Florida Maritime Museum Park
Park
4 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Cortez Historic District · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Cortez
9% of Cortez’s land is conserved: 125 acres
6 acres are parks and preserves, 1.2 per 1,000 residents. 0.2 miles of mapped trail cross Cortez, 0.1 per square mile of land. 40% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 30% of U.S. towns · #463 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Conserved land
9%
125 acres · of 2.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.2 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
6 ac
1.2 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
40%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.8 mi
0.8 mi lanes
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Cortez have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Cortez is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns, #463 of 638 in Florida. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Cortez’s overall grade.
Conserved land9% of the land · typical FL town 3% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · FL 0.4 · U.S. 0.4CPark land1.2 acres of park per 1,000 residents (6 acres) · FL 6 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home40% of residents within a half mile of a park · FL 70% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 30%
LessMore
Florida towns of 2,500+ (638)Ahead of 27%
Water is more than half of Cortez’s area (3 of 5 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 4%.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Cortez. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Florida Maritime Museum Park, with 0.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
125 conserved acres
9% of Cortez’s land. Water is left out: Cortez has 2.2 square miles of land and 2.9 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Cortez’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits85 ac
County40 ac
Private Historic or Cultural · 78 acLocal Conservation Area · 38 acPrivate Conservation · 7 acLocal Park · 1 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage Preserve Private Historic or Cultural | Land trusts & nonprofits | 78 | Closed |
| Ungarelli Preserve Local Conservation Area | County | 34 | Restricted |
| Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 7 | Closed |
| Cortez 1912 Schoolhouse Preserve Local Conservation Area | County | 4 | Open |
| Sunny Shores Park Local Park | County | 1 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Cortez
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Cortez
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in Cortez
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
Biking & sports
0.8 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.8 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
Courts & fields
9Tennis
1Beach volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Cortez Historic DistrictBuilding · listed 1995
About itWhen to get out
April is the best month for walking in Cortez
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 10.6 | 11.2 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.5 | 13.9 | 13.7 | 13.1 | 12.3 | 11.5 | 10.7 | 10.4 |
| High (°F) | 71 | 74 | 77 | 82 | 87 | 90 | 91 | 91 | 90 | 85 | 78 | 74 |
| Rain (in) | 2.7 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 2.6 |
November is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 9.0 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Cortez →
Next door
Cortez and its neighbors
Cortez has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortez | 9% | 0.1 | 1 | 40% | C |
| Bradenton Beach | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Cortez
Where can I hike in Cortez?
The longest trail networks: Florida Maritime Museum Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Cortez is conserved land?
9% of its land, against a typical 3% for a Florida town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Cortez’s trails?
Florida Maritime Museum Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Cortez?
0.8 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.8 of painted or protected lanes.
Is there public land near Cortez?
5,308 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Cortez or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 6 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Cortez have?
Ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #463 of 638 in Florida. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Cortez neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →