Boca Grande Beach(Gasparilla Island State Park)

Located in the small town of Boca Grande, Boca Grande Beach is a long, wide, and remote beach situated near the southern end of Gasparilla Island. Boca Grande Beach is adjacent to the historic Gasparilla Island Lighthouse and Boca Grande Ball Field where you can swim, boat, and camp. Boca Grande Beach is a well-known destination for sport and recreational fishing with the most sought-after species being tarpon, snook, redfish, and speckled trout. 

Boca Grande Beach offers many amenities including restrooms, showers, picnic tables, fire pits, barbecues, and a fishing pier. 

There are many fun activities at Boca Grande Beach including swimming, fishing, boating, camping, hiking, photography, and beach walking. If you are looking for additional activites, Big Bully Outdoors is a very famous fishing tour company in the nearby area that provides amazing trips to interact with the underwater wildlife. 

Getting to Boca Grande Beach is very easy – the beach’s free parking lot is situated at 184 Gulf Boulevard and provides easy access to the beach. 

If you are looking for nearby attractions, there are many options within a 10-minute drive of Boca Grande Beach. Gasparilla Island State Park features many activities including swimming, snorkeling, shelling, nature study, and is home to many birds and animals such as the West Indian manatee, gopher tortoise, bald eagle, osprey, least tern, and black skimmer. Port Boca Grande Lighthouse Museum is the oldest structure on Gasparilla Island – it is very popular for its nature room which contains a ‘please touch’ area and has local bones, shells, and fossils. The historic Whidden’s Marina offers souvenir shops, art galleries, whale watching tours, boating tours, fishing trips, and is a great spot for photography. Another great attraction near Boca Grande Beach is Cedar Point Environmental Park which has a vista point – and is a great place to hike, picnic, or camp. 

If you get hungry, you can drive three minutes to many restaurants near Boca Grande Beach. The seafood restaurant Eagle Grill and Miller’s Dockside features oysters, surf ‘n’ turf, groupers, fish ‘n’ chips, and shrimps. If you like Italian food, the family-friendly Sisters Restaurant serves pan-seared sea bass, pizza, pasta, bay scallops, gnocchi, homemade pesto sauce, and risotto with asparagus and prosciutto. Another good restaurant near Boca Grande Beach is The Inn Bakery, a vegetarian-friendly eatery well-known for pies, pastries, smoothies, cakes, mousses, and habanero chocolate ice cream. 

If you are looking for a hotel near Boca Grande Beach, you can drive three minutes to the 4-Star historic golf course resort Gasparilla Inn & Club that welcomes pets and features a pool, lounge, spa, sauna, restaurant, fitness center, private championship golf course, tennis courts, table tennis, and boating, fishing, and walking tours. The Innlet is a 3-Star pet-friendly hotel with ocean views and it offers a pool, restaurant, courtyard, and barbecue grills. If you are looking for an affordable hotel near Boca Grande Beach, the 2-Star Sun Coast Inn has a nice pool.