Fort Myers

Fort Myers itself sits on the Caloosahatchee River, and its beaches lie on the barrier islands to the south-west, about half an hour to 45 minutes by car. Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island is the busy one, a long, wide strip of fine pale sand with gentle, shallow water and beach bars behind it. Lovers Key and Bonita Beach are quieter. Sanibel and Captiva, across the causeway, are famous for shelling, and people walk the tideline at dawn bent over in the posture locals call the Sanibel stoop.

The Gulf is calm and easy for weak swimmers and children. It reaches about 30°C in summer, when afternoon storms are common. In winter, when most visitors come, it drops to about 20°C, cool but still swimmable on sunny days. Seaweed and algae blooms sometimes spoil the water for a while.

Eating here means Gulf seafood in a casual setting: grouper sandwiches, peel-and-eat shrimp, stone crab claws in season, and fish tacos at waterfront places with a deck over the water and a view of the sunset. The downtown River District has a small cluster of independent restaurants and craft breweries. Further out, much of the area is chain dining along the highways. Some good cooking can be found, especially around Sanibel and towards Naples, but there is no food culture of its own here, and serious eaters will find the range narrow.

The main sight is the Edison and Ford Winter Estates on McGregor Boulevard. Thomas Edison's and Henry Ford's riverside winter homes, laboratory and botanical gardens make a rewarding half day. McGregor Boulevard itself is lined with royal palms. The downtown River District keeps a few streets of early twentieth-century brick buildings, and there are small museums of local history and science. Beyond that the city is largely modern and spread out, and most visitors cover its sights in a day.

Evenings here are low-key. Downtown's River District has a handful of pubs, rooftop and cocktail bars and a monthly art walk that brings the streets to life. Over on Fort Myers Beach, the area around the pier is the liveliest spot, with beach bars, sunset crowds and spring-break energy in March. Clubs are few, the crowd is older for much of the winter season, and most places wind down well before the small hours.

The landscape is flat, made of mangroves, cypress swamp, pine flatwoods and shallow bays. Its strength is wildlife. The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel is one of the best places in the country to see wading birds such as roseate spoonbills, herons and ibis, from a drive-through loop or by kayak. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, about 45 minutes away, has a long boardwalk through old-growth bald cypress. Closer in, the Six Mile Cypress Slough has a boardwalk of its own.

Paddling is the main activity, along the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway and the Estero River. Dolphin-spotting boat trips run in the bays, and in winter manatees gather in the warm water near the power plant on the Orange River. Winter is the season to be outdoors. Summer brings heat, humidity and mosquitoes.

Naples is under an hour south, with a smart old town, a historic pier and long, manicured streets. Sanibel and Captiva work as a day of island villages, shops and lunch by the water, and the old railroad town of Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island is a quieter version of the same. Koreshan State Park keeps the settlement buildings of a nineteenth-century utopian sect. Punta Gorda has a small, pleasant harbour front.

Sarasota, about an hour and a half north, is the strongest cultural outing, with the Ringling art museum and the Venetian Gothic Ca' d'Zan mansion. Everglades City, the gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands, is a similar drive to the south-east. Every trip on the list needs a car.

This is an easy place for a beach vacation with young children. The Gulf is shallow and calm, without heavy surf, and hunting for shells on Sanibel keeps children busy for hours. Spotting dolphins and manatees, and a gentle kayak through the mangroves, add some adventure. In town, a hands-on science centre and the long-running Shell Factory, with its animal park, fill a rainy afternoon. In March, spring-training baseball games are a relaxed family outing.

There is no big theme park, zoo or aquarium. Orlando's parks are about three hours away. Condos and resorts with pools are easy to find, but every outing means the car, and summer heat and afternoon storms limit time outside.

A car is essential. The city, the beaches, Sanibel and the nature reserves are spread across a wide, low-density county joined by highways, and local buses are too sparse to rely on. Downtown's River District is pleasant to walk, and a trolley runs along Fort Myers Beach, but neither gets you far. In the winter season, traffic over the bridges to the beaches and to Sanibel backs up badly, so leave early.

Shopping is mainly the American suburban kind: large open-air centres and an outlet mall along the highway towards Estero, where the prices are what draw people. Sanibel's Periwinkle Way and the villages on Captiva have gift shops, galleries and shell shops worth a browse. The downtown River District adds a few independent stores. There is no fashion district or market culture, and few visitors make shopping part of the plan.

Costs depend heavily on season and location. In the winter high season, from about January to April, beachfront hotels and condos on Fort Myers Beach and especially Sanibel are expensive and book up early. Staying in town or near the interstate is much cheaper, and summer rates drop sharply. Eating out costs what it does elsewhere in the United States, with tips on top. A rental car is effectively a fixed extra, and some beach parking and the Sanibel causeway charge fees. Nature reserves and beaches cost little.

There is a reliable winter season if you look for it. The Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall hosts touring Broadway musicals and big-name shows. A professional repertory company performs in a restored 1908 theatre downtown, and a regional symphony orchestra gives concerts through the season. Outside that, live music means bands in beach bars and downtown pubs. In summer the programme largely stops.

The pace is unhurried, especially on Sanibel and Captiva, where low buildings, bike paths and early nights set the mood. Spas, however, are almost all inside resort hotels, and there is no thermal, hammam or public bathing tradition. Relaxing here means a quiet condo, a pool, a massage at the resort and long walks along the water. People do not come here for the spas.