mariya

My husband and I are planning to visit Florida at the end of January for my husband 50th Bday. We are planning to spend about 8 nights and want to visit Naples, St. Peterburg, Sarasota, Everglades. If we lucky maybe get into the water, but mostly sightseeing and relax. I'm not sure if I should stay in Naples all 8 nights or divide between North (Sarasota? St.Petersburg?) let say 3 nights and 5 nights (in Naples). We will be renting a car. Also Should we stay in Naples or nearby? It would be nice to be able to walk to restaurant, not always drive and be in kind of small town with galleries and other nice small shops. Not exactly sure how much to spend North, if it's just one day I don't have to relocate, but if every town takes one day, then maybe it's better to divide time and avoid driving 2+ hours few times. I'm at the beginning of planning this trip, so any idea/suggestions are welcome.

Thank you,
Mariya

NeoPatrick

For starters, where are you flying into and out of? You can usually get a car with no drop off fee in Florida, so you could start in Naples (RSW airport) and end in Tampa, or vice versa.
Downtown or "Olde" Naples is as you describe with lots of restaurants, galleries, and shops in walking distance, as well as the beach itself.

Dukey1

Neo is correct about rental car drop charges in Florida. There haven't been any that I know of for some years.

It would be helpful to know why you have picked these particular places in order to give advice as to just how long to stay in them.

When in the Naples area are you, for example, planning to drive over to Sanibel and Captiva? Would you prefer to stay on the beach or somewhere else?

Why Sarasota? St. Petersburg? No, there is nothing wrong with any of them. I do suspect you might be wise to make lodging reservations as soon as you can for some of those locations.

NeoPatrick

Dukey, actually there sometimes are some -- which why I was careful to say "usually". I've done a lot of one way rentals in Florida -- often just to get to or from an airport, and in the past few years, several agencies -- Dollar in particular -- have started adding drop of fees of up to $100. That's a lot when you're only renting a car for one day at $15.95!

And Dukey is very right that you need to be moving soon for January hotels in Southwest Florida! At least if you are at all particular what kind of place you stay in.

Dukey1

Neo, I wasn't aware of the drop charges...but somehow I guess it isn't surprising.

Dukey1

I guess the OP decided to go to California instead!

mariya

Thank you everybody!
Reason to go to Sarasota and St. Petersburg as well as Naples is for relaxing sightseeing. My husband heard that those are nice towns. Beach if we are lucky enough for warm weather. Yes, I was surprised to see that it was no differences in price if I'll drop off car in different location (on expedia anyway), which is nice. So if I need to spend 2-3 day to look in the area of St. Petersburg instead of driving back and forth while staying in Naples maybe divide the trip between those 2 locations. That is my question. Also should I stay in St.Petersburg or Sarasota? Which one is nicer? Yes, I want to book very soon, that is why hopping for help to answer those questions.
Thanks,
Mariya

Ackislander

Given that information, you could fly into Tampa, spend two nights in St Pete, two in Sarasota, and four in Naples, flying home from Ft Myers (airport code RSW).

They are three very different areas, and it will be interesting to see which you prefer.

St Pete offers access to some places that are apparently still Old Florida (I.e., low rise) like Indian Rocks.

I would stay on St Armand's Key rather than in Sarasota itself. Lots of eating and shopping and access to other places of interest like Siesta Key and Sarasota.

Naples has glitz, great beaches, Old Florida echoes, shopping, restaurants, and yo can take a trip to the Everglades -- or even Miami -- for the day.

It is by no means impossible that you will find yourself in the water if you are from up north. It was around 70 at that time of year when we wintered in Naples, or warmer than Cape Cod in July.

NeoPatrick

I think Ackislander's schedule makes a lot of sense. Less than two nights in any place hardly seems worth the effort, but two nights with little distance between stops gives you a nice amount of time for checking things out.

mariya

Thank you everybody! Decided to stay in 2 location. Last one in Naples, probably 5 nights, now can't decide should I stay in St. Peterburg, St.Pete beach, Sarasota or Siesta Key or Armand's Key. If my main reason wold be beach then it would not be question - near beach, but we don't know how the weather will be. But maybe it still very nice to be near beach? Or everything will be deserted/closed? Also how difficult is parking in Sarasota/St.Peterburg. If nothing to do on beach why keep driving back and forth to city? Deffinetly what to choose only 2 places to stay not 3.
Thank so mach in advance
Mariya