Bonita Springs, Florida, United States

🇺🇸 Bonita Springs is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, on the state's south-west coast.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.0 square miles (106 km²), of which 35.3 square miles (91 km²) is land and 5.7 square miles (15 km²) (13.95%) is water.

The city is located on both Estero Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The area referred to as Bonita Beach is located on a road-accessible barrier island (Little Hickory Island) that lies between the Gulf of Mexico and Estero Bay. The Imperial River flows through the downtown district of the city and empties out into Estero Bay.

Points of interest • Barefoot Beach Preserve Park, a 342-acre (1.38 km²) park located on the border of Collier and Lee Counties. In 2013, Forbes ranked the park's beach the sixth-best in the country • Bonita Beach Park, a 2.5-acre (10,000 m²) beachfront park with a boardwalk and swimming area • Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs - an arts organization that hosts local, regional and national traveling art exhibitions. The organization has two campuses, the 10-acre Center for Visual Arts with galleries, studios, classrooms, art library, and offices; and 1. 8 miles south, the 4-acre Center for Performing Arts, which has two auditoriums, a black box theater, a film centre, music rooms and studios for study of performing arts. The organization's Bonita Springs Art Festivals, are held January, February, and March in downtown Bonita Springs • Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a bald cypress reserve under management of the National Audubon Society • Bonita Spring's Wonder Gardens, features a large collection of Florida wildlife, including exotic birds, alligators, and flamingos. The facility opened in 1936 as both a wildlife exhibition and a refuge for injured animals and has a botanical garden and a natural history museum • Little Hickory Island Beach Park • Lover's Key State Park, a 1,616-acre (6.54 km²) park made up of four barrier islands, is within the city and just north of Bonita Beach. It has nature trails for hiking and bicycling, a canoe launch, kayak and canoe rentals, acres of unspoiled mangroves and miles of pristine beaches. A haven for wildlife, the islands and their waters are home to West Indian manatees, bottlenose dolphins, roseate spoonbills, marsh rabbits and bald eagles • There are also 10 beach accesses with public parking up and down Bonita Beach

Education Bonita Springs is served by the Lee County School District. • Bonita Springs Elementary School • Spring Creek Elementary School • Bonita Springs Middle School • Bonita Springs High School • Bonita Springs Charter School • Oak Creek Charter School • Bonita Springs Preparatory School • Royal Palm Academy Catholic School • Discovery Day Academy Private School • Florida Institute of Music

Transport: Air • Southwest Florida International Airport in nearby South Fort Myers serves over 8 million passengers annually. • Naples Municipal Airport in Naples is a smaller airport primarily for private aviation

Transport: Road • Interstate 75 • U.S. Route 41 "South Tamiami Trail" • (County Road 865) Bonita Beach Road / Hickory Boulevard

Mass transportation Fixed-route bus and trolley service is provided by the Lee County Transit Department, operated as LeeTran.

Transport: Rail Seminole Gulf Railway owns and operates a line that passes through the city. The company offers freight service and local, daytime excursions.

Media: Print Bonita Springs is served by local editions of the Fort Myers News-Press and Naples Daily News.

Media: Radio The metropolitan area is home to 36 radio stations. With an Arbitron-assigned 879,600 listening area population, the metropolitan area of which Bonita Springs is one part ranks 61/274 for the fall of 2013. Arbitron Standard Radio Market: Ft. Myers-Naples-Marco Island.

Media: Television Nielsen Media Research designated market area: Ft. Myers-Naples.

2013 - 2014 estimate U.S. rank: 62/210 (517,920 TV Homes) • WBBH – NBC affiliate • WFTX – Fox affiliate • WGCU – PBS member station • WINK – CBS affiliate • WXCW – CW affiliate • WZVN – ABC affiliate • BTV 98 – Government-access television operated by the city of Bonita Springs.