Barefoot Beach Preserve County Park

My in-​laws, my husband and I was vacationing at Ft Myers Beach. My brother in law mentioned Barefoot Beach was better. And he was right.
It’s located at the end of a long road of expensive houses. It’s $ 8 to enter.
The sand is white but full of shells. The water is clear and warm. It’s not as shallow but it was lovely.

I love this beach. It is private and quiet and beautiful. The tortoises are so fun to see and the beach always has starfish and other sea creatures. This is off the beaten path and much more family-​friendly then Fort Myers Beach. We always come here for a calm relaxing day at the beach. Be careful not to drive over the tortoises! There are signs everywhere so just make sure to look under your car before you drive away after leaving the beach.

My favorite beach! Beautiful drive to get here past all the stately beach homes. Rustic atmosphere with white sand. Calm, swim able gulf water. Lots of great seashells. Paradise.

The perfect spot for a walk along the ocean.
I was not heading for this beach but am glad I found it.
It was uncrowded (Wednesday in May), clean, and just enough people to feel safe.
It’s good for finding shells. You can walk a good distance along the shore or play in the water. It’s shallow enough to go out a good way.
I’d come back here if in the area

I prefer Vanderbilt beach to Barefoot.
Barefoot is very shelly, it has just as many ppl, and is harder to get to.
I will admit the neighborhood you drive through is awesome but once you get to parking (better get there early to get a spot) it is just a very Shelly beach.

I went on a wednesday at 430 and there were plenty of open parking spaces. Weather was perfect. Water was like bathwater. What I couldn’t understand was why more people were not enjoying the water. Lol made me a little paranoid that they knew something I didn’t. Was there rogue shark, flesh eating bacteria, jelly fish etc… oh well wasn’t going to keep me from enjoying myself.

I love the expansive spaces, grassy dunes, shady trails and remote location — but the $ 8 entrance fee? Not so much. To get a resident pass you pay $ 50 at the county building — it is oddly unavailable at any of the beach parks except Marco Island (probably to maximize county revenue from snowbirds who like to beach hop). But, it is clearly popular with locals — a recent Saturday morning found all several hundred parking spots taken by 11 a.m. Devoted beach-​goers these Neapolitans

An untouched beautiful beach! So many shells! Gorgeous emerald water. We saw a dozen Dolphins of the shore, 6 huge tortoises and even a mama and daddy osprey in a gigantic nest feeding baby birds! A real nature lovers dream!

This beach was everything I wanted. Quiet, relaxing and small. My parents live in Fort Myers and most of the beaches near them are overrun by wasted college kids this time of year.
Barefoot beach had more of a chill, relaxing, family beach vibe. Lots of older couples quietly reading, small families building sand castles on the narrow shore and couples relaxing together. No crazy music or ultimate frisbee dudes here.
The beach is really shelly so bring your floppy floppys. We found some really cool shells and there was an interesting shell identifier sign up in our parking lot, along with some tortoises hanging in the sun.
Parking was $ 8 unless you have a state park entrance membership. The drive down the 20mph residential road isn’t bad since you’re surrounded by ridiculously beautiful homes to gawk at and imagine your a drug dealers trophy wife staring over the dual staircase over her collection of luxury vehicles. Or whatever your rich person fantasy is idk, it might be a little different than mine. Anyway, the slow drive is worth it.

Although the drive to Barefoot Beach houses not actual houses, but spacious villas that leave you wondering whatever happened to the cast of the OC, the beach is a marvel unto itself. The sand is glorious, though it does get pretty shelly near the water, which in the winter is so cold it should only be reserved for those under 10, and in the summer could be a good substitute for your daily (or weekly) bath.
I’ve been here a few times and it never gets too crowded on the actual beach, but parking can be a bitch – there are many no parking signs as the beach is also a tortoise refuge and they need some paths to amble along. The head honcho of the place is a pretty large and in charge woman so you don’t want to park anywhere you’re not supposed to, otherwise you will have to deal with her wrath.
Pretty clean bathroom and icees sold at the front section — nice.

Had an amazing time. Walked on the trails then spent time on the beach. Come early to get a parking spot however

If you like seashells, this is the place for you. The beach is narrow but long, and there are many shells to pick from. Today it was crowded and many people were picking shells and having a grand old time.
TIP: There are times the name doesn’t fit reality. Bring your flip flops or some sort of shoes as it is hard to walk barefoot along a crowded beach full of seashells. Nevertheless, you will enjoy it.
Cost is $ 8 for parking. Don’t stop at the first gate (there is a sign saying only maintenance people stop and check in there). Proceed to the second gate about a mile down a pretty brick road with nice homes and pay parking at the end.
Wider beaches are found at Marco Island and Siesta Key

Make sure you don’t get here too early. We got here at 7:57 am and the gate guard made us go out and around and wait behind the gate until exactly 8 am. Ugh.

Barefoot Beach is absolutely gorgeous. The drive to the beach takes you through an area with gorgeous homes so even that was enjoyable. At the end of the road is a paved lot for parking and nice walkways to the beach.
Collecting seashells seemed to be a common activity here. There are lots of them too. This beach wasn’t quite so busy as Bonita Beach but it’s no secret beach either. Everything about this place was beautiful.
Gopher Turtles seem to like this beach too. There are signs to check under your vehicle before you pull out. We even saw a nest off the walkway.
Close to sunset more people started showing up with their chairs. They were there to watch the sunset and it was beautiful too.

always a great beach

At the south end of the park, there is a one and a half mile (round-​trip) trail that runs parallel to the beach. It has well prepared botanical markers with plant names and photographs to guide your spotting of an adjacent plant. There are many gopher tortoise tunnels near the trail. Look over the lip of the mound and you might see the local denizen before he backs deeper into his den. I like to cut over to the beach at the end where the trail turns around at Wiggins Pass. There. several scraggly trees have empty branches where visitors have hung a scavenged sea shell or two. The weather periodically clears some shells, as well as the shoreline, making each visit a different experience.

While the beach is narrow it is one of the most beautiful beaches in South Florida. Driving through the residential area to the beach is amazing. Multi million dollars homes to get you ready for the beach.
The one big attraction of the beach is gopher turtles. I have seen them and they do not look like a gopher they look like a turtle just incase you wanted to know. :)

This beautiful beach is off the crowded streets but still easy to get to. There is an $ 8 parking fee but well worth it for the spacious parking areas and restrooms. There weren’t large changing rooms that we saw but we only went to parking area 3 and there were several different ones.
There are hiking trails to see the gopher tortoises. So bring something other than flip flops.
It’s also a great place to put in a kayak or paddleboard.
Beautiful sand and beautiful shells. The parking station has a shell guide available for free if you ask.

Beautiful beach. Sometimes can be crowded. The best of course during the off season. Very clean. Little shelly. Gorgeous houses to check out:)
Definitely must go.

One of the best beaches that I have encountered on the Florida Gulf coast.
It’s more crowded than I remember it years ago. .. but it’s still a wonderfully maintained and very pretty beach. Lots of shells to explore and a long, long beach to walk along and just listen to the water, the waves and look to see if you can spot a dolphin swimming by.
Parking is $ 8 per car per day (which I personally think is a tad expensive) unless you have a county beach pass sticker/​tag on your vehicle.
Lots of wildlife in the area, and it is a very quiet beach. Come here if you want to walk or swim, but make sure to bring your sunscreen. Without realizing it, you’ll get pretty toasty in an hour!
Word of advice, though, from someone who’s been here often for many years: watch the tide reports, as this part of the Gulf is effected by weather conditions north of it. Florida experienced quite a bit of rain in the last several weeks, which resulted in excess water in Lake Okeechobee; water was released from the lake which flowed down the Caloosahatchee River (empties into the Gulf right around Sanibel Island) and down south towards Barefoot Beach. This caused a bloom of red tide, so the water was laden with red seaweed today, making it absolutely impossible to swim. While I know this is a beautiful beach, this red seaweed will not be gone for a bit of time, which obviously impacts anyone’s enjoyment of this particular «paradise.» We should have checked the news reports, as this has happened before. It’s nature.