bmwoods72

Heading to Ft. Myers for a week in March and wondering where to spend my time and any "not to be missed restaurants"?

Patrick

Have you booked a hotel? Where will you be staying. Traffic is horrendous in March, so it would be good if you could tell us where you are staying -- Ft. Myers Beach? South Ft. Myers? North Ft. Myers? Cape Coral?
What sorts of things are you looking for? Cultural, beach, nature, science?

bmwoods72

I am staying in Cape Coral. I know Siesta Key and Captiva are great to see but I have heard the traffic isn't worth it.
I am looking for cultural things to do and some great restaurants or any suggestions you may have!!

cindymal

Just got back from sanibel harbour resort and spa.I loved it and it is in FtMyers.This place was wondeful,almost all of the rooms have a water view and the staff was great.This place is top notch.I had dinner at Ellingtons in sanibel and loved it.They play jazz music during dinner.The food was great and the atmosphere is old world elegant.

bamakelly

The Ellingtons downtown in Ft Myers would be better for you traffic-wise, unless you plan to see Sanibel anyway. (Didn't even know there was an Ellingtons on Sanibel!) There is really NOTHIGN to do on Cape Coral, so you'll have to come into Ft Myers for pretty mush anything good. The Edison home would be nice to tour and is not far from the Cape bridge. Bell Tower offers nice shops and there are a couple of good restaurants there too (I've never had a disappointing meal at Bistro 41). Downtown Ft Myers has nice restaurants: Veranda is one, and there are others that are a little more trendy that are good too, but the names escape me now--I'll think on it.

I love Sanibel and think you'd enjoy it, but like Patrick said the traffic will be a bear. Actualy Sanibel is not far from Captiva by water--it would be awesome if you could go by boat and eat at the Green Flash or some other drive-up from the water place like that on Sanibel or Captiva. Not sure if there are places that offer this on Cape Coral, but it's worth looking into.

Yawn_boring

I did a search and read a lot of posts from Patrick and LMF and bamakelly about the area, now I have to sort out the information. We're going to the Hyatt Coconut Point at the end of April, and plan on spending most time there, but what would you experts suggest if we want to eat out in Bonita Springs or Ft Myers? Nothing too fancy, because we'll have the kids, but we appreciate good and interesting meals, especially fish, Asian, Latino, etc.

We do plan on visiting Naples, but we're going to do that earlier in the day to try to avoid traffic, so we'll probably have lunch at Tommy Bahamas, but for 2-3 dinners we want to stay closer to the Hyatt.

Thanks!

Patrick

"We do plan on visiting Naples, but we're going to do that earlier in the day to try to avoid traffic."

I guess I don't get that statement. The horrible traffic is anytime from about 8 in the morning until 5:30 or 6 in the evening. After that it's pretty much a breeze driving from Estero or Bonita down to Naples (by comparison to the daytime traffic).

Here's a double answer -- Iquana Mia's. The original is in Cape Coral for bmwoods72, (and the only half decent restaurant I'm aware of in Cape Coral). The newer one is at the corner of 41 and Bonita Beach Road for Yawn_boring. Big, casual, good Mexican food.

For bmwoods, you might also think in terms of Matlacha Oyster House at the entrance to Pine Island-- less traffic that way than heading out into Ft. Myers. I haven't been there in a looooonnnnnggggg time, but I understand it's still very good -- really laid back.

Judyrem

Patrick, they have added a nice restaurant called Rummrunners(nice place with decent food) in CC and they finally got a Houlihans and a Ruby Tuesday.. Cape Coral is not exactly gourmet capitol of SW Fla(Naples is),(that is one of the reasons we moved), bmwoods, your best bet would be to head over to the Bell Tower area like bamakelly suggested.

Yawn_boring

Patrick,
Thanks for the clarification about the traffic. We'll do one dinner in Naples then another closer to the Hyatt, probably at Roy's.