How to Maximize a Long Weekend in Fort Myers

We live in Minneapolis, and I think we tolerate winter pretty well. However, we always reach a time of the winter months where we need to see the sun again. The last few years we have gone to Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, and Clearwater mid-way through the winter, and this year the tickets to Ft. Myers happened to be fairly inexpensive.

We weren’t even sure if this trip was going to happen, since a blizzard was approaching and due the night before our flight would depart. I was talking to my mom on the phone a few days before, and kept saying that I was trying to management my expectations and assume our flight would be delayed or canceled. I didn’t want to be horribly disappointed. The day before we were supposed to leave, Collin worked from home so he wouldn’t need to drive in the snow. My commute that day took triple the time. We checked the flight schedule regularly, and it continued to say that it was departing on time.

Looking for other warm destinations? Check out my post about our trip to Puerto Rico here!

We set our alarms in the morning, fully expecting to wake up at 4AM and then find the flight was canceled. Even as we were driving to the airport we talked about what brunch place we would go to in Minneapolis if our trip ended being canceled.

Shockingly, with a fresh eight inches of snow on the ground, our flight left on time and within a few hours we were trading our boots for sandals and sitting on a patio in 80 degree weather. It’s always amazing when you can jump 70 degrees in a matter of three hours.

As we were standing in line to pick up our rental car, my husband and I were discussing what we wanted to do that day. When we got to the counter, I asked the Avis lady what her favorite beach was. Let’s jump in.

6 Best Beaches

“End of Captiva Beach”
- This is when you drive all the way through Sanibel and Captiva islands until it ends at a parking lot. This parking lot gets busy by noon and then there is no more parking and no street parking. If you are planning to go to this beach at any time, arriving early is a must.
- This beach is what you imagine– white sand, quiet, no city in sight
- We saw SO MANY dolphins playing around in the shallow water at this beach.
- Sanibel and Captiva islands are known for their seashells
Bunche Beach
- Recommended by friends. This beach is really shallow, so the water was a little warmer. It was cool to be able to wade out much further than typical beaches, with the water still only reaching your thighs.
- This is overall a very cool area. We were here when the weather was a little cooler and wading was all we wanted to do. The beach was also fairly quiet, so we brought some snacks and drinks and played cards on a blanket.
- There are inlets and mangroves in this area and you can rent kayaks (or bring your own). This is something that is on my list for next time.
Lighthouse Beach
- This beach is just on the other side of Sanibel island from Ft. Myers. It’s a very long beach, so there is plenty of space, and there is more parking available at this beach.
- Good for swimming, and not as busy as Ft. Myers beach
- This beach faces Ft. Myers though, so you see the city in the distance rather than just ocean on the horizon
- Also recommended by some local friends, and we saw a pod of dolphins swimming back and forth.
Delnor-Wiggins State Park Beach
- Unfortunately this is not a beach that we went to while we were visiting, but this one came highly recommended by friends
- This is a little further south, near Naples, Florida
- Great place to bring a picnic and watch the sunset since it faces the gulf of Mexico
Marco Island Beach
- This is another white sand beach that is great for swimming. It does not get as busy as Ft. Myers beach, but there are dozens of high-rise hotels along this beach, so it can get crowded
Ft. Myers Beach
- Very busy
- One great plus to this beach is that it is within walking distance of a lot of restaurants, hotels, and shops
- Many of these beaches on this list require a car to get to. If you are not planning on renting a car and are wanting to just stay in one spot for your whole vacation, Ft. Myers beach or Marco Island are both good options.

Eats & Drinks

My favorite day on this trip was when we woke up, ate some avocado toast at our place, and drove straight to the End of Captiva Beach. We laid out, read, napped on the beach, and waded in the water for a few hours. When we were starting to get hungry, we went to a restaurant close to that beach called Doc Ford’s. They had a nice patio, a rum bar with great rum drinks, and plenty of seafood. My heart is full when I am on a sunny patio with rum drinks and fish tacos. Seriously, there’s nothing better. Plus, Doc Ford’s has several different locations around Ft. Myers.

Doc’s Ford’s parent company also owns Dixie Fish Bar, which is one of the other highly recommended restaurants in the area. This place is beach-front dining and they regularly have live music.

Those last two recommendations have good food, but they also have great atmospheres and add to the whole dining experience. However, the best restaurant we went to while we were in Ft. Myers/Cape Coral was Meson Camagueyano Cuban Restaurant. Collin and I both adore cuban food, so we wanted to eat it as much as possible. It may not have the A+ atmosphere like Dixie’s, but the food was amazing. Recommendations: pork with red beans and yellow rice, plantains, and the cuban sandwich.

Lastly, we went to the Tuckaway Cafe for breakfast one morning near Ft. Myers Beach. This cafe has a full menu and coffee drinks. They are known for their belgium waffles and breakfast sandwiches on steamed bagels, and the even the thought of this sandwich is making my mouth water again. Right next to the Tuckaway Cafe is a biscuit restaurant, Heavenly Biscuits, that was also VERY highly recommended to us, although we did not get the chance to visit. Next time!

Big Blue Brewing- We really enjoyed the patio and drinks here. Even on a chilly night, they have fire pits and propane heaters. They have a huge selection of beers and also plenty of food options. I was completely satisfied with my pretzel with beer cheese dip, Hefeweizen and Orange is the New Blue beers. Millennial Brewing Company is another brewery that one of friends recommended.

Everglades National Park

We did take a day trip down to the Everglades, which is about two hours away from Ft. Myers. It’s closer to Miami, but we felt like the drive was worth it for the day. I envisioned us going to the Everglades and doing an airboat tour, but there are dozens of airboat tour companies. Many of these tour companies also seem sketchy and we have heard horror stories of airboat tour companies charging insane amounts of money for 10 minute rides. Additionally, there have been issues with the airboat drivers not having appropriate training or cutting corners for safety. As we drove by some of the airboat tour companies on highway 41, many of the tour companies that we passed had dilapidated buildings and “zoos.”

Bottomline: if you end up doing an airboat tour, it is important that you use one of the companies that is recommended by the National Park Service. Here is their website that lists the various companies.

Of those companies, we did a tour with Gator Park and had a great experience. The cost ended up being around $25/person (it’s cheaper if you already have a National Park Pass) and the tour lasted around 45 minutes. The tour guide/airboat operator was professional and experienced. We saw alligators and all sorts of different birds. The best part of the experience was gliding through the everglades, over grasses and shallow water on the airboat. It felt like we were flying, and there were seas of grasses for miles. Absolutely breathtaking. Everglades Safari Park was our second choice for an airboat tour. Both companies had short wildlife shows that included alligators that were saved from farms that raise alligators for their meat and skin.

Before we left the Everglades area and headed back to Ft. Myers, we did a nice hike right off of the highway. This 1-mile hike was called the Kirby Sorter Boardwalk, and it brings you right through a lovely cypress swamp and ends at a gator hole. There is still an alligator that lives there, although we did not see it as we were walking through (you’re up high on a boardwalk). The gator hole is a pond that is actually dug out by alligators to ensure a deeper water source during the drier months.

Everglades National Park is touching land that is a part of the Miccosukee Tribe’s reservation. After our airboat tour, we stopped by a Miccosukee restaurant, Glade Eats, right off of highway 41. They have some Native American food options, as well as novelties like gator bites and frog legs (we did not try those), and other salads and sandwiches. We did try their Indian taco (made with fry bread) and pan bread steak sandwich. The food was a bit underwhelming but definitely the best option in the Everglades area (your other options are just the fried food (corndogs, fries, burgers, etc.) at Coopertown Airboat tours. It has very mixed reviews on Yelp but it’s decently priced. We liked sitting on the patio that faces some of the Everglades and watching the birds dive into the water for fish.

Flights

Did I mention that we flew to and from Florida for free?! We booked flights about six weeks in advance, which seemed to be the lowest prices all-around. But then our credit card completely covered it for us (and is also covering our trip to California next month!) I wrote a post about this credit card here. This is definitely not sponsored, but if you want to check out my personal referral link, here you go: https://capital.one/31hpgqV

Book Recommendations

When I am laying out on the beach, I like to read mystery or thriller books. Last year when we were in Puerto Rico, I read The Lonely Bones in only a few beach sessions. On this trip I read The Witch Elm by Tana French and Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. I enjoyed French’s novel, but I was a bit disappointed with how it ended (quite a twist), and I will nearly always recommend and enjoy an Agatha Christie.

Collin has a very different taste in books, but on this trip he actually read a book that I previously read and really enjoyed. It’s called Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

Click here to add me on Goodreads if you’re interested in seeing more books that I am into.

Sanibel and Captiva beaches are perfect for seashell-hunting

Places to Stay

As we were planning this trip, we looked into different options: hotels, airbnbs, etc. We ended up just staying with friends in Ft. Myers. However, here are a few of our favorite Airbnbs that we came across:

New to Airbnb? Use my referral code for $40 off your first stay!