Naples, FL Tourist Attractions

The Conservancy-Naples Nature Center is a 15-acre nature preserve featuring nature trails, live snakes, an aviary, a rehabilitation center and other exhibits on Florida's various ecosystems. Naturalists give daily animal information presentations in the Discovery Center. Examples include their "Turtle Talks," and "Snakes Alive." There is a video presentation on manatees and an aquarium with touch and exhibit tanks. The facility also offers a free naturalist-guided, 45-minute boat tour through a mangrove forest. The wildlife rehabilitation center treats more than 1,500 wild animals every year.Visitors can also rent a canoe or kayak to paddle within the preserve.

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a 43-acre zoo that began as a botanical garden back in 1919. Today, trails wind past animals from apes to zebras surrounded by giant trees and exotic flowers. Much more than a walk-thru zoo, the garden offers wildife activities including feature shows in the Safari Canyon theater, Snake Sunbathing, Hand-Feeding of Alligators, and the Meet the Keeper Series. The Primate Expedition Cruise takes guests on a short boat ride through islands of monkeys, lemurs, and apes. Feature exhibits include Leopard Rock, Tiger Forest, Fosas of Madagascar, and Black Bear Hammock - the largest black bear habitat at an accredited zoo in the eastern USA.

Palm Cottage, built in 1895, is one of the oldest buildings in Naples. The house was built for Henry Watterson, the famous editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. The walls are made of tabbie mortar which is the process of burning seashells over buttonwood. This produces an extremely high heat and is mixed with lime and seawater to produce the mortar. The home is furnished with original 19th century furniture and photographs that depict life in Naples as well as the many celebrity guests that have visited.

The Naples Museum of Art is a three-story, 30,000-square-foot museum that includes 15 galleries featuring painting, sculpture, drawing and other art forms; a glass dome conservatory, a Persian ceiling and metal entrance gates are some of the interior highlights.The museum's permanent collection contains about 300 paintings and drawings by American masters from 1900-1955 and a large collection of 20th-century Mexican art.

ATTRACTION IS CLOSED.Opened in 1990, this museum features more than 3,500 teddy bears of all shapes and sizes. There are bears made from fabric, marble, crystal, wood and bronze. A display case holds antique and limited edition bears dating back to 1903. There are also exhibits with teddy bear paintings, sculpture, posters, and other collectibles. Stuffed animal enthusiasts would find this a "beary" interesting place.

The Naples Depot Civic and Cultural Center is a restored 1927 train station that features railroad memorabilia. The Depot has been a nationally registered historic site since 1974. Exhibits at the Naples Depot include a 1909 Soo Line Caboose and the 1947 Club Car as well as original Lionel locomotives.

Collier-Seminole State Park is the site of a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, the Bay City Walking Dredge. Built in 1924, it linked Tampa to Miami.

The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is 11,000 acres of wilderness and wildlife sanctuary. It has the largest stand of virgin bald cypress in North America, some of the trees are over 700 years old.

The safari wagons take visitors on narrated excursions throughout the Everglades include a tour of Big Cypress Swamp, a visit to Everglades City, and an airboat ride through the 10,000 Islands.

The Naples Trolley Tours makes many stops at historic sites, shopping areas and residential sections. The narrated tourscombine the history of Naples with humorous stories and legends.

The Collier County Museum details the history of Collier County from the time of the Calusa Indians through Spanish colonization and the pioneers to the present.