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photo credit: hyku

Naples, Florida, offers enough diversions to last a visitor for weeks. Whether you’re a beach bum, animal lover, history buff or art aficionado, you’ll find plenty to see and do in Naples, Southwest Florida’s jewel.

Naples Pier

Situated on the Gulf of Mexico, Naples is a water lover’s dream. Start your visit with a trip to Naples Pier (originally built in 1888 as a freight and passenger dock), to admire the white sand and turquoise waters. Watch for dolphins and pelicans, walk along the beach to pick up shells, or maybe even spend an afternoon fishing (no license is required). Hang around the pier long enough and watch a spectacular sunset. Snacks and beverages are available, and best of all, the pier is free.

Naples Municipal Beach & Fishing Pier (Naples Pier)
25 12th Avenue South
Naples, Florida 34102
(239)213.3062

Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park

Another option for beach lovers is Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, one of the nation’s most popular beaches. Featuring a variety of recreational activities, the park offers convenient access to the mile-long stretch of beach and five parking lots with a system of connecting trails and boardwalks. Visitors can spend the day at the park, with facilities like picnic tables and a pavilion, grills and bicycle racks on hand, as well as bathhouses with changing stalls and outdoor showers. Snorkelers can rent gear on site (call 239-594-3400). Fishing sites abound and the park offers boat ramp access to the back bays, Cocohatchee River and the Gulf of Mexico. Kayakers and scuba divers love the Park. Don’t miss the tower at the north end of the island for a bird’s-eye view of Wiggins Pass and the coastal habitat

Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park

11135 Gulfshore Dr.
Naples, Florida 34108
Phone: 239-597-6196
Located in North Naples five miles west of I-75-exit 111.

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Garden

Ready for a change of pace from the beach? Spend a day at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens. Visitors to this 45-acre historic tropical garden can watch alligators eat while they learn the truth behind the myths surrounding the reptiles, tour Panther Glade, an educational display about the endangered Florida panther, or enjoy a Primate Expedition Cruise on guided catamarans that cruise past islands of monkeys, lemurs, and apes. They can also see all four of Africa’s top predators – lions, spotted hyenas, leopards and African wild dogs, as well as Malayan tigers, the rarest tigers in America. Other animals at the Naples Zoo include kangaroos, spider monkeys, macaws, zebras, crested porcupines, gray parrots, sulcata tortoises, and many others.

Conservancy Nature Center of Southwest Florida

Can’t get enough of the wildlife? Pay a visit to Conservancy Nature Center of Southwest Florida. Canoe, kayak or take part in guided walks and boat tours on this 14-acre facility. The Naples Nature Center lets you see Florida up close an personal with their aviary, Discovery Center with a serpentarium, and a 3,000-gallon sea-turtle aquarium. Especially worth seeing is the wildlife rehabilitation clinic, a special “hospital” for injured native wildlife where you’ll learn about the role wild animal rehabilitation plays in conservation, and see some resident bald eagles, hawks and owls who are too injured to survive again in the wild

Conservancy Nature Center of Southwest Florida
1450 Merrihue Dr., Naples, Florida
Phone: 239/262-0304

Naples Museum of Art

Visitors to Naples shouldn’t miss the world-class paintings, sculpture, drawings and other art forms at the Naples Museum of Art. The visual arts center includes a three-story, 30,000-square-foot museum with 15 galleries, a 90×45-foot glass dome conservatory, 14-foot-high entrance gates by metal artist Albert Paley, and a Persian Ceiling by glass artist Dale Chihuly. The museum’s major permanent collections concentrate on American Modern and Ancient Chinese genres. Free guided tours are available from October through May at 11a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Naples Museum of Art
5833 Pelican Bay Boulevard
Naples, Florida 34108
(800) 597-1900

Collier County Museum

While you’re on the museum circuit, allow some time for a visit to the free Collier County Museum, where you’ll learn about 10,000 years worth of local history dating back to mastodons and saber cats, Calusa and Seminole Indians, as well as the pioneers who settled one of America’s last frontiers. Five acres of native gardens, two early Naples cottages, swamp buggies and a logging locomotive are among the highlights of this popular museum.

The Collier County Museum
3301 Tamiami Trail East
Naples, Florida 34112
239-774-8476

Florida Sports Park Swamp Buggy races

If you’re in Naples Florida in January, March or October, you’re in luck because you’ll have a chance to watch one of the oddest motorsport events in the country — Swamp Buggy racing. Swamp buggies got their start in the 1930s when hunters created these unusual vehicles sporting balloon tires and gun racks to make their way through the mire of the boggy swamps of Collier County. Before long hunters got together to race through potato patches for fun. By the late 1940s local merchants got into the game with prizes (like shotguns)for the winners and the local people came out to watch and cheer. The first official swamp buggy race took place in 1949 when Johnny Jones won. Today swamp buggy racing has progressed to a major “sport” with buggies built no longer for hunting, but specifically for racing. Thousands of spectators show up to the races to cheer on the racers, maybe a take a ride themselves, and watch the finale – the Swamp Buggy Queen’s Annual Mudbath. The Sports Park offers other events throughout the year

Swamp Buggy Inc
8250 Collier Blvd
Naples, FL 34114
(239) 774-2701

Tags: naples florida beach zoo pier kayak boat fish