Fort Myers - any tips + somewhere to stop on the drive down from Orlando

[xrae83]

Thanks for all the super helpful replies folks! Don't know what I'd do without my fellow Dibbers! 😂

[scooby99]

A good stop halfway between Orlando & FMB could be the University Town Centre mall at Sarasota, a nice new mall with great restaurants & can be seen from the I75.

[f1girly]

Originally Posted by mick

If any of your party is interested in science and technology history this is a good place to spend a few hours. A bit inland from FMB.

edisonfordwinterestates/

It's a few years since we were at FMB so I would hesitate to recommend restaurants in case they've changed but there were a few very nice ones right on the beach with lovely sunset views over dinner.

Mick

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This is a must I'd say, we thought we'd be there an hour, but even with a 17 + 20 yr old we toured it all and were kept interested for 3hrs!

[ChrisS]

Depending on when, and where, you are in SW Fla, Cape Coral has a water park, Sunsplash. sunsplashwaterpark/

It's a lovely area and you'll have a smashing time. Plenty of beaches, watersports, fishing. Naples is a nice place to check out too - excellent soft white beach and long pier - naplesdowntown/naples-pier.htm
Naples conservancy - conservancy/
Tin City in Naples - tin-city/
Corkscrew Swamp - corkscrew.audubon/
Ding Darling on Sanibel (closed Fridays) dingdarlingsociety/
Edison Ford Estate in Fort Myers - edisonfordwinterestates/
Boat trips/dolphin watching/sunset cruises; from Captiva to Cabbage Key - captivacruises/
Casino Big M boat from Fort Myers Beach - bigmcasino/fort-myers-beach/
Everglades City Ranger boat tours - nps.gov/ever/planyourvisi...ided-tours.htm
Babcock Ranch, on SR31 between Fort Myers and Arcadia - babcockwilderness/#!home/mainPage
Octagon wildlife sanctuary, just off SR31 between Fort Myers & Punta Gorda; Lauri Caron is an incredible lady who provides home to a multitude of animals, from exotic tigers, a rare black leopard, lions, ligers, bears, wolves to donkeys, goats, chickens, ducks, racoons, gators et al - check out the website video. The citizens/local big & small businesses donate food, supplies, manpower to keep them all fed. All volunteers happily donate their time, some for 10 plus years, ensuring the majority of monies collected cares for the animals. Open Sat & Sun and by appointment Mon to Fri - octagonwildlife/
Fort Myers tourist website - fortmyers-sanibel/?gc...FdY8gQodTo8ACA
Visit Florida website - visitflorida/en-us/ci...ort-myers.html
Muscle Car City, Punta Gorda - musclecarcity/
Shopping anyone? Miramar Outlets with over 140 top designer outlet stores - miromaroutlets-px.smrtlnk/
Sanibel Outlets - sanibeloutlets/

If you like music then the top SW Fla band is Deb & the Dynamics - and boy they are really good. Take a look at their schedule - debandthedynamics/bandschedule.html
We winter on Pine Island and see them at Berts Bar on Matlacha Thursday nights but like to head for Doc Fords on a Sunday (under Fort Myers Beach Bridge docfordsfortmyersbeach/) as they play outdoors from 1 to 4pm - or on a Friday night 6 to 9pm at Pinchers @ Wyndham Hotel where they play on Estero beach. Extremely professional band, Deb sings like Janis Joplin, take a peek here - - the sax players wander into the audience when playing - there's no charge to these venues, eat, drink or drink, don't eat, nobody cares, just go, watch this excellent band and have a good time

[CuriousAlice]

We are staying on Captiva at the moment. It is very pretty (much greener than we expected) and well worth a visit even if just to be amazed at the celebrity style properties here. The water is a beautiful colour with loads of shells on the beaches. There are apparently lots of dolphins and manatees harbour side so hoping to see them before we leave. Plenty of cruises from here too.

We stopped off at Fort Myers on the way up from Naples and can totally recommend the Edison Ford estate if you are at all interested in history. The tour guides loved teasing us about the swan/edison rivalry when they realised we are british. I did actually learn a few things too so that was a bonus.

[lesmcguffog]

Just fount his free lonely planet book


http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=272927#{"issue_id":272927,"page":0}


On this site

fortmyers-sanibel/di...ies/fort-myers

[xrae83]

Amazing! Thanks so much for all the replies! x

[Sara_toga]

Originally Posted by lesmcguffog

Just fount his free lonely planet book


http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=272927#{"issue_id":272927,"page":0}


On this site

fortmyers-sanibel/di...ies/fort-myers

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Thank you I have just ordered it. We were there last year and going back in May

[nick.66]

Try Babcock Wilderness adventure. It's about an hour out of Ft Myers we went last year great for wildlife lots of gators.

[FloRidaLvr]

A great place to eat is Coconut Jack's Waterfront Grille , further down from FMB at Bonita Beach. It is bayside but have seen dolphins swimming in the bay , great food and service too .