Caladesi Island State Park
Caladesi Island State Park
4.5
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
About
One of Florida's few remaining undisturbed barrier islands.
Duration: More than 3 hours
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Top ways to experience Caladesi Island State Park

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  • Moira J
    Haverfordwest, United Kingdom158 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Paradise part 2
    For the cost of tickets to an aquarium plus parking. We got to sit and watch the wildlife in its natural environment. We hired deck chairs and spent a few hours just relaxing. Went for a dip in the warm water. It truly is a little bit of paradise. There’s a cafe and small shop by the ferry drop off. With ferries running every half hour until 4.30 pm. If you visit honeymoon island then it’s worth the cost of the ferry $18 each to go to Caladesi. You won’t regret it.
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written October 7, 2023
  • nathaliasouzabh
    King of Prussia, Pennsylvania788 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful
    The ferry ticket is $18 per person. It’s quick to get there, 15ish minutes. On our way there we saw a dolphin. The ferry sailor was really nice! The beach was almost empty. White and soft sand and the water clear and cold. Really good to relax. A lot of shells in the shore. There are some chairs and umbrellas (I think you have to pay $35 for them) There are bathrooms, gift shop (with beer, water, soda, snacks).
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written October 9, 2023
  • Cindy G
    17 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fun day on a beautiful beach
    The beach was amazing with blue water, white sand and lots of sand dollars and shells. We rented an umbrella and chairs to keep us from too much sun and stayed for nearly 3 hours. On the ferry ride back to Honeymoon Island the captains kept us amused with stories and trivia and when we spotted a pod of dolphins they paused for a while for everyone to see them and get pictures.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written March 7, 2024
  • Lisa C
    5 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful Beach
    Beautiful beach! Much better option than the crowds in other local spots. Definitely suggest going early. Rented kayaks for the mangrove trail— kayak rentals were a bit pricey but worth the experience.
    Visited April 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written April 1, 2024
  • Nick T
    20 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fun at the beach
    Our family with three kids had an amazing day at the beach. We took the ferry and understood we had 4 hours to enjoy the beach. The beach was a reasonable walk from the drop off point and the bathrooms were accessible. The mosquitoes were present and would have made a hike without bug spray unpleasant; not an issue with on the beach. The beach and water were amazing. Having dolphins playing within sight the whole time made it incredible. We also saw a manatee swim by. The beach was much less crowded than the Honeymoon beach we visited after. Definitely would return.
    Visited April 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written April 13, 2024
  • Cynthia A
    3 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wish the water was bluer
    Was nice to ride the ferry and it was awesome that the beach wasn’t over crowded. However I thought the water would have been more blue like the pictures don’t get me wrong it was still nice the Sand was soft closer to the water . I think honeymoon island beach is better in my opinion, overall it was nice to check it out once. And if you plan to leave early be ready to wait for the boat to have room for you it’s not guaranteed you will get onto the boat right way if it’s not your time. So try to get your groups tickets in the same time slot and go on together, have fun
    Visited May 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written May 27, 2024
  • Corolla03
    Chevy Chase, Maryland58 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Normal Beach Day
    We had a pretty decent day there.. The water was green/blue just like all the other beaches here in florida. I liked: The ferry ride to the island You can bring beach chairs and umbrellas A bathroom Outside shower rinses Great tour guides (friendly with great music) Lots of seashells Bring your own food and beverages/cooler Not a wide beach, but you do have to walk from the ferry to the water. It’s about a 5 minute walk .. Cost: $8 to enter the park $$35 umbrella and chair rental $$$18 per person for the ferry ride to caladesi $$$$$ a concession bldg for food I didn’t like: The mosquitoes before entering the ferry The mosquitoes The mosquitoes Repellant is a MUST; I can’t stress this enough The mosquitos are only on the boardwalk leading to the pier; they aren’t on the beach or the ferry. Run through that part if you can. Rocky in some spots in the water The rattlesnake signs and the possibility of seeing one. We didn’t see any thank goodness. Other: You get 4 hours on the island but can stay longer; we returned on time and was allowed to get on at our designated time. There were others there with different return times, but we were allowed to enter on first. I think the ferry runs every 30 minutes.
    Visited June 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written June 22, 2024
  • Reviewsbymom
    St. John's, Canada262 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Gorgeous beach!
    Had a great beach day here. We paid $6 to enter the park and then got the ferry over to the island for the day. This cost around $100 for 6 adults. It was gorgeous - soft sand, very clean and quiet. Lots of shells and sand dollars around. Beach chairs and umbrellas to rent out for the day. There is also a canteen and washrooms/change areas!
    Visited August 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written September 4, 2024
  • Adventures68
    Key West, Florida134 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A hidden GEM
    What an amazing find a quick 15 min boat ride to the Island by purchasing a ticket at the ticket booth once inside the Caladesi state park. Water was great lovely beach walk many shell finds. Water was brackish it was not pretty blue as the advertisement I read however, to be expected realizing the location and maybe time of year . This was my very first visit and plan on returning soon. I do recommend wearing a water shoe/sandal as the broken shells can be rough on bare feet also the sand becomes very hot by afternoon. The Island does offer for a cost chair rentals and umbrellas. We brought plenty of water with us not realizing they do offer food, drinks and souvenirs you can buy. Nice bathrooms and showers to rinse off sand. It’s unfortunate I did not take my phone to capture what I was in awe with during our walk.
    Visited September 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written September 23, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,395 reviews
Excellent
1,005
Very good
265
Average
84
Poor
31
Terrible
10

sharonKentucky
kentucky30 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2021
We arrived at 945 and got tickets for the 1030 ferry. The island was beautiful and we got lots of shells. My daughter even found a live starfish which we took pictures of and put back in the ocean. We had to leave after 3 hours. We had our elderly parents with us and had gotten a beach wheelchair for my dad. I recommend that you do not do that. It was very very hard to push. My husband managed to push him to the beach where we rented chairs for them to sit down. It took everything he could do to push it there. I dont know if the tires werent totally inflated or what but that wheel chair was useless. (We had to have him walk part of the way back because we couldn't push it up hill through the sand.) We couldn't walk around or anything. My parents sat there in the shade the whole time at the beach. Then we waited in line in the cafe for 30 minutes for a smoothie. The smoothie I believe was $6.00 for a tiny cup and seemed to be a mixture without any real fruit in it. After that we took the Ferry back early because we couldn't leave my parents alone and it was impossible to do anything. It was beautiful and we will come again by ourselves and hopefully get to kayak and explore the island. They are building a discovery center and a high area to climb to see over the entire island. It looks as if its close to being finished. Maybe it will be open in June.
Written April 15, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Duane I
Punta Gorda, FL60 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020
For certain types of visiting boats, this place is a disaster. If you need one of the end slips because your boat is too wide, you have only two choices since the park has decided to reserve two of the four total for their own use.

One of the two has no working electrical power, and one has a broken cleat that is critical for you to tie up safely.

The ranger warned us about none of this when we called the day before arrival to check on the status. We won't bother coming back here until we get a tiny boat.
Written October 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Connie G
East Earl, PA8 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022
We visited Caladesi Island State Park in February 2022. We took the ferry from Honeymoon Island over to Caladesi. The beach was a natural, beautiful beach. We wanted to kayak through the mangroves. This operation was very disorganized. We were told they would start allowing you to kayak at noon. When we got there they said not until 1 p.m. We had about a 3 hour window before we had to get the ferry to go back to Honeymoon Island. Finally around 1:30 p.m. we had our kayaks and were off. They gave us a map and very limited verbal directions. We found our way through the mangroves fine, but when we came out at the end our map did not say which direction we needed to go to get back (right or left). We decided to head left and then flagged down a small boat and asked them which direction it was to the Caladesi dock. We were goin the right way, but it was a long way back. We got back just as the Captain of the ferry was giving the last call for our ride back. The kayaking was fun, but tense at the end as we were not sure we would make it back. Be careful too because they added a 20% tip onto the rental fee, which is ridiculous because it was not a guided tour. Caladesi was worth visiting the island, but you might want to be careful about the kayaking. Just make sure you understand the map and that it might take 1-1/2 to 2 hours to do the self-guided tour through the mangroves.
Written March 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Chico C
Cleveland, OH161 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
Went here to sun tan and wasn’t disappointed . The only problem was the sea gulls. They were hovering around you and when you tried to eat something they would try to take it out of your hand. They actually took a sandwich out of the person I was with hand. This would be the perfect beach if it weren’t for them.
Written January 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sassygal11
Saint Joseph, MI13 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2020 • Family
This was a simple morning paddle for our family of 4 (8 & 10 yr olds). We rented two double kayaks from Sail Honeymoon for 2 hours ($45/kayak) which was long enough to paddle over, explore the Caladesi Island and paddle back. The tide was low and we even found an area of live sand dollars on the way. Highly recommend!
Written January 1, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Brian W
71 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020 • Family
Went to Caladesi Island for the first time with family. $8 for park entry and $14 per adult for the ride to the island is a bit much but worth it occasionally. My only real issue was the 4 hr time slot for the return trip. What if you want to spend 6 hours on the beautiful white sand beach? Beaches are way better than those rocky ones on Honeymoon Island.
Written March 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BucketLister500
8 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2021
Caladesi Island is beautiful. This is the first time I rented an umbrella on the beach...sign said "$29.00". Just flew back home and saw my credit card got charged $34.80. Dug up the receipt, and it has a $5.80 "tip" added on. Tip for what? The guy sits in a beach chair and swipes your credit card!

Definitely need shade on the beach, just know going in that the price is higher than advertised.
Written May 13, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ajlst
Raleigh, NC54 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022
I don't buy that it's a top 10 beach in the country. It's beautiful, but the day we were there, there was a ton of seaweed and debris in the water. There were also a lot of people clustered on beach with rented umbrellas and beach chairs. Caladesi wants to be the non-commercialized beach, but it's leaning that way. There was a long wait to pay the $8 entrance fee to Honeymoon Island, and the ferry both ways was running about 10 minutes behind schedule. Worrying about catching a ferry and dealing with lines of people definitely took away from the "untouched" beach feel for me.
Written June 28, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sue C
Pottstown, PA10 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Great state park - wonderful beach - we rented two beach chairs and umbrella $25 right near the concession stand. Highly recommend. Lovely beach, white sand.
Written March 6, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

sarahkandchrisk
Cincinnati, OH28 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022 • Couples
Do not miss this! It should be # 1. And my app is not allowing me to give 5 stars.
So beautiful and peaceful- we went 2x to Caladesi Island and 2x to Honeymoon Island during our stay. Great, easy well maintained trails. Very flat. Not crowded either. The ferry ride is only 15 minutes over and back, and leaves on the hour to Caladesi and in the 1/2 hour to return to Honeymoon Island. Its $8 per car load to get into the state park and $16 RT per adult for the ferry. There is a concession stand on Caladesi which is handy, but pricey, and they have snacks, fried chicken, ice cream, beer etc. You could probably pack a small cooler to bring with you- we were hiking the nature trails and really didn’t feel like carrying a cooler around so we sucked it up and bought $5 Lays chips lol and $8 beers. Gorgeous beach but windy so bring a fleece if you’re normally chilly. We would recommend a stop in Dunedin on your way. They have umbrellas and chairs for rent as well. The ferry operators accept tips- make sure to have cash 😊
Written February 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Caladesi Island State Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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