Fort Myers, Florida....suggestions?

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lynx78

New Member
Now we are looking into going to Fort Myers in June.....any ideas on where to stay....close to beach, pickleball, other activities and sites to see.....reasonable rates, simple, laid back and fun! Thanks
 

My BFF, a professional musician, lives in FLA and sometimes travels to Ft. Myers for gigs and other business. I'll ask her if she can recommend anything. I seem to remember her saying there was a lot of destruction after one of the hurricanes last year. Here's Trip Advisors comprehensive list of things to do there (just keep on scrolling). Under the words Trip Advisor, there is a link for hotels.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g34230-Activities-Fort_Myers_Florida.html
 
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I am leaving Florida tonight. I will be on the redeye into BWI at 12:15 a.m.

My cousin lives in Fort Myers, so I spent a few days with her and her husband. There's also a Fort Myers Beach. They are separate, although they run together and have 2 different zip codes.

I stayed at the Crown Plaza in Ft. Myers Beach about 10 years ago. Really nice, but a little pricey. They also have or did have really good food. But, if they changed chefs, no promises it's still like that.

Go a little further south to Naples. Love that area. Take I-75 (Alligator Alley) over to Ft. Lauderdale. A lot to see along the way. Watch out for alligators crossing the highway.
 

911 said:
I am leaving Florida tonight. I will be on the redeye into BWI at 12:15 a.m.

My cousin lives in Fort Myers, so I spent a few days with her and her husband. There's also a Fort Myers Beach. They are separate, although they run together and have 2 different zip codes.

I stayed at the Crown Plaza in Ft. Myers Beach about 10 years ago. Really nice, but a little pricey. They also have or did have really good food. But, if they changed chefs, no promises it's still like that.

Go a little further south to Naples. Love that area. Take I-75 (Alligator Alley) over to Ft. Lauderdale. A lot to see along the way. Watch out for alligators crossing the highway.
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Did you notice any remnants of the destruction that took place in Ft. Myers? Ft Lauderdale saw an influx of spring breakers in the last few days since Miami has instituted a curfew.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Did you notice any remnants of the destruction that took place in Ft. Myers? Ft Lauderdale saw an influx of spring breakers in the last few days since Miami has instituted a curfew.
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Some people are still cleaning up. I spoke with a cop while visiting my cousin and he was telling me that the hurricane really left behind a lot of destruction as it came ashore. The people closer to the shoreline took the worse of it. Whole mobile home parks were devastated. My cousin’s house, which is about 20 minutes from the Gulf only had very minor damage.

As I drove down to the Gulf, I saw a little leftover damage here and there, but the majority of the worst of it has been cleaned up, except seeing an empty mobile home park was kind of weird. I don’t know if their planning on replacing the homes or using the land for something else.

Once the storm came ashore, it took a northeast track through Winter Haven and then the northern coast on the Atlantic Ocean.
 
911 said:
Some people are still cleaning up. I spoke with a cop while visiting my cousin and he was telling me that the hurricane really left behind a lot of destruction as it came ashore. The people closer to the shoreline took the worse of it. Whole mobile home parks were devastated. My cousin’s house, which is about 20 minutes from the Gulf only had very minor damage.

As I drove down to the Gulf, I saw a little leftover damage here and there, but the majority of the worst of it has been cleaned up, except seeing an empty mobile home park was kind of weird. I don’t know if their planning on replacing the homes or using the land for something else.

Once the storm came ashore, it took a northeast track through Winter Haven and then the northern coast on the Atlantic Ocean.
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I had an online friend who lived in first an apartment, then an assistant living facility in Winter Haven. I haven't been able to contact him by phone, so don't know if he's still with us. Your comment about the mobile home parks being devastated reminds me of when my BFF and I drove through Homestead, FLA on the way to Key West in August 1992. A couple of weeks later Homestead was decimated by Hurricane Andrew, with over 99% of mobile homes, hundreds of other homes, close to 2,000 buildings of it's air reserve base and city hall being destroyed.

My former supervisor who lived in Ortley Beach, N.J. had his home completely flattened by Superstorm Sandy. They had moved there a few years before, after he retired, from a N.J. city that was no where near the coastline. He and his wife were vacationing in Mexico with another couple, also former co-worker friends. When his neighbor called to tell him about the impending storm, he said he wasn't worried. What a surprise when he got home. He and his wife could afford to buy another home almost immediately. Others may not be so fortunate. I feel for people in that situation.
 
We used to live close to Fort Myers and spent quite a lot of time in the area and surroundings. This was quite a few years ago before the hurricane devastated the area.
There is Fort Myers as well as Fort Myers Beach.
You might like to look at Youtube showing you the devastation and hear about the updates on the work. They cleared some of the beaches, that I know, but I would not be able to tell you where to stay at this point. We used to stay on Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island,or Captiva Island. They had a beautiful resort there that offered all kind of sports and water activities.
I know that they let go of all their staff and need to rebuild entirely. These islands had a lot of charm and represented old Florida nicely.
For sports, I would recommend Marco Island as a destination.(not too far from Naples). Both of those cities also had damage but not as intense.
Naples is a beautiful city to visit and do some shopping or just browse.
You can do quite a lot around that area.
For shopping there is the big Miromar Outlet Mall and lots of small boutiques in each city mentioned above
To eat there have a lot of fresh seafood and great restaurants.
(I do not know which ones are open at this point. You might like to use Yelp to guide you on this and call the restaurant before going there to make sure they are open.)
To visit: the boardwalk trail at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, the Sanibel Island Wildlife Refuge.
Paddling, kayaking, and fishing are big in the area as well as golfing and tennis. Perhaps more pickleball now?
Some big sport teams do their training in the area as well. (Not sure if they are present in June)
The Edison House is in Fort Myers to be visited.
In Naples, you should go to the Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Well worth seeing.
They have also guided tours through the Babcock Ranch Eco Tours.
Finally, the area has a lot of beautiful state parks to visit. Check the Florida State Parks website for more info on each of them.
As I mentioned above, make sure to contact the Chamber of Commerce to see if all the places are in operation.
Be ready for high temperatures in June. It will also be very humid.
Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach have quite a lot of traffic. The airport is very accessible and I-75 will take you wherever you want to go!
Have fun and enjoy beautiful Florida!🙂
 
Babcock is building an upper class housing development. This development will include 18,000 homes on 19,000 acres. Other amenities will include a championship 18-hole golf course with a pro clubhouse and other amenities.
 
911 said:
Babcock is building an upper class housing development. This development will include 18,000 homes on 19,000 acres. Other amenities will include a championship 18-hole golf course with a pro clubhouse and other amenities.
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Yes, indeed. The Babcock I mentioned is a ranch (independent of the large subdivision) that offers eco tours to see the wildlife. It has been there for years.
The housing development you mentioned is in high demand particularly among people that left Fort Myers after the hurricane.
 
Rossana said:
Yes, indeed. The Babcock I mentioned is a ranch (independent of the large subdivision) that offers eco tours to see the wildlife. It has been there for years.
The housing development you mentioned is in high demand particularly among people that left Fort Myers after the hurricane.
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The more I think about it, Babcock may own the development my cousin lives in. Supposedly, they paid a million bucks for it, but to me, it’s way over priced. It only has 2400 sq. ft. It has a pool with a bird cage over it and an outside bar-b-que area and an outside TV, but I still don’t see the price.

She was telling me that the new development their building starts at over a million bucks. If I’m going to pay that much, I think I would go to Naples. They are planning on building 18,000 homes. That’s a lot of money after they sell all the sites.

I understand they plan on having their own security company on site.
 


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