Watch what it’s like to spend a night at the new hotel in the Florida Everglades

By Ashley Miznazi

Updated March 14, 2024 1:05 PM

The sun rises over Florida Bay in Everglades National Park. Ashley Miznazi amiznazi@miamiherald.com

A hotel that recently reopened in the Everglades provides protection from the humidity, bugs and flooding from sea level rise. This time builders put the hotel on 13-foot stilts and made the rooms out of shipping containers with hurricane-grade windows to keep the hotel from being wiped out again.

Sleeping over at Flamingo Lodge allows you to roll out of bed and open your balcony door to patio seating and a view of the glistening Florida Bay. The hotel has all the sleepover essentials you need from cold air conditioning to a hot shower.

When the Miami Herald spent the night at the lodge, we grabbed breakfast at the recently opened restaurant next to the lodge before heading over to ranger-led tours, like the 8:30 a.m. three-hour expenditure on Florida Bay. We got to see plenty of wildlife up close including roseate spoonbills, manatees and a crocodile. The program is free with park entrance, and all paddling equipment is included, Friday through Wednesday.

There are several other things you can do in Flamingo too. A boat tour departs from the marina every hour, bikes are available to rent and there are bird and plant walks led by park rangers.

Watch our TikTok showing what it was like at the Flamingo Lodge:

@miamiherald Spotting the first golden rays of morning light gleaming off Florida Bay from the southern edge of Everglades National Park is a treat usually reserved for those who make the pitch-dark drive to the Flamingo outpost at ungodly hours, or the brave souls willing to battle swarms of mosquitoes under the protection of only a nylon tent wall. Not anymore. Now, Everglades National Park has (re)joined the ranks of national parks with an on-site hotel. That means real beds, air conditioning, WiFi, even a full-service 110-seat kitchen and bar. The Flamingo Lodge, which opened just a few months ago, is a relatively bug-free haven with a unique design that speaks to the vulnerability of the low-lying wilds that surround it. The room are made from shipping containers and elevated 13 feet above the ground, a nod to the rising threat of sea rise and the history of intense hurricane-driven storm surge, which destroyed the original and much more rustic lodge nearly twenty years ago. #everglades #hotel #miami #southflorida #tourism #flamingolodge #travel ♬ original sound - Miami Herald

This story was originally published February 5, 2024 at 1:25 PM.

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