Marco Island Florida

Marco Island is a port city (1997-incorporated) and an island in Florida's Collier County, with population around 16,000. During the winter season, the island's population nearly doubles due to the influx of tourists and seasonal residents.

As cruise port, Marco Island FL was introduced in 2023 by the USA's largest domestic cruise shipping company ACL-American Cruise Lines. The 7-night/8-day "Florida Gulf Coast and Keys" itinerary (roundtrip from Tampa) was specifically designed for ACL's newbuild Coastal Cats/catamarans and was first operated by American Glory.

On this ACL ex-Florida voyage, on days 3 and 4 the ship stays in Key West overnight. This allows tourists to explore Key West City on Day 3 (with a complimentary guided tour to the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum) and the Dry Tortugas National Park on Day 4 (visiting Fort Jefferson/Civil War prison).

Marco Island is the largest of Florida's barrier islands (within the Ten Thousand Islands region) and is linked to mainland Florida by two road bridges that carry highway SR-951 (State Road 951) and Collier County Road 92. The island started to develop into a resort tourism destination in the 1960s by the Mackle Brothers Inc (1962-founded by the brothers Elliott, Robert and Frank Jr.) that later became the majority shareholder of The Deltona Corporation. Deltona is famous for major community developments in Florida, including Deltona Lakes, Spring Hill, Marco Island, Marco Shores, Citrus Springs, Marion Oaks, Pine Ridge, Sunny Hills, Saint Augustine Shores, Seminole Woods (Geneva FL), Tampa Palms (Tampa).

Marco Island is a renowned resort vacation destination popular for its hotels, golf courses, perfect beaches, and premium boat marinas. The lagoon in the Tigertail Beach Park is popular for water activities like sailing/boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding.

The island's top-rated resorts are along Collier Boulevard and include JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort (400 S Collier Blvd), Hilton Marco Island Resort & Spa (560 S Collier Blvd), Sunrise Bay Resort Club (10 Tampa Pl), South Seas Tower 4 (vacation home/440 Seaview Ct) and South Seas Condominium (apartment complex/595 Seaview Ct), Marco Island Yacht Club (1400 N Collier Blvd), the Island Country Club (18-hole course/500 Nassau Road). The island also has several nature parks.

The 6-mi / 9,7 km long Marco Island Beach is crescent-shaped and among Florida's widest. It consists of several separate beach areas (north to south) - Tigertail Beach, Residents' Beach, Marco Beach, Marco Island Public Beach, Winterberry Public Beach, South Beach, and South Public Beach.

Public access beaches are two (Tigertail Beach and South Beach), both with parking facilities. The Residents' Beach and South Beach are private (exclusive for residents). To the north and south of Marco Island, there are several accessible by boat offshore island beaches, the most popular of which are Keewaydin Island Beach (to the north) and Morgan Beach (on Ten Thousand Island).

The island is served by Marco Island Airport (approx 4 mi / 6,5 km to the northeast of the CBD) and by Southwest Florida International Airport (Lee County-owned). Southwest Florida Airport serves with regularly scheduled flights the entire Southwest Florida region and is currently ranked the USA's second-busiest airport with a single runway (after San Diego), with handled in 2022 around 10,344 million passengers.