Fort Myers and Naples in Southwest Florida
After all is said and done as much as I enjoy the “buzz” of Orlando with its theme parks and attractions, there comes a time when you just want to kick back and relax. Or maybe it’s not your thing to mix it with the mouse.
So the ideal place is South Florida and Fort Myers or Naples in particular. I love these places, they are so removed from the hustle and bustle of Orlando with a relaxed almost “Caribbean” lifestyle.
About a 3 hour drive from Orlando takes you to these Gulf Coast treasures. Fort Myers Beach is basically located on a peninsula called Estero Island. It has a population of around 6,000 inhabitants. It’s pretty close to the airport too. Accommodation here is mainly condominiums, but there are also hotels. A large portion of the condos can be rented and most are privately owned. Priced at around $750,000 for one on the beach with an ocean view! They are all well equipped and the ones I have stayed in were fantastic. We had an ocean view with 2 rooms and all the things we needed to feel at home. Each condo had a jacuzzi and it was huge, no exaggeration, you could fit 4 people easily. I’m 6 foot 2 and I could lay on it and neither my head nor my feet would touch the ends.
We had the most fantastic view of the ocean from the master bedroom windows, it was a delight to wake up to in the mornings. You could lie there for a while and watch the runners work out in the cooler morning temperatures or the bums walking along the water’s edge in search of that elusive shell.
The communal pool was delightful and a 2 minute walk gives you access to the uncrowded white sandy beach. You can walk for miles along this unspoilt coastline. There is a pier if you want to maybe do some fishing.
There are many places to dine on the Fort Myers beach, most of them around the pier area. One place we went to that seemed quite novel to us was dinner and a movie at the Beach Theater. You choose your movie, order your food, and a server brings it to your table where you can comfortably watch the movie. The rooms are quite small, so it has quite a personal touch. There are few rows of seats at the front, a counter you can sit at and then behind them are the tables.
If you want to do your own thing, the condo has its own set of gas barbecues. We did it one night, went to the nearby publix supermarket and got a couple of good steaks and some shrimp and conjured up a tasty meal.
For shopping you have to go to Naples, which is about 20-30 minutes away by car. There is the Coastlands shopping center which contains the usual store offerings. One thing you’ll see a lot are the high-priced furniture stores that cater to the well-heeled residents of Naples, some pretty famous ones too, like Judge Judy and Steven Spielburg, have a place here as well. Naples is said to have more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States. There are also a lot of elderly people here, which has earned Naples the nickname “God’s waiting room.”
There are many more hotels here than in Fort Myers. It has a lovely Mediterranean feel carried over from its namesake. It has high lanes lined with palm trees and is well worth a visit.
Even if you don’t spend your entire vacation (holiday) here, just try to come down for a few days and relax. The condos we stayed in were Pointe Estero and the sister property next door, The Gullwing. We got our 2 bedroom condo for $180 a night. You can contact the property directly or if you are in Orlando before you visit, do as we did and go to a room wholesaler like “Know Before You Go”. They have 2 locations in Orlando, one in Sand Lake and I drive and the other I don’t, the 192 around mile marker 13 if I remember correctly.
Go ahead, enjoy!