Two of the defining characteristics of Florida are the breathtaking beaches and the staggering amount of natural beauty and nature preserves. Port Charlotte and neighboring Punta Gorda are surrounded on all sides by either beautiful blue ocean, or some sort of park, forest, or preserve. You don’t even have to leave the downtown area when you rent an RV in Port Charlotte because the Port Charlotte Beach Park welcomes visitors with open arms. This beautiful little slice of land by the harbor has a playground and many other features like a large pool, athletic fields, and a boat ramp to launch your watercraft and go fishing. Myakka River State Park is one of the oldest in the entire state and has many recreational activities. You can ride horses, bicycle, fish, camp, or hike through the prairies, scrubland, or wetlands that make up the 37,000-acre park. Nearby, the similarly named Myakka State Forest has similar recreational activities including boating on the beautiful Myakka River. A short drive south over the bridge in your Port Charlotte travel trailer rental will bring you to Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park. The park is free to enter and is one of the best stops on the Great Florida Birding Trail, a 2,000-mile-long collection of over 500 distinct birdwatching spots. Stump Pass Beach State Park is not too far away when you rent an RV in Port Charlotte and it has some of the most undeveloped and marvelous views of the Gulf of Mexico. Made up of a few pristine islands and all the channels of water between them, there is much to do at this fun little stop, most notably going for a swim in the lukewarm waters of the ocean. Big Cypress National Preserve has 12 incredible campgrounds for you to park your Port Charlotte rental motorhome when you leave town, while Everglades National Park dominates the south of Florida as one of the largest parks in the country. The largest subtropical wilderness in the US, the Everglades is full of swampland, wetlands, prairies, pine forests, and countless exotic animals, too. If you are up for it, Biscayne National Park , out near Miami on the opposite coast, is a marvelous place to visit if you enjoy snorkeling or scuba diving.