Fort Myers Beach Area

Fort Myers Beach area is a cool beach vibe. This area was the first FL beach that I went to with my hubby when we first started dating. So there’s sweet and fluffy reminiscing for that reason. Our first trip over 10 years ago, and we stayed at the Gullwing Resort. It is on the other of the beach, the quieter side, and it was a sweet looking condo.
Fast forward over 10 years later, and it looks like Ft. Myers hasn’t changed much. It is like they haven’t done many updates, and I feel like we are on a beach set back in time. For example, the pier area and stores looks like back in the day. The parking and the surrounding buildings are unoccupied and abandoned. Kinda sad because parts of this beach are beautiful. I hope in time they do some updates to this area. I do love that there are actually beach bars right on the beach and that it is so laid back.

The Fort Meyers Beach is okay, but getting there is not fun. A bridge from the mainland — 1 lane and the main road coming in is a train wreck! So antiquated!
The retired or older people are awful drivers which also causes the backup. The shops and most all restaurants are tourist traps. Junky souvenirs and such is all the shops carry. Looks like that anything has changed over the years. The two main entries are jammed solid with people crossing with only stop signs which causes long lines of cars sitting in lines as long as an hour. Would not recommend if you have taste and don’t like those tourist trap towns.

I stayed at a hotel on the beach from December 18 – 20, 2014. The beach is good if you are into people watching. It felt like Spring Break, people everywhere. It is littered with ugly concrete buildings aka hotels. You can tell there was no thought in how the buildings relate to the surroundings.

Pretty fun. Each year, an International group of sand sculptors come to the fine, easily worked sands of Ft Myers Beach, behind the Wyndham Hotel, to create themed designs that compete for prizes. In 2014, the event stretched over the two weekends that bracket Thanksgiving Day in order to allow the public to see the works in progress. Parking at the hotel is $ 10, but very close by on Lovers Key, there is free parking in an open field, while luxury party buses run back and forth between the beach event and the parking lot in fifteen minute intervals.
There is bbq, ice cream, beer, & soft drinks sold from trucks. Vendors selling beach wraps, belly button rings, and kitschy souvenirs sell from tabletops. Another big vendor of sunglasses greets people as they arrive.

Love to crowd watch and view the various (brightly) colored buildings. The beach is amazing, especially during the sunset. Always a busy street, Estero Blvd, but worth the traffic jams — too many things to look at and remember to try the next time you want to cruise that strip!

Great spot… Love this beach & town. The North end has it’s Honky Tonk fun vibe complete with great dive bars, a big wide beach on the Gulf with the sand hard enough to ride your bike on. Shallow calm waters make this very kid friendly and a great place to swim and fish!
Volleyball, Frisbee, Football, Soccer, Horseshoes, Ball Playing, Bocce Ball, Sun Bathing, Bird Watching, Bikinis, people watching, picnics, and joggers on the sand.
Boaters, Jet Skiers, Para-​sailing, Boogie boarders, Kayakers, Stand up paddlers, and Kite surfers playing in the water.
The sunsets here can be truly amazing!
The Summer lightning can also can be quite entertaining, if you’re in a safe spot or it’s distant.
Fresh fish, shrimp and shellfish off the fishing fleet is a bonus!
The Sand Sculpting championships in November are a must see. I can’t even draw a straight line and these people are architecting beautiful sculptures made of sand, crazy cool!
It has great/​greasy decadent boardwalk style food, multiple, 7 – 11’s for your beer and Slurpee needs (not sure how they sustain 4 of them on the 8 mile long beach?), tasty restaurants, and friendly laid back people mostly transplants from the Great Midwest. When Ohio State plays Michigan it’s an event here.
The South end of the island is starting to become more upscale as the Naplesfication (Is that a word? Probably not.) that spread through Bonita Beach makes it’s way North, albeit slowly. I really like this 8 mile island stretch of beach and bay.