2 Best Hotels in Gasparilla Island (Boca Grande), The Lower Gulf Coast

Once known as Uncle Henry's, this marina-lodging-shopping complex north of downtown Boca Grande has Tommy Bahama furnishings decorating its rooms and two-bedroom suites. A stylish waterside bistro, casual bar and grill, swimming pool, and shops make up for the resort's distance from town.

Built in the early 1900s and once the playground of the Vanderbilts, DuPonts, and other elites, this gracious, pale-yellow hotel and its expansive grounds and facilities (croquet lawn, tennis courts, golf course, beach club with a 10-room spa) take up considerable space in the town of Boca Grande. Lodge rooms and suites, beach cottages, and villas and guest houses are decorated to suit the inn's Victorian air, with pastel color schemes and coastal-style furnishings. A variety of packages and meal plans are offered. In winter, gentlemen must wear a jacket in the main dining room.