My husband is interested in going to Florida for a holiday and possibly to retire. He has gotten several recommendations from his clients for Naples. I know nothing about Florida , but read somewhere that it is all highrises and expensive restaurants.
Is this so?
Can anyone tell me more about Naples?
Would you want to live there and why? or is it just a good place to visit?
Thank you very much,
Gillian

My grandparents lived there for 15 years. They liked it. I visited them some years back for a week and was bored. I was 25 at the time. Sure, the beach is nice and we went to Marco Island and tossed food to the Pelicans, but once you do that for a few days, you get bored. No nightlife to speak of.

ttt

It will be boring if you make it boring. Any place in the world may be boring if you decide that. I know a couple of people who think that NYC, Rome and Paris are the most boring destinations.

What's wrong with reading books instead going out. It is cheaper too

Thank you for the replies. We live in a very big city, this will be a big change for us even if Naples is a bustling metropolis.
My curiosity is if Naples is just a sleepy Florida town full of retirees or is it more like a real city in the US that happens to be in Florida.
If Naples were not your cup of tea, which Florida city would be?
Thanks for your thoughts. Gillian

Naples is a smallish town, obviously, not a city such as Miami, Tampa, or Jacksonville is a city, but for many people that is perfectly fine, and in Naples case, it is much easier to accept because it is VERY upscale. It's beautiful--beautiful homes, beautiful beaches, lovely landscaping everywhere, good restaurants, great shopping (I go down from Tampa for some of their shopping), stylish clientele. It has theater and it has well to do residents who have moved there from larger cities and expect a lot.

It is not young, but not all oldsters either. It is not all high rises, in fact there are few. If you want high rises...take a drive from Lauderdale to Miami Beach. It's non-stop. That is NOT the Naples area.

I would love to live there (if we could afford it), and I grew up in New England, and lived in Boston and Dallas. For a while after moving here, I'd go back to Dallas to shop. I don't shop a lot, but when I do, I want really nice stores. Naples has it. The surroundings are beautiful. Our lifestyle is to get outside and do--sail, swim, golf, all warm weather sports, and it fits the bill. I don't require a terrific nightlife scene (Ybor City, which everyone recommends people visit in the Tampa area, is my least favorite section of our city gt;) If you want to get into a bigger city for the weekend, you can hop over to Miami in no time. The only drawback that I can see is that the summer there is probably even a bit worse than here, and that's pretty bad.

I can't imagine considering a place for retirement though if you've never visited the state. You'd certainly want to see Naples in the summer as well as winter. Reading between your lines, however, I think you have a pre-conceived notion of life in a small town...and it "ain't good". Why do you want to leave where you are? It seems to offer what you want, no adjustments required.

Olive
My husband works in the fashion industry, and wants to get away from it all! We have been to Fla, Miami/ Ft Lauderdale & Stuart. So I cannot picture what the "feel" is in Naples and the West Coast . Clients have raved about Naples, we thought that we would go for a visit then see if we wanted to live there.
I just feel a little insecure with moving to Fla, with visions of snowbirds dancing in my head*also a little troubling since we are much younger than most retirees*
Thank you so much for the description of Naples, it helped quite a lot.
Gillian

Gillian, hopefully Patrick will see your post and respond. As a resident he can give more valid feedback. I just go down to "get out of Dodge". Naples is so beautiful though, I truly would not mind living there.

I do have one recommendation that I can't make strongly enough. Do see it in the winter, yes, when weather is gorgeous, but more importantly, come back and spend a week or two in the summer. That in itself may put an end to any doubts you may have. Despite having lived in Dallas and Savannah, I find the heat in FL unbelievable. This is particularly bothersome for us as so much of what we enjoy doing entails being outside. Naples is much quieter in the summer months too, adding to the importance of your seeing it then.

My parents solution to the heat was to keep their home in the Berkshires, but rent in Bonita Beach each winter, giving them the best of both worlds. True snowbirds. The same group returned to their small complex year after year and they had a terrific time there...yet returned to their old lifestyle and friends once winter had passed. Is that an option for you?

Our hope was more to either live full time in Fla and travel a great deal or to live part time in Fla and part time in another country.
We can both continue our work wherever we go.
Thank you Olive for your time and thoughts!

Gillian

NAPLES is fabulous-- it is a little sleepy but has some of the BEST shopping on the WEST Coast--tons of neat boutiques, a nice upscale shopping center with a Saks, TERRIFIC restaurants-

It is NOT full of just retirees--there are lots of people in their 30's-50's who live there full time....

There is a HUGE European influence being mainly GERMAN and ENGLISH-- ie. so the condos there are MORE DOG FRIENDLY than on the East Coast.....

It reminds me very much of PALM BEACH on the East Coast but more laid back....

In the summer ,it definitely CAN BE boring-- as there is not much to do and only 10 movies showing at a time...

But in season, it is WONDERFUL...

I would love to live there full time but it is way way way too expensive to live on the water and to me, that is the only way to go! LOL

The beaches are to die for- all white sand................

The restaurants are more expensive than on the East Coast of Fla, and there are not a lot of "early birds"....

But there are some beautiful golf course communities where you would be able to kick back and relax.

I personally like the Activity of the BOCA to Palm Beach areas- it is never dull but the crowds can be killer in season....so if NAPLES would get a more active nite life, it would be PERFECT....

Hope this helps a little.

Thank you andy!!(is that a shoe person?)
That is great, I will pass this on to my husband and maybe we will be down that way in March.
We have had a hard time deciding if we want to be on the West Coast or not, thinking that the Atlantic Coast would be full of towns like South Beach and FtLauderdale. Are we wrong?
This board is great for chatting with people in the know! Thanks again, Gilli

I'm a 50's-something, but I have been living in Naples full time since 1977. I have seen it grow from a collection of mid-west retirees and a small selection of steak and salad-bar restaurants to a world-class destination. And no that last statement is not overdone. The advent of one of the top resorts in the world (The Ritz Carlton) along with a number of other factors have changed the face of this community drastically.

I was an integral part of getting a new 6 million dollar community theatre in the heart of the downtown, and that theatre (actually two theatres) remains not only an operating in the black facility but offers a host of other entertainment besides the community theatre schedule, including a series by the Philadelphia String Quartet, jazz artists, etc. At the same time we were building our facility, the Naples Art Association opened an equally impressive facility for display, classes, and meeting space. The Naples Philharmonic is a huge venue with a busy winter season of tours of operas, plays, concerts, and is even an additional home of the Miami Ballet company. Recently they added a world class art museum as well.

The restuarant scene is thriving in Naples, with an incredible selection of trendy, popular, both upscale and casual restaurants -- the competition is causing them to be good or go out of business.

The beach is of course spectacular, and rather unique in Florida as nearly the entire beachfront within the city proper is private homes, no high rises or hotels, but is totally accessible to the public. Residents even get a sticker for free parking at the beach.
Golf remains a huge activity, mostly at the many private clubs and the condo/homes communities built around golf courses.

More and more small businesses are locating in Naples -- and the AVERAGE age of the people strolling Fifth Avenue at night has dropped from about 60 just a few years ago to something more like 40 now.

Of course, our real estate prices have skyrocketed in the past ten years or so, but reasonable housing is still available -- obviously location is much of the price, so the further out you go, often the less expensive it becomes.

Need any more info? Email me if you want.

Thank you very much, Patrick and everybody. We have decided to come to Naples in the Spring and see for ourselves what it is like. If we love it, we will come back in the summer when it is at it's "worst".
You have given me plenty to think about!
This has been very helpful.
Gilli