Gasparilla Island State Park

Located in the small town of Boca Grande, Gasparilla Island State Park has a long, wide, and remote beach situated near the southern end of Gasparilla Island.  Gasparilla Island State Park is adjacent to the historic Gasparilla Island Lighthouse and Boca Grande Ball Field where you can swim, boat, and camp.  Gasparilla Island State Park is home to many birds and animals such as the West Indian manatee, gopher tortoise, bald eagle, osprey, least tern, and black skimmer. Gasparilla Island State Park is a well-known destination for sport and recreational fishing with the most sought-after species being tarpon, snook, redfish, and speckled trout.  

Gasparilla Island State Park offers many amenities including restrooms, showers, picnic tables, fire pits, barbecues, and boat ramps. 

There are many fun activities at Gasparilla Island State Park including swimming, snorkeling, boating, camping, hiking, shelling, photography, birdwatching, wildlife watching, and beach walking. If you are looking for additional amenities, 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 Gasparilla Island State Park is very easy – the park’s free parking lot is situated near 880 Belcher Road 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 Gasparilla Island State Park. The waterfront Gasparilla Golf Club is a private 18-hole golf course featuring a nice restaurant, spa, and sauna. 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 Gasparilla Island State Park 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 five minutes to many restaurants near Gasparilla Island State Park. The seafood restaurant Eagle Grill and Miller’s Dockside features oysters, surf ‘n’ turf, groupers, fish ‘n’ chips, and shrimps. If you are looking for a family-friendly restaurant near Gasparilla Island State Park, 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 Gasparilla Island State Park 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 Gasparilla Island State Park, you can drive six 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 Gasparilla Island State Park, the 2-Star Sun Coast Inn has a nice pool.