Tip from Florida native

[Reereef]

looked at the pictures…it looks stunning. I might have to factor this into our next trip!

[DebsMK]

Louli it takes about 2.15 hours to drive between Anna Maria and Sanibel, maybe more if you hit traffic. I think virtually all the beaches from Anna Maria down to Naples we have visited are amazing.

[Guest]

Hi everyone

A great big thanks to all of you who have kept contributing to this thread - it is very much appreciated.

We will be doing less parks this year to try and see more of Florida

It's great to be able to ask questions here and be confident lots of people will share great info and opinions thereby reducing the pitfalls and mistakes that could be made otherwise

[Guest]

The Gulf coast is lovely. We like the Longboat Key area - great beaches.

[Guest]

Another great area to consider is the Cape Haze peninsular, there are beautiful beaches and no high rise .
There are three of us on the Dibb with villas in Rotonda West which is a quiet residential area; it is an easy drive to the beaches and local restaurants.

It takes about an hour to drive to Sanibel, depending on the season and traffic.

We too have the shell stoop walk, I am addicted to hunting for shark's teeth and the beauty of this little known stretch of coastline.

There are also some guides to the area which have lots of great information.

Rotonda Girl

[Guest]

St. Augustine is a beautiful unspoiled city. The "real" Florida. Checkout their facebook page. facebook/officialstaugustine

[Lola]

We have been to Sanibel and Captiva a number of times and these islands are our favourite Florida places. Anna Maria also gets a big plus from us. I know a lot of people like St Augustine but it left us cold as it is too touristy for our liking - not over much but we felt that was our impression

[Guest]

We went to Sanibel and Captiva expecting it to be lovely and sub tropical and we were disappointed. I think perhaps we just didn't see the best of it, we had a long drive to get there in hot and humid weather, we were in a nose to tail car queue along to a crowded car park and there were condos on the beach, murky looking water, lots of sand flies and no shells. Maybe it was our expectations because of some of the places we've already been to?

[snowbelle]

We are having our first trip to St Augustine next month and have decided to stay a couple of days after reading such good reports on here.
We are also having a couple of days in Savannah as I have always wanted to visit there and it's not really that much further.
Then spending six days in Orlando.

[Guest]

Sanibel and Captiva are beautiful Islands for relaxing and taking it easy. The best way around the Island is on push bike. The Ding Darling nature reserve and boat tour are well worth a visit.