Everglades National Park
The state's wetland region was named Grassrivers, and its official description names the alligators and the mangroves. The real place is the Everglades: a 1.5-million-acre wetland that runs from Lake Okeechobee south to the Gulf, 40 miles from the neon strip where the rest of Leonida Tours runs.
At a glance
- Address
- 40001 State Road 6, Homestead, FL 33034
- Coordinates
- 25.2866, -80.8986
- District
- Grassrivers
- Confidence
- Official region + community match
- Where it is seen
- Trailer 1 (0:20), Trailer 2 (2:18) and the official Grassrivers region page
How confident are we?
The wetland region was named Grassrivers and described in its own copy; the Everglades is the only wetland of that scale in Florida.
There is no serious alternative candidate. The Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, the only place in the country with sawgrass marsh running to the horizon and an alligator population you can count from a boat, and it sits roughly where the game puts a wetland region between the Keys and the west coast.
What the publisher actually wrote
The game's own region page is short, and the short version is worth quoting in full because it is the official description and everything else is inference. The heading is "Welcome to the Wetlands", the standfirst is "The untamable jewel of Leonida's crown", and the body reads: "You never know what lies beneath the surface of this primordial expanse. The gators may be the most famous attraction, but there are far deadlier predators and weirder discoveries among the mangroves."
The one spatial fact in the official copy
The official image caption for Grassrivers describes a speedboat heading toward buildings on piers with the Vice City skyline visible in the distance. That is the game's own statement that the wetland region is close enough to the city to see it. It does not give a distance, and neither does anyone else.
The Everglades in three parts
The park is not one place. The northern River of Grass near Everglades City is sawgrass and birdlife. The central area around Homestead and the airboat concession is the part most visitors see, with mangroves, alligators and the paved road that runs for miles through open marsh. The southern tip is the mangrove tunnel and the coast, where the Gulf meets the swamp.
| Detail | The real thing |
|---|---|
| Address | 40001 State Road 6, Homestead, FL 33034 |
| Coordinates | 25.28660, -80.89860 |
| In-game name | Grassrivers |
| Region in game | Grassrivers |
| Size | ~1.5 million acres |
| Distance from Miami | About 45 miles / 70 km |
Airboats, and why they are the point
In the trailer an airboat is the signature vehicle of the wetland, and in the real Everglades that is exactly right: because the marsh is too shallow and too vegetated for a conventional hull, the standard way to move through it is an airboat, a flat-bottomed hull with a propeller caged above the waterline. An Extended Look even shows one being driven in gameplay.
Where it sits on our route
Our Grasslands airboat tour leaves Miami in the morning, shuttles you out to the edge of the park, and puts you on an airboat run through the sawgrass with a wildlife guide, followed by a boardwalk and viewing tower stop. It is a half-day, it works for ages five and up, and it is the one route on our map that does not start on Ocean Drive.
Practicalities
There is no entry fee to drive the park road, which is one of the great free attractions in the United States. The concession at the entrance sells airboat rides and alligator programmes, and the two-hour loop south towards Marathon is the section everyone should drive. Do not try to cover the whole park in a day: it is 1.5 million acres and the interesting parts are far apart.
Frequently asked questions
Is Grassrivers in GTA 6 the Everglades?
Yes. The official Grassrivers page describes gators, mangroves and a primordial wetland expanse, and the Everglades is the only wetland region of that scale and character in Florida. It is the most confident regional match in the game.
How far is the Everglades from Miami?
About 45 miles, roughly an hour and a half of driving from Downtown Miami, depending on traffic. The park entrance is off the Tamiami Trail, and the drive itself is one of the best parts.
Will you actually see alligators?
Your wildlife guide takes you to the places gators are most often seen, and on a good day you will see them. Sightings are never guaranteed, because they are wild animals in a huge place.
See it on a Leonida Tours route.
Everglades National Park is one of the stops we drive past every day. Join a small group and see it in person, with a local guide who knows what to look for.
See this on the tourUnofficial tours. Leonida Tours is an independent tour company. Our tours are not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored or licensed by any game publisher or their affiliates. All game titles, characters, place names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used here only to describe the real-world locations that inspired them. Every stop on our tours is a real, publicly accessible place. Photography via Unsplash.