freshwater slough. Both of these trails are flat, paved, and fairly wide, about 20 feet across.
The Shark Valley Observation Tower, the tallest point in Everglades National Park at 70 feet tall, is at the trails’ junction, which is approximately the mid-way point.
The National Park Service suggests taking the loop in a counter clockwise direction, which is exactly what we did. That being said, we definitely saw plenty of bikers going in each direction!
West Tram Trail
Directly from the parking lot, you’ll start the West Tram Trail, which basically is a completely straight seven-mile line.
For some reason, I was nervous that we weren’t going to see any alligators during our bike ride, but, within about 30 seconds of us being on the trail, we saw one swimming its way through the canal, right next to the bike path!
After our first encounter, we saw SO many more alligators and even an American crocodile here, lazily sunning themselves in the canal’s water or on the right side of the trail. Although they seemed wholly disinterested in humans, it was such a unique experience to get within feet of these prehistoric and powerful creatures.
The first couple of miles of the trail were quite busy with walkers and bikers, but, after that, the crowds REALLY thinned out, which we appreciated!
Shark Valley Observation Tower
.At the modern-looking Shark Valley Observation Tower, you can take the gently sloping and wheelchair-accessible ramp to the top of the tower for spectacular panoramic views over the Everglades. On a clear day, you can see up to 20 miles away, including all the way to the Florida Keys!
Our favorite part of this was looking down into the deep water of the canal, where we spotted a gator and, perhaps more impressively, a MASSIVE soft-shelled turtle (seriously, that sucker had to be at least two feet long!). We’ve also read that, at times, you can see DOZENS of alligators in the water below!
Besides some blessed shade (basically the only shade that you’ll find along the trail!), the Tower also has some clean restrooms and a water fountain at its base.
East Tram Trail
You’ll take the slightly windy (but still very flat) East Tram Trail back to the Visitor Center.
Most of the landscape is a lot drier than on the West Trail and, to be honest, we definitely saw a LOT less alligators on this portion of the route. Still, the ones that we did see were RIGHT along the pathway and the scenery was a lot more varied than on the beginning half of the trail.
When to do the Shark Valley Bike Ride
The best time to visit Sharky Valley is from December through April, when the skies are clear, the temperatures are more moderate, and the alligator sightings are a bit more consistent.
This is south Florida, y’all—so, outside of this window, form May through November, expect it to be HOT and HUMID. In fact, temperatures can often exceed 90 degrees and, with over 90% humidity, the heat index can often feel over 100 degrees! Did I mention that the mosquitoes are atrocious, there’s lots of rainfall during this time period, and it’s hurricane season as well?!
If you do decide to visit in the “wet” season, be sure to bring along plenty of water (at least one gallon of water per day), bugspray, and water.
Tip: Whenever you visit, the best time to see alligators is in the morning after a cold night. Cold-blooded alligators want to bask in the sun to warm up after it’s chilly, but, once they’ve sufficiently sunned themselves, they’ll go back to hiding in the water.
Tips for the Shark Valley Trail
Don’t get too close to the alligators
It feels wild that this needs to be said, but PLEASE don’t get too close to the alligators! We saw so many people of all ages get within inches of the alligators, which is just straight up dangerous.
Alligators are typically not aggressive towards humans, but may act so if they feel threatened or if they confuse us for their normal prey, which is more likely to occur with pets or small children.
Accordingly, be sure to stay 15 feet away from alligators at all times and keep a watchful eye on any kiddos along the trail.
Stop for the tram
Besides all of those gators, you’ll also be sharing the bike path with the tram, which passes every couple of hours.
Its wide cars take up most of the pathway and it has the right of way on the trail—please move to the side so that it can safely pass you.
Bring food and drink for the day
There’s no place in Shark Valley—or really, in the surrounding area—to get food or drinks, so I’d suggest bringing along everything you’d need for the day.
Other things to do in Shark Valley
Shark Valley Visitor Center
It’s worth popping in the Visitor Center to enjoy the educational and interactive displays about the alligators, mammals, and birds that call Shark Valley home. There’s always friendly rangers here, if you have any questions about the bike path or the Everglades as a whole!
Bobcat Boardwalk Trail
Located right by the Visitor Center, this trail consists of a wooden boardwalk that winds through a dense sawgrass marsh. To be honest, we didn’t see much wildlife on this trail, but it would be the perfect way to kill some time while you wait for a tram ride or for some bike rentals to free up.
Otter Cave Trail
Located about a half a mile south of the Visitor Center along the West Tram Trail, the Otter Cave Trail is a 0.3 mile-hike through tropical hardwood hammock to small pools in limestone bedrock. This is a spectacular place to see baby alligators and other wading birds.
Unfortunately, this trail floods all the time, especially in the wet summertime, so be sure to check on its condition at the Visitor Center before heading to the trailhead.
We LOVED our time at Shark Valley—it was our favorite thing to do in Everglades National Park! Do you have any questions about biking along the Shark Valley path? Let us know in the comments below!
