Last updated on August 4th, 2024 at 06:18 am
If you’re visiting the western entrance to Everglades National Park and the Ten Thousand Islands, there is a hotel that caters specifically to kayakers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts – the Ivey House Everglades Adventures Hotel in Everglades City.
We’ve stayed here twice, once in the historic wing (now gone thanks to Hurricane Irma) and once is the new wing, with modern conveniences and pool-side rooms.
Ivey House has an attractive screened pool and easy access to outdoors activities.
Ivey House actually is an outgrowth of a successful canoe and kayak outfitting company and is the base for EvergladesAdventures.com, which offers guided trips, equipment rental, livery service and lots of good information.
For example, if you’ve dreamt of paddling the 99-mile Wilderness Waterway from Flamingo to Everglades City (a five- to nine-day trip), Everglades Adventures can provide the transportation between those locales that makes it possible.
Or, if you’ve read Florida Rambler’s article on kayaking the Turner River but don’t own a kayak, these folks can help you do it.
The complex is located near the Barron River in Everglades City, walking distance to three popular restaurants. (Two are seafood houses that are among the most popular places to get stone crabs —Triad Seafood and City Seafood – and the third is Camellia Street Grill, with a more varied menu that also includes stone crabs and seafood.)
The hotel, which has spacious with private baths, has rates that start at $129 off season with January to April rates from $179 to $249 (plus taxes.)
Rooms are comfortable and the staff goes out of its way to help you have a great experience in the area. The white board in the lobby lists local wildlife sightings, for example, and when we told the desk clerk we were going to kayak the Turner River, he pulled out maps and information about it.
The atmosphere here is like a national park lodge and based on the conversations and accents heard, Ivey House appeals to an international clientele.
The history of the Ivey House
The Tamiami Trail (pronounced tammy-ammy and standing for Tampa-Miami) is the southern-most link between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This road through the swampy, buggy, alligator-filled Everglades was not easy to build. While begun in 1915, the project was delayed by a world war, hurricanes and a land bust. Eventually, it took real estate developer Barron Collier’s funding to get the road built and it was completed in 1928.
Everglades City was the center of the huge road project and Barron Collier had a recreation building constructed for the workers, offering a bowling alley and pool hall. That recreation building is now the lodge portion of the Ivey House.
After the road opened, Earl Ivey, who had operated the huge dredge that dug the Tamiami Trail, and his wife Agnes, ran a boarding house in the building – until she died in 1974!
For a few years after that, the historic building was the Beckett Academy, a school for troubled children that offered a program of wilderness activities.
In 1978, the current owners bought the school and the Ivey House began its transformation to first a bed and breakfast and eco-tour provider and is now calling itself “an Everglades adventure hotel.” In 2001, the inn with its swimming pool and the lodge lobby and dining room were completed. After losing the historic building to Hurricane Irma, an additional wing was added.
Ivey House Everglades Adventures Hotel Bed and Breakfast
107 Camellia St E, Everglades City, FL 34139
(239) 695-3299
Reservations via Hotels.com
Things to do in Everglades City area
We love visiting Everglades City, a small fishing village with fresh seafood and historic buildings and proximity to so many outdoors adventures.
- Our favorite Everglades kayak trail is the Turner River, eight miles from Everglades City.
- A great saltwater kayak trail nearby is Sandfly Loop, which gives you a taste of the Ten Thousand Island. For this, you launch from the Gulf Coast Visitor Center for Everglades National Park, which is five minutes from Ivey House.
- Halfway Creek is another kayak trail quite close to the Turner River. (It’s where we kayaked the time water was too low in the Turner River.)
- There are two good boat tours offered at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. (As of later 2017, boat tours have not re-opened after the hurricane.)
- If you’re interested in the building of the Tamiami Trail, visit nearby Collier-Seminole State Park, which has the historic Bay City walking dredge, the last of its kind in existence. It’s a huge machine that was operated by Earl Ivey of Ivey House. The park also has good hiking and kayaking.
- Everglades City is the base for many stone-crab fishermen, so it’s a good place to indulge in the seasonal seafood. Here’s where to eat stone crabs in Everglades City plus general background on the city.
- Visit one of our favorite, off-the-beaten-track stops, historic Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee, just four miles away. (Its docks are a lovely place to watch the sunset.)
- Our guide to the scenic drive across Florida via Tamiami Trail is full of good places to hike, picnic and explore nearby.
- Nearby Ochopee Post Office on the Tamiami Trail is the smallest in the US. And so cute.
- Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park: Excellent trail for bicycling and wildlife viewing in Everglades National Park.
- Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery: It’s always a thrill to view his large-format black-and-white photos of Florida’s wilds.
- Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk: This is a beautiful spot worth a short walk. One of the prettiest boardwalks in the Everglades region, and it’s free!
- Big Cypress National Preserve
- Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park
