Bonita Beach's Most Reliable Parking This Season Is on U.S. 41

Lee County fenced off the parking lots at Bonita Beach Park and Little Hickory Island Beach Park on Sept. 8. Crews are rebuilding boardwalks, pavilions and restrooms damaged by Hurricane Ian, and the county expects the work to take about 11 months. On Nov. 1, 2026, the paid lot at Bonita Beach Access #1 closes as well. That leaves the free lots at Accesses #2 through #9 as the only Lee County beach parking on Bonita Beach, right as season begins.

The sand itself stays open the whole time. What changes is where a beach day starts. For many trips this winter, the most dependable starting point won't be on Hickory Boulevard at all. It's a shopping center parking lot near U.S. 41 and Bonita Beach Road.

What's fenced, and when

Here are the three county sites in the restoration project. Two of them lost their parking in September, and the third loses its lot four weeks from now.

Since Sept. 8, Access #1 has been the main way onto the beach next to Bonita Beach Park. When its lot closes, the county will keep a walk-in path open there for the whole project. So the beach stays reachable on foot. The parking just won't be there.

The county hasn't posted a completion date for the Bonita sites. Counting 11 months from Sept. 8 points to around August 2027, but that's arithmetic, not a schedule. Lee County's Parks Project Information Tool on leegov.com/parks is the place to check for updates.

Eight small lots carry the load

Accesses #2 through #9 are free to park, open dawn to dusk, and spread along Hickory Boulevard:

• Access #2, 27720 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #3, 27494 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #4, 27260 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #5, 27010 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #6, 26786 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #7, 26590 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #8, 26410 Hickory Blvd.
• Access #9, 26220 Hickory Blvd.

Lee County's tourism office describes them as small lots that fill on a first-come basis. The scale matters here. WBBH reported that once Access #1 closes, only 39 of Lee County's more than 200 beach parking spaces on Bonita Beach will still be available. The county hasn't published how those 39 spaces split across the eight accesses. Either way, the free lots go from being the overflow to being nearly all of the Lee County parking on this stretch of beach.

On the county's listing for these accesses, the only amenity is beach access itself. The same page warns that the beaches aren't back to pre-Ian condition, that debris still washes up and can hide under the sand, and that beach shoes should be worn at all times.

The lot that keeps working: 3300 Bonita Beach Road SW

Lee County's answer to the parking squeeze is LeeTran's ULTRA On Demand service, which connects the center of Bonita Springs with Bonita Beach Park. The county's Access #1 page points beachgoers to ULTRA by name in its closure notice. The beach rides leave from a designated pickup spot in the parking lot at the northwest corner of U.S. 41 and Bonita Beach Road. Free parking for riders is in the shopping center lot at 3300 Bonita Beach Road SW.

Here's how a trip works:

1. Book through the ULTRA On-Demand app, or call LeeTran at 239-533-8726, option 7. If you book in the app, you'll get an estimated pickup time and live updates.
2. Be at the curb when the van arrives. The brochure warns that riders who aren't ready can be marked as a no-show and charged.
3. Pay in the app, by phone when you book, or in cash when you board. The standard fare is $3 per ride.
4. Plan the trip home around the schedule. ULTRA runs 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, and the last trip request is 7:30 p.m.

LeeTran's ULTRA page also lists the promo code BONITARIDE, which brings a single ride down to $1.50. The page doesn't show an expiration date, so check the app before counting on it.

At the standard fare, one person's round trip costs $6. Two people pay $12. That's more than a day of parking at the Collier or state park options below, so the van makes the most sense for solo trips, for the 7 a.m. start, and for the days the small Hickory Boulevard lots are full.

Crossing the county line

Just south of Bonita Beach Park, the shoreline becomes Collier County's Barefoot Beach Preserve. That's 342 acres on one of the last undeveloped barrier islands on Florida's Southwest coast. WBBH named it as the nearby parking alternative during construction.

Collier charges a flat $10 per day to anyone who doesn't qualify for its free resident permit, and Barefoot is one of the beaches covered. You pay by text or by scanning the posted code. No app download is needed. Living in Lee County doesn't qualify anyone for the free permit. Collier's rules require Collier residency, though part-time owners of property in Collier County may qualify with deed or tax documents and other proof.

Barefoot also offers more on-site than the Hickory Boulevard accesses do this season. Beach rentals and sundries run daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., including loungers, umbrellas, cabanas and towels. Docents set up in Parking Lot 1 during the 2026 season from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays through Fridays. Kayak and paddleboard rentals at Lot 3 and food and beverage service at Lot 1 are both listed as "coming soon," with no dates given.

To the north, Lovers Key State Park is open 8 a.m. to sundown year-round and charges $8 per vehicle for two to eight people. The state's park page says parking is limited during a partial closure of the boat ramp. Food and beverage, the gift shop and the bait shop are unavailable for now, while rentals are still running.

For a carload, the price per person at either park is lower than a round trip on ULTRA. The trade-off is that you're driving to a different beach.

Why the fences went up four years after Ian

The timing traces back to how the project was paid for. The restrooms at Bonita Beach Park and Access #10 were badly damaged in the storm and have been closed for four years. A county spokesperson told WBBH the county waited for Federal Emergency Management Agency money so local taxpayers wouldn't have to cover the cost. FEMA allocated more than $570,000 in 2024 to design the repairs.

The construction bids took longer. A call for bids in 2025 drew a single contractor, and FEMA requires at least two bids before it will consider funding. Four contractors had responded by June, and FEMA then approved money for part of the $7 million project. State emergency funds and tourism tax dollars cover the rest. The funding came through in August, which is why the work started right after Labor Day rather than in the slower summer months.

"Bonita deserves better, and we're finally getting it."

A local named Opteyndt said that to WBBH at the start of construction. Once the work is done, both parks get rebuilt boardwalks and pavilions, and Little Hickory gets a replacement for the restroom building the hurricane destroyed.

Restrooms, passes and the small print

A few details are easy to miss until you're standing at a fence:

• Restrooms. Access #1 has no restrooms. Its visitors used the ones at Bonita Beach Park, which closed with that park's lot. Before the closure, the county said it would move Little Hickory's portable toilets outside the construction fence, closer to the road. That announcement came before the fencing went up, so check on-site.
• The annual pass. Lee County's annual parking pass costs $60 for 12 months, is digital, is tied to a license plate, and covers one vehicle. On Bonita Beach, it was accepted at Access #1 and Access #10. Bonita Beach Park never took it. From Nov. 1, both lots that accepted it are closed, and the open accesses from #2 to #9 are free anyway.
• Pets and grills. Accesses #1 through #9 don't allow pets, fires or grilling on the beach.
• Doc's Beach House. The restaurant at 27908 Hickory Blvd., between Bonita Beach Park and Access #1, lists itself as open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its website doesn't mention any public beach parking arrangement, so plan on one of the options above.

With the free Hickory Boulevard lots small and first come, first served, the dependable fallbacks this season are the 3300 Bonita Beach Road SW lot and its ULTRA pickup, Barefoot at $10 a day, and Lovers Key at $8 a carload.

If you own on Hickory Boulevard or nearby and you're wondering how these closures might affect showings, seasonal guests or timing a sale before the parks reopen, Michael Kussmann can walk you through it. Request a free home valuation or call Mike today.