The Pier Stays Closed Until Next Summer. Here's How Aqualane Shores' Beach Ends Handle the Season.

Every winter the Naples Pier draws more than a million visitors. With the pier fenced off for one more season, where do they all park?

The City's own parking map stops that traffic at 14th Avenue South. The metered beach ends that take pier traffic are Broad Avenue South, 13th Avenue South and 14th Avenue South. From 15th Avenue South down Gordon Drive, the beach ends are for permit holders only. That one block is the difference between a crowded beach end and a quiet one this winter.

What Closed at 12th Avenue, and What Took Its Place

The City's Naples Pier Rebuild Project page lists everything behind the fence. The pier itself is closed, along with its stairs, restrooms, showers, and 12th Avenue South west of Gulf Shore Boulevard South. The pier parking lot at 12th Avenue South and Gulf Shore Boulevard South is still partly open. The western third is public parking, and the eastern two-thirds hold construction equipment.

To keep people on the sand, the City built pedestrian bypasses at the Broad Avenue South and 13th Avenue South beach ends and put restrooms at both. The City says they stay open for the whole project. In practice, the stretch of beach that used to rely on the pier for restrooms, showers and parking now relies on 13th Avenue South, a short walk north of Aqualane Shores along Gordon Drive.

The Line Falls Between 14th and 15th Avenue South

The City's beach parking information page sorts every city beach end into two groups. Twenty-four are "Permit Only – Resident Beach Accesses," closed to non-resident parking. The rest are metered visitor accesses. Visitor meters run $5.00 an hour with a $2.50 minimum.

Put that list next to the City's beach access status table and the southern end of town looks like this:

Two details in that table matter this season. First, 14th Avenue South is the last metered beach end heading south. Every visitor who would have parked at the pier now has to find a spot at Broad, 13th or 14th, or in the western third of the pier lot. Second, the City's list shows no freshwater shower at the metered 13th or 14th Avenue South ends. The pier showers that once served this stretch are behind the construction fence. Heading south, the nearest listed showers are at 15th, 18th and 33rd Avenue South, and all three are permit-only beach ends off Gordon Drive.

None of this means 13th Avenue South will be packed on any particular afternoon. It means that if parking gets tight there, the City's rules keep that pressure from moving down Gordon Drive. Signs at the permit-only ends say so directly, and the City warns that violators are towed at the owner's expense.

What the Permit Takes

For anyone heading back south for the season, a beach permit is what turns that table into convenience. Per the City's beach parking permit page, Collier County property taxpayers and full-time residents can get an annual permit free. It works at all City of Naples and Collier County beaches. City permits are issued at City Hall, 735 8th Street South. The City lists the following documents:

1. City residents bring a driver's license and the original vehicle registration, both showing the same name and an address inside city limits.
2. Owners who don't live in the city full time but own property inside city limits bring an official Collier County tax statement for that address, a current driver's license, and the original vehicle registration or rental car agreement, all in the owner's name.
3. Properties or vehicles owned by a company need extra paperwork. The applicant shows proof of ownership in the company, and a company-registered vehicle needs a letter confirming personal use.

The City accepts no copies. The permit goes on the inside of the windshield, lower corner on the driver's side. It can't be transferred, and it expires on the last day of the month punched on the front. Cars with a valid permit can also park free in metered spaces at city and county beaches. So the same sticker covers a permit-only spot at 18th Avenue South and a metered spot at 13th on a market morning.

This is a summary of the City's posted rules and not legal advice. Check the City's page or call City Hall before you go, since requirements can change.

Two Beach Ends Down Gordon Drive Still Have Work Ahead

The status table also shows that the post-Ian beach-end rebuild isn't finished along Gordon Drive. The 21st Avenue South access is open but marked "Future Reconstruction Planned." The 32nd Avenue South access is open but marked "Seawall Project Pending." The City has posted no start date for either.

Nearby beach ends show how that work tends to go. In May 2025 the City awarded YC Group, LLC a $1,305,794 contract to replace seawalls at the 14th and 16th Avenue South beach ends, among others, and to build a new one at 15th Avenue South. The City estimated about two months per location, weather permitting. All three of those beach ends are now listed as open with construction complete. The City also says it schedules work at several beach ends at once so fewer accesses are closed at any one time. Order of work can still shift with site conditions and weather. Anyone who usually walks to 21st or 32nd Avenue South should keep an eye on that status page this winter.

What's Being Built at the End of 12th Avenue

The pier closure is temporary, and the City's timeline shows the work moving faster than in earlier years. Contractor Shoreline Foundation Inc. drove the last of 193 reinforced-concrete pilings on October 7, 2026. On September 18, the mid-pavilion concrete pour took the project past half of the roughly 602 cubic yards of concrete the rebuild needs. The Naples Daily News published drone footage of the site on October 1 showing the progress.

The new pier is built heavier than the old one:

• Piles grow from 14 inches square to 18 inches square, in lengths of 70, 85 and 100 feet. All are longer than the longest piles in the previous pier.
• The deck sits three feet higher above the water and uses nearly three times as much poured concrete.
• The walking surface will be ipe, a tropical hardwood known for resisting rot. Two-thirds of the decking had arrived by July 24.
• State and federal rules didn't allow the old mid-pier concession to be rebuilt. City Council chose portable food and beverage carts at the mid-pavilion and added a small Naples Police/Beach Patrol substation.

The builder expects to finish structural work by early 2027, then install the decking. The City says the pier is still on schedule for its July 2027 target reopening. That covers this entire season and the start of next summer, so the 13th Avenue South bypass handles the pier's traffic through at least one more peak season.

Saturdays Move Back to 3rd Street South in November

The busiest weekly walk near this beach end starts again soon. The Third Street South Farmers Market moves out of the parking lot behind Tommy Bahama, where it spends April through October. From November through May it sets up on 3rd Street South between Broad and 13th Avenue South, every Saturday from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. Started in 1994, the market now has more than 60 independent vendors, and its organizers say it has no national chains or franchises.

Later in the month, Christmas on Third opens with a tree lighting on Monday, November 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. Thanksgiving week brings live music from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and snowfall at 7 p.m., with nothing scheduled on Thanksgiving Day. Santa Paws comes to Third Street near Sea Salt on Saturday, December 12, from 1 to 3 p.m.

The market, the tree lighting and the beach bypass all meet at 13th Avenue South, the busiest corner this season. From most Aqualane Shores homes you can walk there along Gordon Drive. With a permit, there's a reserved beach end at 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th Avenue South a few minutes south.

If the pier rebuild has you wondering how beach access affects what your Aqualane Shores home is worth, we're glad to walk through it with you. Donna Tidwell has sold homes along this stretch of the Gulf for years and is happy to talk. Request Your Free Home Valuation.