different parts of Naples?
 

Hi,

We're planning a trip for the 2nd week in February, for either Austin Texas or Naples (I know, completely different!)

They are both places we want to get to either now or later, and much of the decision depends on what we can find for the price as far as a vrbo rental. However, when I go to Naples on the vrbo site, there are many, many areas to choose from, and I don't know anything about any.

If we go the Naples route, we'll be looking to do lots of relaxing at beach/pool, eating hopefully on the healthy and not too expensive side, browsing independent shops and galleries, and doing a bunch of walking/jogging.

Can anyone narrow down the field of what parts of Naples we should or shouldn't stay in to most easily do these things? I was pleasantly surprised to see some options in the $150/night range in many of the areas, so we may as well choose where as much as possible is walking distance.

Thanks,
Laura

Paging Patrick! Paging Patrick!

Patrick is quite busy at the moment but he no doubt will show up to help go_laura.

Naples?

What it sounds like you are talking about (particularly the individual shops and galleries -- hundreds of them) is in downtown or Olde Naples.
This is also very close to the beach (the pier is in Olde Naples) and Fifth Ave. South and Third St. South, the two shop, gallery, and restaurant streets are both in Olde Naples.

But there aren't a lot of condos there. And some that may call themselves Olde Naples may literally be a couple miles away, I've noticed. If you don't need to be right on the beach, that's good, because those places don't exist in Naples itself which is almost all private homes along the beach.

If you want to be near the beach and fairly close to downtown, then the nest best VRBO areas are West Naples or possibly Pelican Bay. As much of the commercial area of Naples is moving north, Vanderbilt Beach area is really in the thick of things as well, sort of half way between downtown Naples and Bonita.

But if I were you I'd start with Olde Naples and see if you can find anything that appeals there. What kind of place are you looking for -- how many people and how many bedrooms. The very new Naples Bay Resort for which there are a lot of VRBO listings under Olde Naples is mainly two bedroom units. It's a nice new complex, and a short drive just east of downtown Naples (it's pushing it to call their location Olde Naples) -- I'm talking minutes only -- or maybe a 15 minute walk if you wanted to.

Naples?

What it sounds like you are talking about (particularly the individual shops and galleries -- hundreds of them) is in downtown or Olde Naples.
This is also very close to the beach (the pier is in Olde Naples) and Fifth Ave. South and Third St. South, the two shop, gallery, and restaurant streets are both in Olde Naples. If you aren't looking for golf, you might avoid many of the other areas which encompass hundreds of gated golf course communities.

But there aren't a lot of condos in Olde Naples for rent. And some that may call themselves Olde Naples may literally be a couple miles away, I've noticed. If you don't need to be right on the beach, that's good, because those places don't exist in Naples itself which is almost all private homes along the beach. The exception to that would be some of the West Naples listings including the GulfShore or Parkshore and Moorings areas. These are just a mile or two north of downtown.

If you want to be near the beach and fairly close to downtown, then the nest best VRBO areas are West Naples or possibly Pelican Bay. As much of the commercial area of Naples is moving north, Vanderbilt Beach area is really in the thick of things as well, sort of half way between downtown Naples and Bonita.

But if I were you I'd start with Olde Naples and see if you can find anything that appeals there. What kind of place are you looking for -- how many people and how many bedrooms. The very new Naples Bay Resort for which there are a lot of VRBO listings under Olde Naples is mainly two bedroom units. It's a nice new complex, and a short drive just east of downtown Naples (it's pushing it to call their location Olde Naples) -- I'm talking minutes only -- or maybe a 15 minute walk if you wanted to.

If you have any questions about any of the specific places, don't hesitate to repost. I'm in Olde Naples and walk a lot every day. I'll be happy to check out any I'm not real familiar with.

I should also mention your biggest problem is going to be finding any good place not already rented for just a couple weeks from now. February and March rentals are often reserved a year ahead. And quite a few will only do a month in February and March, but keep looking.

Thank you so much, that's just what I needed.

We are just the two of us - a one bedroom is fine, tho' of course if we found a 2br for a good price that would be great. While we'd love a place on the beach, we know that for our price range we'll likely have to sacrifice that. We are definitely *not* golfers.

A couple questions of clarification - how far are downtown and Olde Naples from each other? And does downtown also have the shops, galleries, restaurants? And would a place in West Naples be walking distance from some places to browse as well? Being walking distance to dinner, etc. is something we really like on vacation.

Thanks again!

Downtown Naples IS Olde Naples. The 6 or 7 block long Fifth Avenue South is THE restaurant row of Naples and the real center of downtown. It runs right into the beach, but the additional couple of blocks at the west end are just residential.

Starting about 7 blocks away from Fifth Avenue South is Third Street South which is also a major restaurant area and has a lot of the small boutique and exclusive shops and a ton of galleries.

Frankly, there aren't really any other areas that have much within walking distance, maybe a shop or restaurant or two. There are other little clusters of nice small "boutique" malls, but Naples really is a driving town for those.

Here's a site that shows and tells you about the "downtown" or Olde Naples areas along with some maps and directories:

http://www.naplesdowntown.com/

On VRBO, look under Olde Naples at Fifth Avenue Beach Club. This is a small older complex that was fairly recently converted to condos and there are several listings. This is one block from the beach and one block from the start of the Fifth Avenue South "entertainment" area. I'm not sure if it's as fancy as you might want -- and you might want to check what the pool situation is -- I think it says shared pool.
You couldn't beat the location for what you are describing!


Here's another individual condo listing that is just steps off the center of Fifth Avenue South, a newly remodeled smaller complex:
http://www.vrbo.com/216478

But it looks like only the third week of Feb. is open.

Lely Resort in Naples is an option. This place is huge and quite beautiful, w/ many single homes for rent. I went to www.valuevacationrentals.com We rented a 2 or 3 bdrm w/ pool for a very reasonable price. It's located about a half hour from the beaches in Naples.

ps..It was just my wife and I.. FANTASTIC!!!!!!

For more info, let me know.....

e-me at [email protected] for info

Patrick's recommendation of the 5th Avenue Beach Club is a good one. We haven't stayed there recently, but have rented condos in that building a couple of times in the past. The location is close enough that you can walk to the beach (so long as you don't drag tons of stuff with you) and you can walk to dinner. There is a small pool on the property, too. Unless things have changed, the condos were individually owned and then rented out by ResortQuest or another agent, so each condo was decorated differently. We had several family members vacationing together, so we had multiple units rented and they were all nice.

Today I stopped to visit a realtor friend sitting an open house listing (at $2.999 million) and suddenly I realized that the above mentioned Fifth Avenue Beach Club was right across the street and there was an open house sign out there (95% of everything in Naples seems to be for sale right now!). So I walked over and looked at it. This unit was formerly a hotel type unit, plus a one bedroom unit that had been put together and decorated quite nicely in tropical colors and fun style. It didn't seem like a lot for $455,000, but for a weekly rental would be great if the price was right.

The units are small, but it's a cute complex, all recently redone and all units have matching wide slat wood Plantation blinds (not shutters) on them. The units are around a court with a smallish pool. Not a lot of lounging area -- but hey the beach is less than 2 blocks away.

Betsy, I had a niece and her whole family who stayed in those units before two -- called the Sea House or Sea Shell or something like that. But the whole place has really been renovated since then.

My realtor friend mentioned that's one of only a couple condos in downtown Naples that allows one week rentals -- most do not.

Patrick, we stayed there around 2001. It was the Fifth Avenue Beach Club by then, but I think my aunt rented it through a realty company and not ResortQuest at the time. That was our first time renting property in Naples, because up until then my grandmother's side of the family had owned property down there and we always stayed in one of those houses for free. My great-grandparents had bought the property in the 30's or 40's and some the heirs forced the sale in 2000. I'm sure they spent the next few years regretting their decision, because the property was at 238 and 258 9th Ave. S. and they probably could have gotten much more for it, if they'd waited. Oh well!

Betsy, too funny. I live on 9th Ave. South -- but 7 blocks east, across the street from the bay. You're right that they could have gotten more for their property a couple years later! A WHOLE LOT MORE. Olde Naples really took off after 2000. If you haven't seen it for a while, you'd hardly recognize it. So many little "bungalows" are now replaced with mega mansions.
That $2.999 million condo I mentioned is at the Escalante, where they tore down the quaint little Beachcomber units that used to be there.