My husband and I have been planning our last getaway before our first baby arrives (in July) and have FINALLY decided on somewhere in the Naples/Sanibel area.

We'll be traveling in the second week of May.

We want to be right on the beach. We will be renting a car but would like easy access to restaurants, some boutiques for shopping, and my husband wants an area with good biking (no way I'm getting on a bike in my 7th month!).

We definitely don't want a place with lots of high rises and car noise (like South Beach). Relaxation is very important!!

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on
Marco island
Captiva
Sanibel
Naples

We're looking to spend between $125 and $175/night on the hotel, but want someplace that's clean and renovated!! And being on the beach is key!!

Thanks for your input!

Sanibel is quiet and has a few restaurants. But you might get bored and want to see somewhere else.
Captiva can be more boring, it is just at the tip of Sanibel. Fishing and shell gathering are the main activities there, aside from tennis, which you might not want to be doing ~
I was bored on Marco Is..and there are mostly high rise hotels.
I guess I would go for Naples, although I haven't been there in ages.
At least you know you will get a good hotel and restaurants and definitely good shopping!
Congratulations!

Look at the Edgewater Beach Resort right in Naples, right on the beach. They have some rooms from $139, but the best deal is a gulf-front one bedroom suite with balcony for $199. I entered May 7 to 14 at random and found that (it is a Discover Naples rate).
Your husband can bicycle for miles along Gulf Shore Blvd. and Gordon Avenue. You're a short jaunt from great restaurants on Fifth Avenue and Third Street, and you can shop till you drop (or go broke, first). If you follow the beach to the south, other than a few condos in the immediate area and then the large Beach Club Resort, you can wilk a couple miles on the beach with nothing but private homes. And May will be relatively quiet traffic-wise in Naples.

See www.edgewaternaples.com

Good editing. If you don't feel like "wilking" you might want to walk the beach instead.

By the way on May 2 (Sunday) is the big Taste of Collier street event. And on Saturday, May 8 is the Great Dock Canoe Race -- two of the biggest events in Naples all year. Thursday the 13th is a monthly Evening on Fifth, with street entertainment and lots of activity in the bars and restaurants on Fifth Avenue. And there is a big art and crafts festival on Mother's Day weekend -- the 14th through the 16th.

I agree with Patrick, I'd opt for Naples, especially if you want to shop. I'm originally from that area and visit family often. The Naples Art Museum is worth a short visit; it has 2 or 3 pieces by glass artist Dale Chihuly on display. There is a nice outlet shopping mall with a variety of shops, boutiques galore, and the usual enclosed mall. Have fun!

Sanibel is the best for biking. You won't have the traffic and congestion of Naples. Plenty of restaurants but not a lot of shopping like in Naples.

It's hard to escape condos -- Captiva is the only one of all four that is high-rise free. Good place to take your shoes off and relax. Read a book. Do boring stuff, be island people. If you want to be right on the beach in Captiva you would either need to rent a house or stay at one of the resorts. Not too many hotels other than Tween Waters Inn, which is a conglomerate of buildings, some cottages, with a marina and pool complex.

I'd try the arts and crafts shoe in Naples that Patrick mentioned -- there are some really fabulous landscape artists in the area.

No highrises on either Sanibel or Captiva. Captiva is much smaller island and more exclusive. I think you might find just what you are looking for on Captiva on Andy Rosse Lane. Lots of cute rental bungalows, several restaurants on the street, the beach is right there and there is even some shopping about a block away at the little area for South Seas. I have bought clothes for work at a couple of the boutiques in this area and there are art galleries etc. What is best is there is not a stop light, no chain stores or restaurants. Both islands are Gap and McDonald's free.

Height restrictions prevent anything higher than 3 stories on either island. No neon is allowed and all signage can not exceed 10 feet. Makes for a really different feel on both islands. Sanibel buys land that comes up for sale and turns it into preserves with development forbidden, a good idea given the density of the island.

http://www.captivaislandinn.com/

LMF

LMF, I thought there were high-rise condos on the gulf side of Sanibel in one area. Is it possible these were grand-fathered in before the height restrictions? I know it's truly possible that I am remembering this wrong. Last time I was there we bicycled in the commercial district and I thought there had been some highrises along the gulf.

Tandoori girl: No highrises have ever been allowed. There are none and will be none. It is in the city charter, not the building code. This is my business, so I had better know.

You are remembering the highrises just before you cross the bridge and causeway. Right now there is a highrise boom in Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach. There will also be many along the river in Cape Coral but Pine Island, Captiva, Upper Captive and Sanibel have laws in place to prohibit this development. LMF

Thanks for setting me straight. Too bad more communities don't have these restrictions. But then I guess some people like high-rises, or else why would there be so many.

Thanks, all, for your replies. We're leaning towards Naples - seems like there might be a bit more to do. Guessing that we can take day trips to some of the islands as well?

Patrick - info on the events and festivals in Naples is great -- right up our alley. Think we'll end up there the week of May 9-15. Really appreciate it! Oh, and we're always up for a good "wilk".