National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida
My family and I have spent every summer in Fort Myers Beach since 2000, except the past 2 years due to Hurricane Ian. This natural disaster flattened not only Fort Myers Beach, but Sanibel and Captiva, as well.
Our beloved landmarks, favorite restaurants, our second home was steadily submerged and swept away within a day with storm surge coming in over 15 feet high.
We finally were able to visit again summer 2025 and while everything was different, the important things were the same - family time, a beautiful beach, and the most amazing sunsets.
This trip, we tried doing some of the same things we could do, like visit our favorite restaurants (now food trucks since their brick-and-mortar locations were gone), and also visit new-to-us places. One of those being the National Shell Museum in Sanibel!
My shell I found at Lighthouse Beach
Price
There are a few options for ticket prices:
Children under 5 - free
Children (5-11) - $5
Youth (12-17), Student, Educator - $10
Senior (65+), Veteran - $15
Adults - $18
This includes all galleries, touch pools, and keeper chats!
Location
The Shell Museum is located on Sanibel Island, but on the main road that connects Sanibel and Captiva. We went to Lighthouse Beach on the Eastern end of the island, then visited the museum, then had lunch in Captiva.
Exhibits
The Museum isn’t huge, but they do have so much to see. I recommend starting upstairs and working your way down.
Upstairs, they had an exhibit sharing the history of shells in Fashion and Jewelry that I loved. Also upstairs is the Great Hall of Shells… and it is truly Great.
A beautiful, high-ceilinged circular room with the entire wall covered in shells. In the middle of the room, more shells - but interestingly they’re shown as counterparts to each other showing the Pacific Ocean version and the Atlantic Ocean versions of the same shells.
Once you make your way downstairs, they have a small aquarium and a touch pool. The main star though is the Great Pacific Octopus - which had a keeper chat when we visited.
As I mentioned, the museum isn’t huge, but as Sanibel is one of the best beaches in the world to find shells, it makes sense for this beautiful museum to be here, and I recommend stopping by for an hour!