Bonita Beach Restoration Project: What’s Closed, What’s Open, and How to Still Get Your Beach Day

If you drove by Bonita Beach Park this week expecting to pull into the lot, you probably did a double take. Here is exactly what is going on, and how to still land on the sand without missing a beat.

Starting the week of September 8, 2026, Lee County closed the parking lot at Bonita Beach Park as part of an ongoing hurricane restoration and beach nourishment project. If you have been coming to Bonita Beach for a while, you know the drill by now — this stretch of coastline has been steadily rebuilding since Hurricane Ian, one project phase at a time. This is simply the next one, and it happens to be parked right across the street from our store.

What’s actually closed, and what’s open

Here is the good news up front: this is a parking story, not a beach-day story.

Closed:

• Bonita Beach Park’s parking lot
• Beach Access #10, at Little Hickory Island Park

Open:

• The beach itself — sand, water, all of it
• Bonita Beach Access #1 — your pedestrian entry point while the main lot is out of commission
• Barefoot Beach Preserve next door — beach and parking lot, fully open (more on that below)

So the sand has not gone anywhere. Getting your car close to it just looks a little different for now.

Why it’s happening

This closure is part of the broader beach nourishment and restoration effort that Lee County and the City of Bonita Springs have been running in phases along this coastline — the same kind of large-scale work that has rebuilt and reinforced beaches up and down Little Hickory Island over the years, with sand replenishment, dune work, and structures designed to keep newly placed sand from washing away in the next storm. It is not glamorous while it is happening, but it is the reason Bonita Beach keeps bouncing back as one of the widest, most beautiful stretches of sand in Southwest Florida. Think of it as the beach’s version of a spa day that runs a little long — a bit of visible construction now, for a healthier, wider beach later.

Where to park instead

Lee County has set up an easy workaround, and it is genuinely painless:

• Park at the Publix shopping center at Bonita Beach Road and US 41.
• Hop on LeeTran’s UltraOnDemand van — it runs pickup and drop-off service straight from that Publix lot to the beach, so you are not walking the whole way in flip-flops with a cooler.

If you would rather park closer and walk, Bonita Beach Accesses #2 through #9 along Hickory Boulevard are free, open, and unaffected by this closure — a nice option if you are set up for a shorter walk to the sand.

And here is the option we would point most people to: Barefoot Beach Preserve, right next door. Yes, it technically crosses the county line into Collier County, but it is a five-minute drive from Bonita Beach Park and completely untouched by this closure — beach open, parking lot open, business as usual. It runs $10 flat per vehicle for the day (free with a Collier County beach parking permit), open 8:00 AM to sunset, and honestly it is one of the most beautiful, least-developed stretches of sand in the area — 345 acres of preserve, not a high-rise in sight. If the Publix shuttle line looks long, this is where we would send you instead.

How long will this last?

As of this writing, Lee County has not published a firm reopening date — this kind of restoration work runs on tides, weather windows, and equipment schedules, so timelines tend to firm up as the work progresses rather than being locked in from day one. We will update this post the moment a completion date is announced, and in the meantime, Lee County Parks & Recreation is the best source for real-time updates.

Planning a Cabana Magic day at Bonita Beach right now

Short answer: yes, we are still very much open for business at Bonita Beach, and this does not change what your beach day looks like once you are set up. It just changes how you get down to us. If you are booking a cabana with us during the closure, mention it when you reach out and we will walk you through the smoothest way in — whether that is via Access #1, the Publix shuttle, Barefoot Beach next door, or one of the open accesses down the boulevard.

Full access and accessibility detail for Bonita Beach itself lives on our Bonita Beach cabana rentals guide, and our Bonita Beach parking guide covers the regular rates and backup lots for when this closure eventually lifts.