Clam Pass Park in Naples is a beach hidden behind a posh resort. There’s a pretty kayaking trail plus the beach is special: Tides in the little pass float you in and out of a lagoon like a lazy river ride.
Naples
The kayak trail through old Bonita Springs on the Imperial River is worth discovering for its scenery. If you’re lucky, you may see manatees.
This beach occupies one of the last undeveloped barrier islands on Florida’s southwest coast, and its a place for finding shells, sand dollars, gopher tortoises and, best of all, unadorned natural beauty. It reopened 14 months after severe damage from Hurricane Ian in 2022. Presently, it operates with limited facilities including portable restrooms.
The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, an Audubon Society preserve, takes you on a hike via boardwalk with good wildlife viewing and exquisite scenery. In summer, you might get a peak at the rare ghost orchid blooming.
Some sections of the 2.5 mile beach remain closed. Otherwise, the park is open every day from 8 a.m. until sunset.
Florida’s celebrity in the orchid world — the ghost orchid — is blooming at the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, attracting orchid fans who want to spot this rare variety.
Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park has reopened eight months after Hurricane Ian’s 10- foot storm surge blasted it. It has superb white sand and clear water.
The Naples Botanical Garden is ever-changing and stunning. Here are 11 surprises during our visit; go explore and see what you discover.
Due to Hurricane Ian, the annual Naples Stone Crab Festival has been postponed. A new date has not been announced.
Florida birding festivals bring together experts, pros and beginners at winter events. With its varied terrain and long coastline, Florida is birding heaven. The first major birding festival starts Oct. 20.
Naples is a wealthy enclave with lush, tropical neighborhoods and lots of natural beauty close and accessible. Here’s a guide to things to do outdoors in Naples and surrounding areas.
Few South Florida hiking or biking trails rival this 12-mile-long trail near Naples for scenery and wildlife. It deserves to be known outside the Naples area.
Tigertail Beach is for adventurers who love unspoiled beaches where you can walk for miles. You reach this beach by wading across a shallow lagoon. It’s full of seashells, wildlife and it’s a birding hot-spot.
Crossing the state on Alligator Alley? Here are tips on a how to spend 15 minutes, a half hour or a half day exploring the Everglades from I-75. This mile marker guide helps you decide where to stop and what to do along the way.
The beach town of Marco Island is all manicured and modern, but here are four adventures into the wild and authentic Florida that are within a quick drive. You can wade across a lagoon to a wild beach or have lunch in a funky fishing town or stroll on a boardwalk into a beautiful old growth cypress swamp.
Florida winters were meant for this: Discovering wild and scenic places by kayak. To help you plan fun Florida kayak trips, I’ve selected three of my favorite kayak destinations in Southwest Florida. These aren’t well-known but deserve to be.
Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park — the biggest state park in Florida — is a vast, wild place near Everglades City. Year after year, we drove right past, but there are three great reasons to spend time here. We’re glad we did.
In the wild and watery world of southwest Florida, Collier-Seminole State Park near Naples draws people who love the natural Florida for camping, hiking and paddling. It’s also home to the 1924 Bay City Walking Dredge, and how often do you get to visit a “National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark”?
The rare and endangered Florida panther makes its home in the wilds of the western Everglades and the Big Cypress Swamp, much of the area preserved in protected state and federal lands accessible to hikers.