Vacationers to Fort Myers and Naples Florida along the beautiful southwest coast like to spend their time enjoying swimming, sunning, and shelling.

Fort Myers Florida

Fort Myers is a scenic city nestled along the shoreline of the Caloosahatchee River. The city has become an energetic blend of young and old, with a median age of 32. Extensive renovation of the historic downtown waterfront is undergoing extensive renovation, with new restaurants, nightclubs, apartments, and artistic venues, and cultural events overlooking the river at Centennial Park and the Fort Myers Yacht Basin.

With more than 2,000 royal palms on McGregor Boulevard alone, Fort Myers is known as the “City of Palms,” a tradition started by plantings of Thomas Edison. Edison’s 14-acre Winter Home estate includes the famous inventor’s laboratory, botanical gardens (rubber plants were particularly important to him), and a museum. Next door is the Winter Residence of Edison’s friend and colleague Henry Ford. Legend has it the V-8 engine was dreamed up here. The two homes offer a combined Holiday House festival of lights over the holidays.

In nearby Cape Coral, you can cool off with the kids at the Sun Splash Family Waterpark, featuring more than a dozen slides, pools, and tubes. Northeast of Fort Myers, you can try a swamp-buggy ride at the Crecent B Ranch Babcock Wilderness Adventures.

Naples Florida

Just down the coast, the upscale town of Naples claims the world’s most golf courses per capita, and features chic boutiques in tree-lined 3rd Street South shopping area.

For a free glimpse into Florida history, you’ll enjoy the Collier County Museum with its recreations of a 19th century swamp trading post and Seminole chikee hut. And only the hardest of hearts could resist a visit to the Teddy Bear Museum.

Canoe or kayak along the mangroves of the Gordon River at the 14-acre Naples Nature Center, featuring a tidal lagoon, aviary, a wildlife rehabilitation clinic, a natural-history museum, serpentarium, and a sea-turtle aquarium.

Interactive exhibits of panthers, tigers, monkeys, and alligators are featured at the nationally accredited 52-acre Caribbean Gardens: The Zoo in Naples. About 30 miles northeast of Naples, the National Audubon Society manages the 11,000-acre Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, which protects North America's largest remaining stand of ancient bald cypress, endangered birds like the wood storks, alligators, and otters.

Beaches in Fort Myers include adore Lovers Key State Park, and the pristine white sands of Clam Pass Recreation Area.

Sanibel/Captiva Islands

Just west of Fort Myers, you’ll find the resort islands of Sanibel and Captiva. Famous for its shells, Captiva’s Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum displays of more than a million shells from around the world. You might spot roseate spoonbills, egrets, or ospreys at the 6,000-acre J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Best beaches include Old Lighthouse Beach and Gulfside Park. You can also make day trips by boat to Cabbage Key or Gasparilla Island.