Fort Myers Trip Highlights: Beautiful Beaches, Birding & Big Fish

With 50 miles of beautiful beaches and more than 100 islands, the beaches of Fort Myers and nearby Sanibel Island spoil people for choice. If you’re a first-time visitor, you may have a hard time knowing where to start, so let us help you with this mini-guide to five quintessential beach experiences you can have in this idyllic southwest Florida destination.

Fort Myers Beach is actually on Estero Island. Accommodations here skew more affordable and family-friendly than on neighboring islands. There’s a wide array of motorized water-sport offerings including jet skiing, parasailing, and—definitely not something you see everywhere—jet-ski dolphin tours. The hub is Times Square. This is the shopping/dining/entertainment district, adjacent to the walkable pier. Further down, Lover’s Key State Park spans over 100 acres and 2½ miles of beautiful Gulf of Mexico beachfront. Travel Channel once named it Florida’s most romantic beach, though some locals suspect that has a lot to do with the name.

Escape to Southwest Florida's Serene Sanibel Island

Though Florida’s always a popular winter vacation spot, you won’t find neon signs, rowdy partiers, and high-rises lining the water in Sanibel. Instead, this peaceful, family-friendly island boasts more than 17 miles of sugar-fine beaches, 26 miles of bike trails, and a main drag filled with chic shops and restaurants. Kids fascinated with sea shells will find plenty to collect along these shores, as the island’s east-west orientation acts as a scoop for the tide’s treasures. Also ride, walk, bike, canoe, or kayak through the J. N. ("Ding") Darling National Wildlife Refuge, one of Florida's best.

Photo credit: Lighthouse Beach in Sanibel, Florida (courtesy, Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau)