Sanibel Island vs. Key West
 

Which destination would you prefer between the two? I also wanted to know how far is Sanibel Island from Ft.Myers airport? How long would the drive be? We are in our 30's and like nice beaches, good dining (nothing 5 star) shopping. They both seem like nice places. Also, which would be less expensive (big factor).

There are no natural beaches on Key West, it is a coral island. Some expensive hotels have trucked-in-sand from which they created little, man-made,fake beaches.

Sanibel is a 30 minute drive from Ft. Myers airport. You can find the full range of accomodations and prices, depending on the season...You will find everything you need as far as the beaches and food as well as boutique shopping on sanibel, captiva and Ft. Myers beach... You can also take a day trip from Ft. Myers to Key West for about $120 round trip... the cheapest option would be to stay on Ft. Myers beach and drive the 10 minutes to Sanibel... the beach is white sand, soft and not overly crowded away from the pier... have fun!

Is Ft.Myers really nice? What activities do they have to offer?

Ft. Myers is not really a tourist destination. You would want to stay at Sanibel if you wanted to stay in that area.

Which do I prefer - Sanibel or Key West? Definitely Sanibel. There's so much to do - the gorgeous beach, shelling (some of the best in the world), wildlife viewing in Ding Darling and in San-Cap Conservation Foundation's hiking trails, kayaking and canoeing, chartered boat cruises for shelling or dolphin viewing, wonderful restaurants, fishing, interesting shopping, neat places like the Shell Museum and CROW (wildlife restoration center), and then there's that wonderful beach again. There are lots of Gulf-front places to stay at, nothing beats getting up in the morning and taking a few steps to the Gulf.

However, some people prefer Key West to Sanibel - it's all about what you like best. Key West is more funky, wild, with a more active nightlife. There's really no beach to speak of, and not really much in the way of wildlife or fishing. But there are neat museums and places to visit. I haven't been there in a while but do a search on this board under Florida for "Key West" and you'll see the opinions.

Got back today from spending a week in Sanibel...loved every minute of it. I went with my husband/3 kids. Stayed at the Blind Pass Condominiums. Someone here recommended it...great property. Quiet..and definetly for kids/family. Sanibel/Captiva has a tropical feel to it. I liked our end of Sanibel. I saw the Sundial, San Yrbel etc...they are located in a commercial area..lots of cement and hardly any trees. Granted the beaches are nice, but I really did enjoy the quietness of our end of the island. The airport was about one hour away via car to our end of Sanibel..maybe 15 minutes further to South Seas Resort on Captiva. I saw lots of funky shopping and eating places on both islands. YOu can also travel via boat from Sanibel to Key West..a 3 hour tour (!) each way. Less expensive? ..I've not been to Key West. But I can tell you Sanibel/Captiva you can't get away for less than $10 for lunch..and $30 for dinner..not including drinks. If it were me with my girlfriends..I would also recommend Tween Waters Inn on Captiva or the South Seas Resort on Captiva. You can walk to the beach and walk to shopping. Also a trolly takes you around free of charge if you stay at the South Seas.
If you are going with family/kids I'd highly recommend Blind Pass on Sanibel. Have fun!

Another vote for Sanibel over Key West. I personally didn't like Key West at all- seemed like a big tourist trap, too crowded, too contrived, etc. I know there are a lot of people that disagree, but I am just not the partying drinking person and just dont get the appeal. Key West is also expensive.
The beaches in Sanibel are great. There is a small outlet mall in Sanibel and a large outlet mall in Miromar which is about a 45 min drive from Sanibel area. Ft. Myers has decent restaurants, all the big chain restaurants if that is your thing, and several good seafood restaurants. You can stay over the Sanibel causeway in Ft. Myers (look for hotels on Summerlin rd) and pay about 1/2 of what you would on the island and have a 10 min. drive to Sanibel + a $3.00 one way toll. This is what I usually do and save big. The hotels aren't that great but decent enough (3stars- Best Western, Country Inn, Hampton Inn).
And if you must, there is a ferry that goes from Ft. Myers to Key West. You can even stay overnight if you want. But once you see Sanibel, you are probably going to dig your toes in the sand and forget all about Key West.

About those who stay across the causeway instead of on Sanibel, I'm wondering about what kinds of rates you get. If you go in the winter, it seems like the 30-minute or more traffic-filled ride across the causeway would be enough to discourage that. In the off seasons, the rates are low enough on Sanibel, I'm not sure why one would want to pass up being directly on the Gulf. For example, a while back someone had posted about a whole house you could rent on Captiva for around $800 in the summer. (It was from royalshell.com or a place like that.) I'm just wondering how extensively you had checked the rates on Sanibel - not just the big ones like Casa Ybel and Sundial (both too expensive for me) but some of the smaller places and owner-rented places. You may indeed have done this and found it much cheaper - I'm not saying you didn't - I'm just wondering. Specifically, what rates do you get across the causeway that make it such a good deal?

Sanibel sounds like the place for us. Any good hotel recommendations?

My favorite place to stay is a total secret: Forty-Fifteen. They are directly on the Gulf and you can get a cottage for $800 or less a week in the off-season. The website is www.fortyfifteen.com Other places I've heard good things about: Ocean's Reach, West Wind Inn, Shalimar, Casa Ybel.... There are a lot of great places. One of the best places to look is http://www.bestofsanibelcaptiva.com/...ns/index.shtml -- it's a great website that lets you look by location, by ownership (individual owners versus resorts, etc.).

There aren't many places on Sanibel that I've heard bad things about. One is Kona Kona (?), Song of the Sea (which gets both great reviews and terrible ones on tripadvisor.com), and Sundial (only for having a ton of kids who fill up the pool).

I had a great trip once where we spent a week on Sanibel and then drove down to the Keys. But we didn't stay on Key West, we stayed on Marathon Key and did a day trip to Key West. It was a really good vacation. The drive from Sanibel to the Keys through the Everglades (alligator alley) is quite fascinating, and driving over that 7 mile bridge is beautiful! (That's the name of the bridge, isn't it?) Take a long trip and see both places. Other respondents were correct in pointing out the tacky commerciality of Key West, but the quality of water is much different than Sanibel- bluer and clearer. I'ts the Carribean after all. . Still, you really can't go wrong w/ Sanibel.