Private Everglades Airboat Tours
Everglades airboat tours the way they should be: a private boat for your group, a native captain at the stick and the wild northern Everglades all around you, with alligators, wading birds, tree islands and sawgrass to the horizon.
“Text or call me and I’ll get you out on the water — I can’t wait to see you out in the swamp!”— Captain Billy, owner & native Everglades guideAces Airboat Tours runs private Everglades airboat tours from three launches on the northern edge of the marsh in western Broward and Parkland. Every tour is a private boat for your group, from two seats to fifteen, led by owner Captain Billy or Captain Bill. You ride into open sawgrass, canals and tree islands to see wild alligators and birds.
Everglades Airboat Tours, the Aces Way
Aces is a family-owned business, and it is built around one idea: the Everglades is best seen from a small boat with someone who truly knows it. That someone is Captain Billy, our owner, who has spent more than sixty years in and around the Everglades, lives on a homestead he built himself and has hand-built airboats. He still answers the phone.
Alongside him is Captain Bill, a naturalist captain with more than thirty years on this water. Between them they know where the big gators sun in the morning, which tree islands hold nesting birds and how the marsh changes from one month to the next. Meet them both on our captains page.
The second idea is private boats. Many Everglades airboat tours pack twenty or more strangers onto one hull. We never do. Every Aces tour is a private boat for your group, and every seat is a front-row seat, so nobody spends the ride looking at the back of a head. Our fleet has two 8-passenger airboats, four 2-passenger airboats and one 15-passenger group boat; see them on our boats page.
Put those together and you get the experience guests describe in their reviews: personal, relaxed, full of wildlife and run by people who love this place.
How an Airboat Works
An airboat is one of the cleverest pieces of Florida engineering. It solves a simple problem: how do you travel across water that is often only inches deep and packed with grass?
- A flat-bottomed hull. There is no keel and nothing hanging below the boat, so it slides over shallow water, sawgrass and lily pads instead of digging in.
- An aircraft-style propeller in the air. A large propeller mounted at the back, inside a protective cage, pushes air rather than water. With no propeller under the surface, there is nothing to tangle in weeds or strike bottom.
- Big rudders behind the propeller. The captain steers by turning tall rudders in the propeller's airflow, using a stick beside the raised seat.
- A raised driver's seat. Sitting up high lets your captain read the water ahead and spot wildlife before anyone else.
That design is why airboats are the classic way into the marsh, and why they are loud. We hand out hearing protection on every ride. Florida has specific rules for airboat operation and equipment, which the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission publishes.
Curious about the boats themselves? Captain Billy loves talking shop, and on a private ride you can ask him anything.
Northern Everglades vs Everglades National Park
A lot of visitors assume every airboat ride happens inside Everglades National Park. It does not, and we want to be clear: Aces does not operate inside the national park. We run in the northern Everglades, west of the Broward and Palm Beach suburbs.
The Everglades is one connected system. Water historically flowed south from the Lake Okeechobee region across a wide sawgrass marsh all the way to Florida Bay. Today the northern part of that marsh is managed as the Water Conservation Areas and the Loxahatchee refuge, through the South Florida Water Management District and federal partners. The southern end is protected as Everglades National Park.
What does that mean for you? The northern Everglades is the same River of Grass: sawgrass, tree islands, lily pad pools, canals and levees, full of alligators and wading birds. It is also much closer to Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Palm Beach than the Tamiami Trail corridor, so you spend more of your day on the water.
The park itself is well worth a visit on another day for its trails and visitor centers. For an airboat ride with fewer boats around you and a launch near the suburbs, the northern Glades is the smart choice. The ongoing Everglades restoration effort covers both.
What Everglades Airboat Tours Look Like, Step by Step
Here is how a typical private ride with Aces unfolds.
- Text or call Captain Billy at 561-660-2419 with your date, group size and preferred time of day. He matches you with the right boat and confirms the launch.
- Arrive at the launch a few minutes early. Your captain welcomes you, hands out hearing protection and walks through simple safety rules.
- Head out through the canals. The boat picks up speed along the waterways before turning into open marsh.
- Explore the sawgrass and tree islands. Your captain slows near gator holes, lily pad pools and hammocks, and cuts the engine for close looks and photos.
- Ask anything. Wildlife, history, how water moves, how the boat works. Private tours mean real conversation.
- Ride back, with a little extra speed if your group wants it.
Most rides last about one to two hours depending on the tour. If you want to know what to wear and bring, read what to wear on an Everglades airboat tour, and for the full experience, what to expect.
Our Everglades airboat tours welcome all ages, from toddlers to grandparents.
Every Tour We Run
The marsh changes hour by hour, so we run tours for every mood and every group. The full menu is on our tours page; here is the short version.
By time of day. Bright, family-friendly day tours; glassy-water sunrise tours; golden-hour sunset tours; and the Red Eye Gator night tour with a spotlight on glowing alligator eyes.
By style. Full-throttle fast tours, playful sliding tours, quiet drifting tours, slow nature tours and bird watching tours.
By group. Private tours for couples and families, group tours on the 15-passenger boat, and accessible tours on boats with a wheelchair ramp. Celebrations include birthdays, bachelor and bachelorette parties and corporate outings.
For sportsmen. Fishing, spearfishing and duck hunting trips reach water you cannot get to from the bank.
Want wildlife front and center? Start with our alligator tours. Curious how airboats compare with other wetland trips? See swamp tours.
Text or Call Captain Billy Today!
“Text or call me and I’ll get you out on the water — I can’t wait to see you out in the swamp!”— Captain Billy, owner & native Everglades guideBest Time for an Everglades Airboat Ride
There is no bad season, only different ones.
Dry season, about November through April. Cooler, less humid and the most popular time. Water levels drop, so wildlife gathers in canals and deeper pools, and alligators bask on sunny banks. Birding is excellent as wintering birds arrive. See our winter tours and spring tours.
Wet season, about May through October. Lush, green and dramatic, with towering clouds and afternoon thunderstorms that usually pass quickly. Mornings and evenings are best, and summer nights are prime for the Red Eye Gator tour. See summer night tours and fall tours.
Time of day. Sunrise for calm water and active wildlife, midday for bright easy viewing with kids, sunset for color and photos, and night for glowing eyes and the sounds of the marsh.
We keep an eye on the weather for every ride and will reschedule if lightning threatens. Check current conditions on our Everglades weather page or the National Weather Service in Miami. Our best time to visit guide has more detail.
Where We Launch and Who We Serve
We run three launches on the northern edge of the Everglades: The Landing at 15490 Loxahatchee Rd in Parkland, our Stub Canal launch, and our ramp off the Sawgrass Expressway at Atlantic Boulevard. All three open onto the same wild marsh, and Captain Billy confirms the best one for you when you book. Details are on our pickup locations page.
That location puts private Everglades airboat tours within easy reach of most of South Florida. Guests come from across Broward County and Palm Beach County, including Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Parkland, Boca Raton and Weston. Every city we serve is listed on our service areas page.
Booking is a text or a call to 561-660-2419. Because each tour is a private boat, the rate depends on the boat and length of the ride, so ask Captain Billy for yours. Then come see why guests give our Everglades airboat tours a 4.9-star Google rating; read them on our reviews page.
Popular Airboat Tours
Everglades Airboat Tours
The signature private ride through wild sawgrass, tree islands and gator water.
Explore Tour
Sunset Tours
Ride out as the sky lights up over the open marsh.
Explore Tour
Red Eye Gator Night Tours
Scan the marsh by spotlight for glowing alligator eyes.
Explore Tour
Sunrise Tours
Cool air, glassy water and the most active wildlife of the day.
Explore Tour
Fast Airboat Tours
Full-throttle sawgrass runs, spins and slides with a pro at the stick.
Explore Tour
Private Tours
Your group, your captain, your boat. No strangers aboard.
Explore Tour3 Convenient South Florida Pickup Points
Choose the launch closest to you — every ride heads into the same wild, gator-filled Everglades sawgrass.
Stub Canal
Off the Sawgrass Expressway area — easy access from Broward County.
Book From HereSawgrass Expressway at Atlantic Blvd
Convenient ramp right off the Sawgrass Expressway at Atlantic Boulevard.
Book From HereThe Landing
Our north Broward launch on Loxahatchee Road near Parkland.
Book From HereWhat Our Guests Say
Real Google reviews from guests who rode the wild Everglades with Captain Billy and Captain Bill.
Loved this experience and so glad we took the time to do it. Saw lots of gators and other wildlife. Very happy and lucky to tour the real Everglades with our captain.
Awesome tour! Captain Billy was great! Very knowledgeable and fun to be around. We went in the morning and it was perfect weather. Great views, saw lots of alligators and birds. We will definitely do this again!
We went with our friends visiting from out of town, and our kids. Captain Bill was so knowledgeable, he knew the area so well and showed us a ton of alligators up close. The tour was a 10/10.
We booked a 2 hour private tour, which seems to be the right amount of time to see everything. Very easy meeting spot at a boat landing. Our captain was fantastic and I can't say enough great things. He put us on some alligators. We will definitely be back.
Loved this experience and so glad we took the time to do it. Saw lots of gators and other wildlife. Very happy and lucky to tour the real Everglades with our captain.
Awesome tour! Captain Billy was great! Very knowledgeable and fun to be around. We went in the morning and it was perfect weather. Great views, saw lots of alligators and birds. We will definitely do this again!
We went with our friends visiting from out of town, and our kids. Captain Bill was so knowledgeable, he knew the area so well and showed us a ton of alligators up close. The tour was a 10/10.
We booked a 2 hour private tour, which seems to be the right amount of time to see everything. Very easy meeting spot at a boat landing. Our captain was fantastic and I can't say enough great things. He put us on some alligators. We will definitely be back.
Everglades Airboat Tour Questions
Which Everglades airboat tour is best?
The best one matches your group. For wildlife and a personal experience, choose a private boat with a veteran captain, like Aces, where every seat is a front-row seat. Families often pick a day tour, couples a sunset tour and thrill seekers a fast or night tour.
Do you operate inside Everglades National Park?
No. Aces runs in the northern Everglades, the Water Conservation Areas and marsh near the Loxahatchee refuge, west of Broward and Palm Beach County. It is the same River of Grass ecosystem, much closer to the suburbs, with fewer boats on the water.
Is an Everglades airboat tour worth it?
Yes, especially on a private boat. In an hour or two you cover wild marsh no other boat can reach, see alligators and wading birds up close and hear the real story of the Everglades from a captain who has lived it. Guests rate us 4.9 stars on Google.
How long are your airboat tours?
Most private tours run about one to two hours, depending on the tour you choose. Longer rides go deeper and allow more stops. Captain Billy will recommend the right length for your group when you text or call 561-660-2419.
Where is the best place to sit on an airboat?
On a large park boat, the front rows have the best view and the middle seats the worst. On Aces boats it does not matter: our small airboats have no middle rows, so every seat is a front-row seat.
Do you tip an airboat captain?
Tipping is never required, but it is customary in Florida's tour business and always appreciated if your captain made the ride special. Many guests tip in line with any guided tour they enjoyed.
More Everglades Airboat Adventures
Ready to Ride the Real Everglades?
One text gets you a private boat, a native captain and the wildest water in South Florida. Text or call Captain Billy today.
“Text or call me and I’ll get you out on the water — I can’t wait to see you out in the swamp!”— Captain Billy, owner & native Everglades guide