If you’re thinking about a Fort Myers vacation and want the straight skinny on the area, then you’ve come to the right place. When you live in the same town for 28 years, you become immune to its charms. That’s why most people go some place else for vacation. So you spend hours on the internet, trying to find the perfect place. Pictures, blogs, slick copy written by the city’s chamber of commerce and motels just trying to fill up their rooms. Don’t you just want the straight up truth?
When is the best time to take your Fort Myers vacation?
It depends on your intention. Our weather is beautiful from January until May. It is Florida at its best. The average temperature in January and February is a cool 60 degrees. March warms up to 66 degrees and April to 72. May at 77 degrees can feel down right hot. If you intend to spend time your Fort Myers vacation actually swimming in the Gulf, the water temperature in January and February is around 66 degrees, March is in the low 70’s, then April and May can get up around 80.
If you’re still undecided about when you should take your Fort Myers vacation, you have two other great options. Come see us in the summer. The motels are cheaper. The beaches and attractions are less crowed and many of the restaurants offer specials and coupons. That’s right, we charge all you snowbirds a pretty hefty price for vacationing at the prime of year, but we practically give it away for the other eight months. Yes, it’s hotter, but you’ll find air conditioning every where. Some of you may be concerned about the possibility of a hurricane. Hurricane season is between June 1 and November 30, but that is not as much of a problem as you would think. Hurricanes aren’t like tornadoes. With hurricanes, you have several days to prepare or leave the area. Actually, it’s kind of fun.
Weather wise, the worst time to take a Fort Myers vacation is from the middle of August to the end of September. By this time, the ground is so saturated from all the summer of rain that it can no longer absorb it and every ditch is overflowing. Mosquitoes can eat you alive, no matter how diligent our Mosquito Control has labored. Fort Myers receives an average of 53 inches of rain a year and most of that coming between July and October. But your summertime Fort Myers vacation need not be ruined. Just plan all your outdoor activities in the morning. The rains predictably start between 2 and 4. It will pour like crazy, and then stop. By 6 pm you won’t even know it rained, except for the wavy vapors as they evaporate off the pavement.
From October to Christmas it can still be brutally hot and humid, but again, you won’t have the crowds and you can still get the good prices. For football fans, you can drive two hours east or two hours north and catch a Dolphins or Bucs game.
How big is Fort Myers?
Depending on who you talk to, you’ll be given conflicting information. The city boasts a cozy and manageable 54,000 year-round residents. That number does not include the thousand of illegal immigrants that nobody likes to talk about NOR does it include the transient homeless people that can be a bit of a problem. Fort Myers expects another 100-200 thousand influx of snowbirds that flock to the area between January and May, not to mention the spring breakers who are finding this area more and more to their liking. Because you weren’t the only one to take a Fort Myers vacation, the roads, restaurants and motels can be in grid lock between 6-9 am and 4-6 pm. Our county has over 80 schools, and that means thousands of buses on the roadways as well.
How safe would I be on a Fort Myers vacation?
While the Lee County Sheriff Department as well as the Fort Myers Police Department do a good job, you need to be proactive in keeping yourself and your family safe. My biggest advice to you is: Do not leave any valuable items inside your car! Keep them in your trunk. People come here from their small towns and they look at all “multi-million dollar” homes on Sanibel and they think “safe.” We’ve got smart criminals here. They’ve come from all over the world to work the tourist trade. Stealing stuff from cars at the beach parking lots is easy pickings. And while we’re on the subject of stealing, don’t leave your valuables lying around your motel. It’s common sense any where, but especially here, where many of the workers are seasonal employees and aren’t permanent residents. Better safe than sorry.
What are the people like?
Fortunately for you, the people that work here and small business owners understand the meaning of excellent service and take pride in it. Southerners, by nature, are charming, helpful and funny. However, during your Fort Myers vacation you might run into some of the snottiest, bitchiest, nastiest, self absorbed, pseudo-rich people you’ve ever seen. Most of these jerks are from some where else.
Of course, you can find those types of people all over the world, but they just seem to really like our beaches and golf courses.
What is there to do?
A Fort Myers vacation is not for the people who are looking for great shopping. We have more than our share of outlet malls, but who doesn’t? There is the Edison and Ford Homes that is supposed to be a step back in history. The town fathers may shoot me but I promised you I’d be honest. It seems like it’s always under construction and in spite of all the “rehabbing,” most of our personal visitors found it quite shabby.
The Fort Myers Museum is small time. The last time we went, the museum had advertised “the King Tut Treasure Exhibit” back when it was touring the country. We paid $12 a piece only to find out – ONCE WE WERE INSIDE – that it was a display of “models” of things found in the Tut’s Tomb, and not even to scale. That’s right – it was not the real stuff. Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me.
What you can do on your Fort Myers vacation depends on the time of year you visit. From the middle of April to the middle of September you can catch the Fort Myers Miracle. For the last 12 years the Miracles have been the Minnesota Twins top A baseball affiliate. While you won’t see the big names – yet – there seems to be a lot more hustle going on. You won’t see any prima donnas playing in these games. These players are trying to make it to the Big Show. Tickets are only $5 to $7, depending on where you sit. There’s a full concession including the usual ball park fare plus giant turkey legs and pork barbeque.
If you come in the spring, you can do nothing but watch baseball on your Fort Myers vacation. Thanks to corporate arm twisting, Fort Myers will continue to be the home of the Boston Red Sox spring training for the next 30 years. However, be advised that until the new stadium is built you’ll have to watch them at City of Palms Park which is in a dodgy neighborhood. Ticket prices range from $10-46 if you can get them.
If you are lucky enough to be taking a Fort Myers vacation around the end of February through March, you can catch the college baseball and softball teams that are competing in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic. The annual tournament is made up of around 150 teams from NCAA Divisions II and III as well teams from NAIA schools. Games are held at parks all over the city. Go to www.leeparks.org to check out the schedules and locations.
A Fort Myers vacation wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the beach. Fort Myers is located in Lee County. Lee County has over 52 miles of beautiful white sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico and boasts 22 public beach access parks that you can get to by car. There isn’t a bad beach among them. Most of the beaches are open 8 AM to sunset, 365 days a year and parking is $2 per hour.
Down on Sanibel is the JN “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It includes over 6,000 acres of wet lands, natural habitats, open water, mangrove swamps, freshwater and brackish marshes. There’s a visitor center, bike trails, canoe trails, a five mile wildlife drive that you can take by car, foot or bike. If you’re feeling lazy, for $8 you can take the tram. Tram tours are available everyday but Friday. Once you’ve arrived and are in Fort Myers vacation mode, you should always call and double check times and rates because hours and availability change in and out of “season.” Ding Darling is a “must’ see if you’ve brought kids on your Fort Myers vacation.
A great reason to take a Fort Myers vacation in January or February is to see the manatees. The best place to view them would be Manatee Park at 10901 State Road 80. The Florida Power and Light plant is across the road. FPL heats up the water and in the cooler months, the manatees herd around the warmer water – just like people do in a hot tub. It’s open year round, but there is a gift shop open on weekends and during season. Parking is $1 per hour. I find that the best time to see them is first thing in the morning, or if it’s really cold outside, it’s a good place to have a picnic.
Most people who take a Fort Myers vacation really don’t want to spend any time inside. So after you’ve spent the day at the beach, or in the wildlife areas, why not spend the evening at the Naples Fort Myers Greyhound Track? It’s located in the Bonita Beach area, but still in Lee County. Schedules are different depending on the day of the week. It only costs $2 to get in and kids under 12 are free. Once you’re in, you can sit and watch the races live in front of you, but they also have dog and horse races on TV that are going on in other parts of the United States. You can get a fancy meal at the club restaurant or less expensive hotdog, hamburgers, nachos and soft drinks at the regular concession.
In early spring, it seems like you see more golf clubs than suitcases at the airport. People actually move to Fort Myers for the golfing. A Fort Myers vacation can be just about golf. As great as our 22 world class beaches are, we also have 24 golf courses. Some of the private courses welcome visitors. You can always scratch your golf itch by playing at one or our four public courses: Fort Myers Country Club, Eastwood Golf Course, Eagle Ridge Golf Club and Shell Point Golf Club. And I’m not bragging, but our public golf courses are better than many private courses in other parts of the country.
So, in conclusion, when you’re planning your Fort Myers vacation, there are three things to remember: the best weather is January to May, the best deals are between June and December and how long can you stay. Many of our residents first came here on a vacation. They loved it so much that they stayed. If you think you’re happy with your fall foliage and your winter wonderlands – let this be a warning to you – swimming, golfing and baseball in February can be just as addicting!
