Airboat rides are one of our must do activities when on holiday in Florida. You’ll find you’re never too far from a tour company who will be able to take you for a ride across lakes or through the rivers and mangroves.

The smaller airboats can carry up to 6 people with the larger ones having a capacity of up to 12 passengers. One of our favourite companies is Midway Airboat tours near the town of Christmas, east of Orlando towards Titusville. Here you can go ‘gator and turtle spotting guided by locals who have grown up in the area. It is quite a long way from Orlando on Highway 50 at St John’s River but we think it’s worth the journey. airboatridesatmidway.com

Boggy Creek Airboats is a long established Airboat tour centre on East Southport Road on the southern side of Lake Tohopekaliga (locals call it Lake Toho) bcairboats.com

We visited these guys in 2022 and they have a small restaurant and shop as well as a butterfly house and a a few small alligators. They can do tours from 1/2 hour to 2 hours and even sunset and nighttime tours around Lake Toho.

If you’re planning on staying in the southern part of Florida for a part of the holiday you can experience an airboat tour of the Everglades. We used Captain Jacks tours in Everglades City and had a really good hour long tour of the mangroves spotting lots of the birds and a couple of very curious alligators. Wootens near Everglades City is another long established tour company and have a small animal area where you can hold a small alligator. They also do various other tours including a swamp buggy tour as an alternative to the airboat.

TMTO Budget: Expect to pay around $35 per person for a half and hour tour and $65 for a 1 hour tour. But don’t forget to tip your boat captain as well.

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