Things to Do on Isles of Capri

Isles of Capri is a cluster of islands reached by a single road, Capri Boulevard, which turns off Collier Boulevard (State Road 951) just north of the Jolley Bridge to Marco Island. It sits on the edge of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, so almost every view is water and mangrove. Most of the island is residential, with a small commercial strip of marinas and restaurants along Capri Boulevard.

Both of our Tahiti Street homes, 119 Tahiti Street and 107 Tahiti Street, sit on the canals here, each with its own private dock. That makes Capri an easy base whether you want to boat every day or just sit on the dock with a coffee and watch the herons and dolphins go by.

Part of the fun of staying on Capri is that dinner is a few minutes away, and you can often arrive by boat. Long-standing spots on the island include:

• Island Gypsy Café & Marina Bar: a casual seafood café and bar on the Capri marina with plenty of outdoor, bay-view seating.
• Capri Fish House: casual indoor-outdoor seafood on the water with a tiki-hut feel.
• Pelican Bend: an old-school, unfussy waterfront spot popular with the boating crowd.
• Osteria Capri: a dressier Italian option for a special night out.

Hours on a small island change with the seasons, and some businesses scale back or close for stretches between June and September. Call ahead or check each restaurant's own website before you go, and if you plan to arrive by boat, remember that dock space is limited and first come, first served.

The calm, shallow backwaters around Capri are some of the best paddling in Southwest Florida. Collier County's Isles of Capri Paddlecraft Park on Capri Boulevard is the county's only public launch built just for kayaks, canoes and paddleboards, and it's a starting point for Rookery Bay's mapped kayak routes. Expect mangrove tunnels, wading birds, and on many days dolphins and manatees.

A daily launch fee or county permit applies. Check the park page for current hours and fees. Plan around the tide: at low water some channels become too shallow to paddle, and the mangroves can be confusing, so a guided kayak tour is a great idea on your first outing.

Capri lies inside one of the best-protected estuaries in Florida. The Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center on Tower Road, about 10 to 15 minutes' drive away, is well worth a morning. It has a 2,300-gallon mangrove aquarium you can climb into, hands-on exhibits, a short film, and the half-mile Snail Trail with a boardwalk over Henderson Creek. It's usually closed Sundays and Mondays and for maintenance in September, so check hours before you go.

The reserve also runs small-group boat tours through its eco-tour partner, and Shell Island Road offers kayak access and the Monument Point Trail. See the Explore the Reserve page for what's open, since some trails close for renovation.

South and east of Capri and Marco, the coast breaks up into the Ten Thousand Islands: a maze of mangrove keys, oyster bars and sandy points, much of it protected as the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. It's prime country for fishing, birding and finding an empty beach of your own. Most of the refuge is reachable only by boat. Navigation is tricky, with shallow flats and big tide swings, so go with a local guide or charter unless you're an experienced boater with good charts.

Guests at 119 Tahiti Street can launch straight from the 50-foot dock, and there's a jet ski lift for personal watercraft. 107 Tahiti Street has a 30-foot dock. See our boating guide for ramps, fuel and fishing rules.

Capri itself has no public beach, but excellent ones are close by:

• Marco Island beaches, just over the Jolley Bridge. Tigertail Beach has a lagoon and sandbar that are popular for birding and shelling, and South Marco has a long, wide crescent of sand.
• Keewaydin Island, an undeveloped barrier island between Naples and Marco that you can reach only by boat. It has no facilities, so bring water and shade and pack out your trash.
• Naples beaches, about a 20 to 30 minute drive north. See our downtown Naples guide.

Shelling is best after a storm or a winter cold front and at low tide. Florida limits collecting live shells, so take only empty ones.

Capri's west-facing waters make sunset an event. Good options are the deck of a Capri Boulevard restaurant, a sunset cruise from the island, or your own dock. Our aerial photo of 119 Tahiti above was taken at dusk. On Marco Island, the beaches face the Gulf for an unobstructed view of the sun going into the water.

Marco Island is about five minutes away and has groceries, shops, more restaurants, boat rentals and charters. Farther along, the old fishing village of Goodland is a classic stop for seafood and live music by car or boat. Goodland Boating Park has direct access to the Ten Thousand Islands.