Find the top rated birding trails in Villas, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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This is A SLOG! Sidewalk along a two lane highway, 50 mph traffic. Few houses. No businesses. No shade no interest. Avoid it if you can.
You can get to this trail from downtown Ft. Myers city via Veronica Shoemaker Blvd. and Metro Parkway. Just about every type of wetland and aquatic bird in FL can be see along the way; Herons, Ibises, Aningas, Red-Tail Hawks, Ospreys, Spoonbills, Swallow-tail Kites, Turkey and Black Vultures, and an occasional Bald Eagle pair. Lots of snakes, beware of Moccasains (!). I even saw a young Lynx there! Pretty decent fishing when the water level is up, too! Gar, Tilapia, even some Trout below the dam. Oh, yeah, Alligators, a few big ones.
Started from the train depot. Avaiable restrooms always a plus. Nice level concrete trail on the east side, but like previous reviews, completely open so maybe not so good on hot days. However, after crossing the bridge to the west side, there are no signs as to how to get on and follow the trail to Casperen beach. Also, be nice if the map showed the location of the bridge.
This is a great trail for all levels. I moved here recently from Boston and it’s 2min from my house. I recommend it to anyone out for a leisurely ride or walk.
Great trail. This is a well maintained asphalt and wooden boardwalk type trail. It's great that people can walk their dogs along this trail. We didn't see any wildlife, but the walk was invigorating and beautiful!
Had a lot of fun biking around the island, lots of great place to stop and check out!!! Highly recommend for the casual rider, I got about 19 miles in, island is only 8 miles long. So more of a scenic and exploring ride than a ride to get a lot of miles in
This is a nice paved trail that allows you to pedal (or walk) along part of the intercoastal. Seems odd to pedal and wave at passing boats, but there you go.
INSIDER INFO:
1) Saturday mornings there's a street market near Michael Biehl park where you can take your wife to buy produce, plants, or whatever makes her happy. They close about noon I think.
2) The trail goes under a few overpasses, giving you some shelter if you get caught in a drizzle/rain event.
3) You almost certainly will see small planes (today a Lear jet) take off and land at the adjacent airport.
4) The trail ends at the beach if you want to take a dip before going back.
5) No hills- easy-peasy trail.
Clean, well maintained, and short. Great for one-two hours.
The best Trail in South West Coastal Florida. The Complete round trip from Shamrock park is 30 miles. There are few road crossings so it is indeed safe for bicycles. If you ride on the roads in coastal Florida you are literally risking your lives. Route 41 has a small bike lane and it's too dangerous. Sad thing is that after 10 round trips it can be boring. The next good trail is a long drive away from here.
pros; beach access, access to fishing, nice scenes.
cons: Crossing over to Boca Grande on bike costs $3, is dangerous because of the narrow bike lane and many cars. Once on Boca Grande there is a golf cart rental so you have to dodge many carts and road crossings. The cape haze part is 7 miles
This is a nice, peaceful ride along the intercoastal waterway. The surface is paved throughout the length of the trail. As someone else mentioned, parts of the trail will be in the sun depending on what time you ride. If you ride early in the morning or late in the day (around sunset) I find that most of the year the temperature is OK. This is Florida so riding at 3 in the afternoon in July is going to be a bit um, warm.
If you ride the entire trail out and back you can cover about 40 miles. A nice short ride is to start at Caspersen Beach, cross the Circus Bridge and go south on the east trail to Shamrock Park, returning to Caspersen Beach. That is a quick 10 mile ride (or thereabouts).
Don't neglect at least a quick visit to the beach. You might even want to bring a "Venice Snow Shovel" and search for shark's teeth!
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