Best place on the Gulf Coast and WHY?

[poet123]

As firstimers to Florida we want to know which place people consider to be the best place to stay on the gulf coast and why.

[keith&carol]

It depends entirely on what you as a family like.
We have a timeshare on Fort Myers Beach. We have been going there for several years now and loved it so much we bought the 2 weeks . Our favourite place is Sanibel Island but that can be very expensive for more than a few days. Marco Island and Naples have beautiful beaches and are very upmarket - great if you like golf and are not short of $.
Further north the Sarasota area also has lovely beaches- very quiet, laid back area, great place to chill. Further north still are Clearwater & St. Pete's. Nice beaches, can get very busy, more to do if you have children and also nearest to WDW if you don't want to drive far.
All these areas have a big choice of restaurants and shopping , generally speaking the further north you go the cheaper everything gets .
Frankly we'd be happy any where on the Gulf Coast. We've stayed at or visited most areas and would have no problem having a wonderful time in any or all of them.

[Kevin Stringer]

Got to echo the post from Keith & Carol, Sanibel and Captiva are wonderfully relaxing places. Beautiful scenery, beaches and animals.
As was said, it is more expensive than other areas.

Kev