My husband and I are planning a trip to this area of Florida in October and I was wondering which is the better place to stay. Beaches are a big concern, and main planned activities include kayaking, cycling, shelling, and just relaxing.

We stay on Sanibel every February (much more appealing then than New England!) For the activities you list, I think you can do them all equally well in either place.

It's a slightly longer slower drive up to Captiva, so you can hit the Sanibel beach sooner. (Also leave it more easily, because Oct. is still hurricane season and you never know...) Last February we spent some time on Captiva and were disappointed with how much the character of the island is being changed by development and Mcmansions. Anne Morrow Lindbergh sure wouldn't recognize it.

Sanibel had the wisdom to take themselves out of the jurisdiction of Lee County in the 60's, and have been able to limit some of the development pressures.

But whichever you choose, the beaches are beautiful, and easily accessible. We stay at Casa Ybel, which is right on the gulf. Our bit of heaven on earth.

If you search this site for Sanibel or Captiva, you'll find lots of postings.

Thanks for your response! My husband and I are looking for something somewhat secluded and that's why we chose Sanibel/Captiva in the first place. From what you say Sanibel seems to be the place to be.

I was thinking of Casa Ybel but were concerned that, with the large # of rooms offered, there would be too many kids/people and the beaches would be crowded. My other option was Song of the Sea which offers less rooms but still seem to have the nicities of a resort.

Do you know how these two compare?

i'm not sure what it's like in october, but the two times i've been to sanibel and captiva (once each) in spring break, they were very crowded. not secluded. traffic can be a nightmare, and that's why we chose captiva the second time, since we knew it was close to ding darling nature preserve and would not have to drive through sanibel to get to d.darling, which is at the end of sanibel close to captiva. (took us close to an hour to get there once when we were staying in sanibel, as there is only one road). we could walk to restaurants in captiva, which is also nice. however, in both places the restaurants were packed and food not that great. i think staying in a smaller resort is a good idea if you want more privacy on the beach as well.

RE Casa Ybel

My father used to take me there for lunch once a year, when he was in his early 80s.

I found it quiet and peaceful, but beautiful, and the service was excellent. He found it welcoming, and used to hosting old guys, but there was no sense at all that one age group ws more welcome than others, it was neither geezer-ville nor youngster land.

Just, all in all, a place I really liked.

In October there will not be many kids around.

If I wever win the lottery and have to hide out from relatives wanting to borrow money, Casa Ybel is going to be my hideout of choice.

BAK

I just returned from my first trip to the area. General impressions-Captiva more exclusive, and "cooler", Anible, more funky, and "warmer".
I stayed on Sanibel (Sundial-would not particularly recomend it)Captiva is smaller, more heavily treed, but only has choices of two hotels-South Sea Resorts, or Tween Waters. No bike paths on Captiva, but you can ride around South Seas Resort. Cruises leave directly from South Seas- the chartered boats turned out to be the hightlight of my trip, and I am not a "boat person" I liked the Sunset Cruise, dolphin watch, Took a day trip to Cabbage Key- Cabbage Key is super buggy bring bug spray. Has a funky restaurant and then nothing to do for an hour but wait for the boat to do. Useppa Island looked more interesting. I am getting off track-

Sanibel has more place stay and eat, and has bike paths, but also more touristy- but in a nice kind of way. Casa Ybel looked very pretty, nice beach and pool, spread out, enough grounds for privacy. The other resort you mentioned also looked nice_ Seaside Inn also on beach I beleive. Tarpon Bay off Ding Darling reserve also has guided naturalist canoe tours and you can rent your own canoe there. Anyway, have a good trip-overall I would recomend the area...you can't go too wrong staying in either place.

We've stayed at Casa Ybel twice, and neither time was the beach in the least bit crowded. As a previous poster said, the resort is spread out so they have a long stretch of beach. The units are condos and both times we've stayed we were in the last or next to last units. It was VERY quiet. Nothing fancy about the place, but who needs fancy in Sanibel? All units face the beach, they are clean, FL casual furnishings, with large screened porches for each unit. Perfect for our needs. Although there were families there, it certainly wasn't an overwhelming number and far from crowded anywhere. Go for it!

Stayed at Song-of-the-Sea, visited Casa YBel. Both are good choices, thought Casa looked very nice. But, having stayed at Song-of-Sea can HIGHLY recommend it. I thought it was absolutely lovely, great "included" breakfast, quaint, and it was recommended to me by a man who described it as "cute as a button." He's right on. About the beaches being crowded - what I noticed is that there seemed to be a steady stream of people cruising the beach continuously, shelling, or just walking, especially in the morning. It wasn't really bothersome nor did it feel "crowded." We were there in early March before Spring breaks.

We also ate some excellent food at numerous restaurants on Sanibel, and some just "OK" meals. You can get great food there, don't worry.

We loved Sanibel. I had never been to Florida before we vacationed there, but had been to the Caribbean numerous times, so I expected to be disappointed. However, I found Sanibel to be very Caribbean, I loved it, and would return there in a heartbeat!

I live in Fort Lauderdale and recently went to Sanibel for a couple days. I can recommend a very good restaurant on Sanibel, The Seafood Factory. The food was delicious and the people who work there are great! The manager loved our antics. We started out having a few drinks before heading to dinner and laughed all the way through dinner and hung out in the bar afterwards having fun with the staff, owners and patrons. Very nice people!

We drove to the end of Captiva and loved the drive. The beaches looked absolutely beautiful! If you can afford it, stay on Captiva.

As the previous post said, please remember it will still be hurricane season, so keep posted on the weather. There is only one road out, and it's only two lanes. If there is an evacuation, don't waste any time leaving to get on the mainland. I don't mean to scare you, but better safe than sorry.