North America · Subtropical hammock & swamp
Florida
Banyans, bamboo groves and blackwater swamps — the jungle hiding inside the United States.
Banyans, bamboo groves and blackwater swamps — the jungle hiding inside the United States.
Florida doesn't have rainforest, but it has something stranger: subtropical hammock. Hardwood islands of live oak, strangler fig and royal palm rising out of the Everglades, bamboo groves that swallow whole houses outside Orlando, and mangrove tunnels you kayak through in the Keys. The humidity is real and so is the wildlife — alligators, manatees, and more wading birds than anywhere else in the country.
The stays lean eccentric in the best way. Treehouses suspended in century-old oaks, off-grid cabins on the Everglades' edge in the Redland farm country, stilt houses over the water in the Keys. These are passion projects built by characters, and they book out months ahead.
Winter is the season — November through April is dry, mosquito-light and 75°F. Summer is a sauna with afternoon lightning, which has its own appeal if you like your swamp dramatic. Everything is an easy drive from Miami or Orlando, which makes Florida the lowest-commitment jungle trip on this site.
Subtropical hammock & swamp