Overnight trip within 3 hours of Naples, FL?
 

I will be visiting my SIL in Naples this Nov. for a week and had originally planned to visit Orlando for the night. Now I have decided that I don't want to drive quite so far, particularly because I will have my 10 mo. old daughter with me. I'd love any suggestions for a place to take a side trip. The only stipulation is that the area has to have a Starwood property (using points) so it looks like these are my options:
Tampa/Clearwater (Sheraton Sand Key Resort or Westin Innisbrook)
Ft Lauderdale (Sheraton Yankee Clipper)
Miami (Sheraton Biscayne Bay)
Bal Harbour (Sheraton Bal Harbour)

Where would you recommend and why? I am mainly looking for warmth and relaxation (visiting from Buffalo). I'd also like to do some boutique shopping and dining on the water in a Margaritaville-style restaurant.

Thank you all!

The Sheraton Sand Key is very nice. It would be perfect for what you're looking for. There are many restaurants in the vicinity. Frenchy's comes to mind (Clearwater) based on your criteria. There aren't so many restaurants on Sand Key, which has a lot of condos but surely the hotel has a beachfront restaurant. I think that if you search this board, you'll find lots of great comments about this hotel. The Sand Key beach is one of the area's nicest.

Innisbrook is inland, golfing, woods. That's not what you're looking for.

I can't speak for the other hotels.

You may be aware that the weather in November is very undependable here. But you can usually count on it being a good 5 to 10 degrees cooler in Tampa area than in Naples.
I'd think if you want to get away for a day, to go to the Sheraton Bal Harbor, with really wonderful but pricey shopping right across the street.

Partly it depends on the drive to the hotel.

If you go up the coast to Tampa, Clearwater, you can stay by the coast.

If you go to Miami, you have a long drive through the everglades, which is either boring or interesting, depending on your perspective.

But with a baby in a car seat, I think the variety of the coast drive would be more interesting to you as you were moving.

No offense, BAK, but you need to check a map. If a person drives along the coast from Naples to Clearwater we are talking about at least a 6 to 8 hour drive, and even then you don't see much coast.

Getting to Clearwater in 3 hours at all is pretty difficult but with good luck you can just make it going up I-75 most of the way. And I defy anyone to say that drive is any less boring than either the trip across I-75 Aligator Alley or the Tamiami Trail.

If you can explain what you mean by a scenic coast drive from Naples to Tampa area, I'd like to hear about it. I've lived here 30 years and haven't found it yet. Of course, you can keep making detours off US 41 along Bonita Beach, Ft. Myers Beach, loop back through Ft. Myers, then up 41 and detour over to Englewood, etc., back again and then out along Siesta or Longboat and loop back in again. But now you're really talking a drive!

The drive across to the east coast is definitely boring, unless you love nature at 65mph...LOL.

I live in Ft. Lauderdale area and was recently visiting my SIL in St. Pete. I drove down to the Long Boat Key area and fell in love with it. Long Boat Key, itself, is mostly residences and condos; however, there were some hotels, can't remember if there were any starwood properties. The beaches were beautiful.

If the baby gets cranky in the car, you'll most likely be grateful if you decide to just head north up the coast and have a shorter drive than to the east coast.

On the south end of Long Boat Key is a beautiful little city with a wonderful area to shop & grab a bite to eat, but I can't remember the name of it...possibly someone on the west coast would know the name.

Have fun!

I looked and didn't see any Westin properties in the Longboat Key area. However, my search of locations in South Fla found a few other options:

Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood (approx. 2-1/2 hr drive max.)

Sheraton Beach Resort in Key Largo
(about a 3-1/2 hr drive)

Just thought I'd throw those out to you. Never been to either property, but I understand both are very nice. The beaches in Hollywood (south of Ft. Laud.) are very nice. Not sure if the Bal Harbour property is directly on the beach, but I know the Hollywood property is. Bal Harbour is a wonderful area for relaxing.

Difficult decision.

My vote is Sheraton Bal Harbour. The drive is only about 1 1/2 hours (did it last year from Marco to MIA).

Thanks for the input! So, I have to decide between the Sheraton Sand Key and Bal Harbour. I'll have to check out each hotel on the Starwood website and see which has more to offer. I am leaning towards the Sand Key because the beach looks so inviting. This will be my daughter's first time in the sand. Plus I can always shop in Naples.