Mrs Dazzle
<font color=009900>Florida-mad (well, mad full sto
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2002
- Messages
- 3,045
Lisa - we love the gulf coast, but especially further down south towards Naples/Marco Island.
We had the best time our first visit to Marco - it was just superb. We stayed (both times) at the Marco Hilton which is right on the beautiful beach, the hotel rooms are very spacious with balconies where you can sit out at night and watch over the ocean
To give you an idea of what Marco is like, it's called the "Gateway to Heaven" by its locals, because of the average age (old
), but to be honest we live in one of the oldest age populated villages in the New Forest, and we don't like really noisy places, so it suits us.
There are loads of restaurants, shops to visit, and Naples is 15 miles up the coast, but this takes probably 30 mins. In Naples there are some very select shops, the area is perhaps more upmarket in that sense than Marco, but not quite to "relaxed". There are WalMarts and KMarts around too! and some great little gifty type shops.
We are off to Fort Myers beach next year - another great area. We've checked it out over the last couple of years and are borrowing our friend's apartment there next August. Ft Myers is about 50 miles up from Marco. It's nearer to Captiva which we love to visit for the day, and Sanibel. Ft Myers is a lot larger area than Naples and Marco so you have more things to do, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do Marco/Naples.
The Everglades are an absolute must for anyone staying around Naples/Marco, or Ft Myers. From Marco they were 20 mins away - the Everglades area is huge and you can see loads of different wildlife and the airboat rides are great fun. We've done two different ones now.
The Naples Trolley Bus tour is 2.5 hours long and such fun. You get to see all the multi-million pound houses and apartments in Naples (when I win the lottery . . . .
) and you get to learn a lot about the area and its history. You can get on and off as you want.
Phew, enough said - but please, if you need any further info, holler. We really do love this area. We tend to only spend one week in Orlando and then 1.5 weeks more down the gulf coast.
We had the best time our first visit to Marco - it was just superb. We stayed (both times) at the Marco Hilton which is right on the beautiful beach, the hotel rooms are very spacious with balconies where you can sit out at night and watch over the ocean
To give you an idea of what Marco is like, it's called the "Gateway to Heaven" by its locals, because of the average age (old
), but to be honest we live in one of the oldest age populated villages in the New Forest, and we don't like really noisy places, so it suits us. There are loads of restaurants, shops to visit, and Naples is 15 miles up the coast, but this takes probably 30 mins. In Naples there are some very select shops, the area is perhaps more upmarket in that sense than Marco, but not quite to "relaxed". There are WalMarts and KMarts around too! and some great little gifty type shops.
We are off to Fort Myers beach next year - another great area. We've checked it out over the last couple of years and are borrowing our friend's apartment there next August. Ft Myers is about 50 miles up from Marco. It's nearer to Captiva which we love to visit for the day, and Sanibel. Ft Myers is a lot larger area than Naples and Marco so you have more things to do, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do Marco/Naples.
The Everglades are an absolute must for anyone staying around Naples/Marco, or Ft Myers. From Marco they were 20 mins away - the Everglades area is huge and you can see loads of different wildlife and the airboat rides are great fun. We've done two different ones now.
The Naples Trolley Bus tour is 2.5 hours long and such fun. You get to see all the multi-million pound houses and apartments in Naples (when I win the lottery . . . .
) and you get to learn a lot about the area and its history. You can get on and off as you want.Phew, enough said - but please, if you need any further info, holler. We really do love this area. We tend to only spend one week in Orlando and then 1.5 weeks more down the gulf coast.
