We are looking to do a few days in Naples Fl this spring. I am struggling to figure out where to stay. I don’t want to spend a fortune at one of the high end resorts and the chain hotels seem really dull. I am leery of the non-chain hotels labelled as resorts (I guess I have seen too many episodes of Hotel Impossible). Any suggestions? Must be a hotel (not an AirBnB).
I haven’t stayed here yet, but we will be at a wedding in Naples in April and the couple have booked blocks of rooms here for out of town guests: https://www.innatpelicanbay.com/
The bride (and her mom) are pretty picky about this kind of thing and I think it looks good online, so you might want to check it out.
My mom lived her last 25+ in SW FL (Bonita Springs and Naples) so I have been there countless times though usually not in a hotel. Have you been to the area before? Are you looking for a beach vacation or the the shopping/restaurant downtown Naples area? There are so many hotels in the area so I can understand wanting some feedback. Be aware that the spring is so horrible from a traffic standpoint that staying close to where you plan to spend most of your time may be more expensive but you won’t spend hours in a car. It used to take 15-20 minutes to get from Bonita Springs to downtown Naples. It can easily take an hour now during high season.
We are visiting friends who live there. Will be checking out both beach and shopping/eating, maybe throw in a spring training baseball game (depends upon when we pick to go)
I have family in Naples - we go twice a year. It is beautiful, but @tidemeover is correct that it is crazy crowded! We stayed at the Best Western per a recommendation once - this was before family bought homes. It is a family owned location and it was wonderful - clean, nice pool and hot tub, breakfast outside, close to everything and reasonably priced. Check out the reviews on TripAdvisor.
Also, plan to book very soon - everything fills up fast.
Spring training time is super busy. Another voice saying to book ASAP. (We stay with family so no advice on hotels).
Not to hijack, but we were considering a FL vacation in this area this winter and have found almost no flights or airbnbs left. If we went in early or mid-April instead, would it be less crowded?
My parents lived in Bonita Springs for over 20 years and my dad now lives in Naples. We just recently stayed in the Hilton Naples on US 41 for Christmas and enjoyed it. We, also, didn’t want to spend outrageous money for oceanfront beach resorts. The Hilton Naples has a nice pool and hot tub area, a very nice hotel lobby, really comfortable beds, and free bikes for you to ride around the neighborhood. The hotel is about a 4-5 block walk to the Naples Grande (a beachfront resort) and we rode our bikes to the beach area and down to Ben and Jerry’s at Venetian Bay. The hotel is within walking distance to many restaurants and shops.
Since we are visiting friends and don’t work we are completely flexible with dates. But we want to go when it is cold up here in the northeast and warm (not ridiculously hot) down in Florida. February is busy with spring training, March is college spring break, and April is Easter and HS spring break? When is the best time to go?
A lot of my snowbird friends come back April 1 traditionally
But I would think that the last 2 weeks of April would be the least crowded. After Easter.
We once went to Fort Myers in March with my il’s. No one wanted to go anywhere because of the traffic. It was nice because we were relaxing anyways but still.
@taverngirl this is who we rented from. Stayed in a high rise on the south end of Fort Myers.
@kiddie - Naples doesn’t get a lot of college spring break activity- if any. I’d avoid Easter when younger kids are out of school - we were there for that a few times and that’s when it’s really crazy. So really all of March and beginning of April.
My H is a long-time Red Sox fan and we have gone to Spring training games in Ft Myers many times. We have stayed with friends who had a house at Ft Myers Beach. We also stayed at a golf resort in Naples. It’s a good distance from Naples to Ft Myers, especially if your going to games several days in a row. There are definitely are more opportunities for restaurants/shopping in Naples than Ft Myers.
We just returned from Naples Wednesday evening. It was lovely!
We have a condo a 5 minute walk from Vanderbilt Beach on the bay, so I am familiar with the previously mentioned Inn at Pelican Bay. Looks very nice! It is in a busy commercial area and is very close to some restaurants. If you are visiting friends, can they make a recommendation close to where they are located?
Beware: there is heavy traffic everywhere in “season.” You may wish to locate close to whatever you plan to spend your time doing - tennis? golf? We love being a brief walk to the beach, with no stress about parking. Enjoy your visit!
We are visiting friends who run some airbnb locations and we do not want to stay at one of their places (and make them lose out on income for those days). They have already said they will put us up and my plan is to book a hotel instead and spring it on them after. So, no I can’t ask their advice.
I just noticed I didn’t put who we rented from in Fort Myers Beach
https://www.knvinc.com/vacation-rentals/results/?clear
For @taverngirl
@kiddie if you go later in the season, your friends might have rentals that are empty during that timeframe so they wouldn’t be losing income.
I have a relative with a short term rental and there is very little activity during shoulder seasons. But in a different part of the country. But there are times, the house is never rented.
Maybe your preference is to stay in a hotel.
As I said, when visiting I would stay with my mom until she needed full time care. I never stayed at any of the beach resorts but have stayed at the Lemon Tree Inn (old Florida kitschy which my sister loved) which was walking distance to all the stores and restaurants in old Naples. Also, we have stayed at the Hyatt House which was very nice. We got a great rate as they had only opened the week before. Beautiful outdoor spaces. After she died and I had to go back and deal with stuff, we stayed at a Hyatt Place in Estero at Coconut Point as her lawyers etc were in North Naples and Bonita Springs. Though walking to restaurants and shopping was nice, it felt like staying in a strip mall. For a vacation, I wouldn’t want to stay anywhere on 41.
We booked at the Naples Bay Resort and Marina - the lazy river and waterfall pool hooked me.