Sanibel island

[NinjaClash]

Anyone with recent experience of Sanibel island? We're doing an Orlando trip and want to go somewhere for a week afterwards, and someone mentioned Sanibel on another thread - it sounds lovely and Casa Ybel looks gorgeous (though pricey) but the recent reviews are mixed.

If not there, is there anywhere else on the Gulf Coast that's not too built up/full of high rise hotels?

We have an only child, DS who's 9, so also really want to be somewhere where he could hopefully make friends fairly easily.

TIA if anyone can help!

I haven't been personally, but I have only ever heard good things about Sanibel and Casa Ybel.

Thanks - is that from friends who have been?

We went to Anna Maria island, which was about an hour and a half from Orlando. It was absolutely amazing, beautiful, empty beaches, lovely relaxed atmosphere. We rented a house rather than stay in a hotel because of the age of our children.

We also loved Anna Maria island for the same reasons as above, it felt so safe and you could spot manatees,, dolphins and rays regularly in the sea. We rented a condo via owners direct and it was like a home from home and came with everything needed for days at the beach, chairs, umbrella, coolbox, noodles, even golf clubs and a fishing rod. My daughter made loads of friends on the beach and the communal pool at the condo, everyone we met was lovely and friendly and she now has some American pen pals. I have heard great things about sanibel but Anna Maria ticked every box for us.

Yes we stayed on captiva island, next to sanibel. As part of an Orlando trip. Wonderful place. Manatees outside our room, dolphins, etc
Our children didn't make any friends though.

We stayed at South seas resort

Not been yet but we go to Fort Myers Beach on Tuesday - currently in Canada, but flying over to Florida at the weekend. My parents have been and like the area. Not that far from Sanibel iirr. All looks lovely :)

We have rented a beach cottage though. Although 15y Dd is an only child she isn't bothered about making friends on holiday particularly - just likes mooching with us and going in the sea/pool with dad when on holiday as a family.

Sanibel is gorgeous. No high rise development; lovely beaches, renowned for amazing shells; great cycle path networks; the Ding Darling nature reserve - you can drive, cycle or boat through the reserve. Highly recommend for a family holiday. make sure you stay on the Gulf side (west) not the mainland side.

NinjaClash it was friends of friends who loved it.

We stayed in Fort Myers a couple of years ago and day tripped to Sanibel. It is indeed lovely. Spent the day on a beach which was surprisingly quiet and then had dinner watching sunset.

Had a ray brush past my legs in sea about 1m deep at Fort Myers beach !

Currently laying on the terrace of a cute beach cottage a few steps away from the beach of Fort Myers Beach.
It's beautiful here, so relaxed and calm. Absolutely boiling so I'm in the shade of my umbrella having spent a lazy morning reading.
Had a couple of lovely meals out and off on a boat tour tomorrow afternoon to hopefully sport dolphins.
Beach is very quiet and private when we are. Can walk out for ages and the sea remains shallow and warm.
We do have use of a pool too.
15y Dd is happy to lay on a sun bed alternatively reading or watching Netflix, with some walks to the beach/sea and a dip in the pool, and evenings spent out for food and drinks. But we've just had a very busy 9 days visiting Canada cities, Niagara Falls and Busch Gardens so the last 5 days of quiet is perfect.

Not recently but I went when I was 11 so around 27 years ago. It was utterly magical and I still have wonderful memories of that holiday. Absolutely stunning.

Thanks so much for all your replies, really good to hear people's experiences. Sanibel does sound gorgeous but we weren't sure about the resorts (south seas looked fab but a little over budget!) - so we've gone for the Fort Myers Beach option, got a one bed villa at the Pink Shell Resort. It looks nice and quiet and low rise but really family friendly too, and hopefully there will be enough for DS to do there whether he makes any new friends or not. And with any luck we'll manage a day trip over to Sanibel too. If we're not competely shattered from 10 days in Orlando first!

Will put Anna Maria island on the list of places I'd like to go to, too.

Thanks again and bonnes vacances to everyone else who's away or about to go! See you there, Hulababy

Ninja - we had lunch at pink shell yesterday. There seemed to be a fair bit of activities for children and they were all mixing together in the pool playing games when we walked by.

Sadly we are now sat at Miami airport ready for our holiday adventures to end. Two weeks goes so fast!

Have a great trip.

I'd recommend a dolphin tour if you have time. We went with something like Good Charters, left from behind the Publix supermarket and we booked online $20 pp for 1.5 hours.
We saw some fabulous birds in the rookery islands, a manatee nearby and then three dolphins swimming around jumping in and out of the waters. Was fantastic.

I'm writing this from Sanibel! It's beautiful here. I see you've gone for Fort Myers Beach but do make sure you cross the causeway for a day trip.

Rent bikes from Billy's Bikes, see the lighthouse, have lunch at The Island Cow, rent a kayak, just enjoy the beaches. I love it here!

When is your trip, OP?

Wow, thanks for the great info and recommendations both! Good to hear first hand about the pink shell and DS would LOVE the dolphin trip so that's a must. I really want to see Sanibel so we'll have to fit that in too - have heard good things about Billy's Bikes so it's good that you recommmend them too.

OldBagLady, we're leaving for Orlando on Thursday and then we get to FMB on the 20th. Where are you staying on Sanibel? Is it somewhere you'd recommend? (For future reference, just in case we can afford to go back again one of these years!)

Hulababy hope you had a good flight back and are not too jet-lagged now! Time does go by way too quickly on holidays, doesn't it...

We booked the lunch time dolphin tour with goodtimecharter.com I actually booked it online the day before.

It's fantastic, we went at Easter. Have a great time!

Thanks Hula and Mac