Lowdermilk Park: The Easy One

Lowdermilk Park sits at the west end of Banyan Boulevard, about ten blocks north of the Naples Pier, and it is the city's main beach park. It has the things people actually need: a proper parking lot, real restrooms, a playground, shaded pavilions, sand volleyball, a small concession, and a wide beach with easy water entry.

Parking

A dedicated lot with metered spaces — pay by app or meter — plus metered street parking on the surrounding streets. City of Naples and Collier County beach permit holders park free. The lot fills by late morning in season, but the turnover is faster than at Vanderbilt because a lot of visitors come for two hours rather than all day.

Why families choose it

• Restrooms and rinse showers you do not have to walk a quarter mile to reach
• Shaded pavilions with picnic tables — genuinely useful in July
• Playground set back from the sand
• Gentle, shallow entry with typically calm water
• Chair and umbrella rentals in season

The beach

Wide and well maintained, with the classic Naples fine white sand. It is a city beach so it is groomed and busy, particularly in the middle of the day. Walk north or south a few hundred yards and it thins out considerably, because most people cluster within sight of their car.

Sunset here

Very good and much less of a scrum than the Pier. The pavilions give you somewhere to sit with a wine glass, which is not a small thing. Note that the City of Naples prohibits alcohol on the beach, and it is enforced on busy evenings.

What it is not

It is not remote, it is not a shelling beach, and it is not where you go for a wilderness experience. For that you want Delnor-Wiggins, or a boat to Keewaydin.