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Fort Myers Attractions and Activities

Fort Myers Attractions

There is plenty to see and do in and around Fort Myers, and there are too many attractions to describe here.

Edison & Ford Winter Estates: Step back in time by visiting Thomas Edison and Henry Ford's winter estates, the nation's 9th most visited historic home. You can take an extended guided tour of the homes, museum, laboratory and gardens. Botanical tours are available by special request.

Fort Myers Historical Museum: The Fort Myers Historical Museum is housed in the former Atlantic Coastline Railroad depot on Peck Street in downtown Fort Myers. Here you will find information on early settlers of Southwest Florida including the Calusa, Paleo and Seminole Indians and an extensive artifacts collection. Exhibits include a private Pullman rail car and an authentic replica of a pioneer "cracker" house. Browse the exhibits at your own pace, or take part in a group tour.

Imaginarium Hands-On Museum: If you are looking for a place to interact with the kids, the Imaginarium offers fun for the whole family. Located just off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd this science museum features more than 60 interactive exhibits. These fun and educational exhibits allow children to learn obout the environment, weather physics and other topics. Attractions include animals, aquariums displaying marine life, a touch pool, hurricane simulator, puppet theatre and interactive areas for preschoolers. Fun for the whole family awaits at the Imaginarium Hands-On Museum, where it’s possible to touch a cloud, feel the force of a hurricane, or run through a thunderstorm. The Imaginarium provides hours of fun and entertainment, with more than 60 interactive exhibits plus live fish, sharks, turtles, swans, iguanas and live animal programs.

Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium: The Calusa Nature Center has a museum, nature trails, aviary and planetarium. Visit the museum to learn more about Southwest Florida's natural history. There are daily programs which include educational talks about indigious animals including snakes, alligators, birds and butterflies. Visitors are able to get up close and personal to some of these creatures. Learn all about constellations, planets, star clusters and galaxies in the planetarium. Calusa's 105 acre site has plenty of picnic areas in the grounds.

Everglades Day Safari: Get up close and personal with Florida's wildlife on a daylong Everglades Day Safari. Guides lead small groups by airboat, van, riverboat, and on foot. Lunch (with alligators!) is included. Reservations and pre-payment are required. The Safari can be long for younger children, so try the half-day safari. Wear comfortable shoes; the Safari supplies the insect repellant. The Safari leaves from different pick-up locations. Among safari possibilities are jungle cruises, airboat rides, nature walks or a 15-minute wildlife drive through four realms of the Everglades. Lunch includes alligator appetizers. Departs daily from Fort Myers and Sanibel.


Babcock Wilderness Adventures: Babcock Wilderness Adventures, operated on the 90,000-acre Crescent B Ranch in Lee and Charlotte counties, offers 90-minute tours including face-to-face thrills with Florida cracker cattle, panthers, birds, and dozens of wild alligators lazing about in the sun near their favorite bridge. Sometimes there’s also a glimpse of a white tailed deer or wild turkey. Swamp buggies cover the massive terrain, cutting through unspoiled pinewoods, fresh water marsh, and sections of Telegraph Cypress Swamp. Professional tour guides provide commentaries on raising cattle and horses and other ranch activity along with area history. Visitors are welcome to bring picnics or enjoy gator bites and other lunch fare in the Gator Shack Restaurant.

Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum: Within the Great Hall of Shells are some 30 exhibits including Gifts from the Seas of Sanibel & Captiva (displaying the most familiar seashells washed ashore on beaches and backwaters); Worldwide Shells (where a six-foot globe serves as a centerpiece for specimens from far-flung locations); and Children’s Learning Lab (a play area of discovery with hands-on displays and a live creature-filled tank).

Eden Vineyards and Winery: About 10 miles east of Fort Myers near Alva is Florida’s oldest winery and vineyard. The 20-year-old Eden Vineyards & Winery began as a sort of science project, developing over the decades through persistence from three generations of the Kiser family. In 1986, Eden Vineyards became the southernmost federally licensed, bonded winery and vineyards in the U.S. Among six wines, sold on site and at Florida retail stores and restaurants, are Lake Emerald (extremely dry with a ripe fruit underbody), Alva Rouge (Mildred Kiser’s spaghetti wine), Alva White (crisp, yet fruity for sipping), Coral Bell (Florida’s version of a California Blush), Eden Stars (made from carambola, sometimes called starfruit) and Eden Spice (brimming with exotic flavors). Tastings are conducted in the winery reception room, open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Edison Ford Complex: Among Fort Myers' most treasured attractions are the Edison/Ford Winter Estates, all year long offering guided tours through the winter homes of Thomas Edison (1847-1931) and Henry Ford (1863-1947). Because of poor health, Ohio’s Thomas Alva Edison spent winters in Fort Myers. In 1885, he purchased 14 acres on the Caloosahatchee River’s south side and built a home, Seminole Lodge, complete with laboratory and botanical gardens. In 1896, he made friends with auto magnate Henry Ford, who moved into his own place next door. When Edison died at 84 in 1931, he held 1,093 patents, the only person in the U.S. to ever to have a patent granted annually for 65 consecutive years, 1868 to 1933. The museum includes the original Model T Ford that Ford gave Edison, and more than 200 Edison phonographs. The lab, kept just as he left it, is home to where Edison conducted many of his last major experiments. Edison's tropical botanical garden contains more than 1,000 plant varieties, including African sausage trees and a Banyan tree, a gift from Harvey Firestone in 1925. Also offered is a cruise down the Caloosahatchee River on a replica of the "Reliance," Edison's electric launch.

Lee County Alliance of the Arts: This public art gallery features local artisans and artists, and also supports recitals, concerts and workshops.

Lovers Key / Carl E. Johnson State Recreation Area: Barrier Islands known as Lovers Key / Carl E. Johnson State Recreation Area make up the 712-acre park, home to gopher tortoise, osprey, marsh rabbits and raccoons. Trams transport visitors from two parking areas to the 2.5 mile white-sand gulf beach where sunsets are a crowd-pleaser. Picnic tables, rustic trails, bicycle racks, a beach pavilion, a canoe launching area, outdoor showers, public telephones and environmentally friendly restrooms are available. A public boat ramp, on the Estero Bay side of the park, allows access to the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve and Gulf of Mexico waters. Kayakers and canoers navigate near-shore waters, or through gentle currents of Big Carlos Pass. Fish for trout, snook, and redfish along the Estero Bay shoreline.

Matanzas Pass Wilderness Preserve: An unspoiled sabal palm and live oak hammock await at the 56-acre Matanzas Pass Wilderness Preserve, a pristine, barrier island forest with abundant wildlife and diverse, native, plant species. After crossing two bridges on the entry trail, visitors encounter a boardwalk winding through the mangrove swamp. At the end, a pavilion overlooks the water with a spectacular view of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, with wading birds, jumping fish, and manatee. Parking is free.

Mound Key State Archaeological Site: Accessible by boat only and a delightful picnic spot, Mound Key State Archaeological Site is composed of layer upon layer of shells discarded by the Calusa Indians settling on waters of Estero Bay some 2,000 years ago. The 125-acre island, almost entirely an artificial creation, rises more than 30 feet above water, where only a flat mangrove and oyster-bar barely surfaced when Indians arrived circa 100 A.D. Fish and shellfish provided a plentiful source of food in shallows around the island. As centuries of fishing and shellfish collecting past, discarded shells, bone, and pottery piled up. Mound Key residents then reworked accumulating discards, raising platform mounds, ceremonial mounds and ridges, and carving out canals and large, open watercourts. As time went on, the island grew larger and higher.

Seminole Gulf Express and the Dinner Train Theater: Seminole Gulf Railway owns and operates some 100 miles of Florida track from Arcadia to North Naples. A separate 34-mile line of Seminole Gulf Railway extends between Oneco (Bradenton), Sarasota, and Venice on original Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line track. Seminole Gulf, Southwest Florida’s only freight railroad, hauls LP gas, beer, newsprint, pulpwood, and that’s not all. In fall, 1991, the Dinner Train launched Murder on the Seminole Express, an instant hit. Now known as Dinner Train Theater, it has premiered 19 original mystery productions, including Playing For Keeps. Up to 200 passengers are seated in a quartet of vintage railcars (Sanibel, Marco, Gasparilla, and Captiva) for a multi-course repast from fruit and cheese through soup, salad, entrée and dessert, plus a juicy murder to chew over. Food is prepared on board in the Marco kitchen, also with a bar, and 24-passenger dining room. Passengers decide who and why on the slaying. Clue sheets are collected before the final act, with a prize awarded to one super sleuth in each car.

Shell Factory: An institution on southwest Florida for more than 60 years, the Shell Factory has the "world's largest collection of rare shells, coral sponges and fossils from seven seas,” with more than 5 million shells and shell-related gifts. Shell Factory also has wildlife exhibits, aquariums and alligators, arcade games, miniature golf and a Bumper Boat lagoon. Capt’n Fishbones Seafood Restaurant serves fresh caught grouper and coconut shrimp and the Fudge Kitchen makes traditional flavors along with pina colada and Elvis’ favorite, peanut butter and banana. The 18-acre attraction’s gift shop stocks items from apparel to shark teeth necklaces.

Sun Splash Water Park: This 12-acre waterpark with more than two dozen wet and dry attractions has tube rides, waterslides and a tot spot about 2.5 miles north of Veterans Parkway in Cape Coral. If traveling on Interstate-75, turn west at Exit 22 and cross the Midpoint Memorial Bridge.

Fort Myers Activities

Golfing and Tennis

Dunes Golf and Tennis Club: The Dunes Golf & Tennis Club is an 18-hole, semi-private course located on Sanibel Island. Water comes into play on every hole. Tee times are accepted. There's a driving range and pro on site. Even if you're not a golfer, The Dunes Restaurant serves lunch and dinner overlooking the course. You can have sandwiches and salads for lunch, and prime aged beef and fresh Gulf seafood for dinner. This is an ideal venue to host weddings and private events. The club follows a strict dress code.

Castle Golf: Castle Golf doesn't look like any ordinary miniature golf course. Stepping on to the tropical courtyard is like taking a nature hike, with waterfalls and wildlife. The course is located on Gladiolus Drive, next to Lakes Park. Castle Golf also sells soda, chips, candy bars, and ice cream. It is open daily, weather permitting.

Outdoor Sports

Fort Myers Skatium: One of Florida's fastest growing sports (amazingly) is hockey. Amateur ice hockey is common, and kids play roller hockey in the streets. For a smoother (and safer) playing surface, try Fort Myers Skatium, located across from City of Palms Park. The complex has a NHL-size ice rink, and an in-line rink. There is a pro shop, laser tag, and snack shop.

Beachcombing / Shelling: The Southwest Florida's Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel area with more than 100 barrier islands, and more than 50 miles of fine sand white beaches, shelter some of the world’s best shelling. Nearly 400 species of multi-colored seashells found in the region range from the common scallop to the rare brown speckled junonia. Peak season for shelling is May through September. Sanibel Island is most renowned for its shelling potential, but the activity is successfully pursued all along the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. Captiva and Cayo Costa islands are noted for starfish, conchs and sand dollars. Seashells are often hidden just beneath the surface of sand where the surf breaks, and can be collected by wading or snorkeling along the surf line. A wide plateau of shallow water adjoins Sanibel on the south side, and the gradual slope of the gulf acts like a ramp to encourage shells to roll onto the beach – especially when driven in by northwestern stormfronts. Such storms are common in December and January when cold fronts pass through. While there’s never a bad time to shell, optimum collecting occurs in early morning, low tide, and after storms.

Sightseeing / Tours

J.C. Sightseeing Boat Cruises: Assorted cruises are featured on the Caloosahatchee River / Intracoastal Waterway from an adventure on the gulf to a day trip to Lake Okeechobee or a historic glide passing the Edison Home and Ford Estate. Fun and tasty food are on the menu aboard an air-conditioned, heated modern triple-deck paddlewheeler. All boats depart from Fort Myers Yacht Basin.

Manatee and River Tours: During winter, the Fort Myers area is home to one of Florida’s largest manatee populations, congregating in Orange River currents to feed and keep warm. In 1989, Manatee and Eco-Tours began as a small tour boat company dedicated to educating the public about manatees and the threat of their extinction. In 1998, Manatee and Eco-Tours welcomed a new partner, Prof. Dieter Ruedi, a wildlife veterinarian, and they purchased Coastal Marine Mart, now the Visitor Information Center from where manatee-centered ecological tours depart, and Manatee and River Tours, begun as Manatee World, was born with manatee exhibits and the world's largest collection of manatee-related books, videos, and gift items.

Other activities in Fort Myers are biking, fishing, sailing, water recreation.

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