Things to do in West Coast
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French Connection
This place features good service, big sandwiches, quiches, crepes, salads and a killer French onion soup. Outdoor tables and a friendly bar (with an eight-hour happy hour from 11:00 to 19:00) rounds out the appeal.
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Veranda
A cornerstone of downtown Fort Myers, the Veranda combines two historic homes with delicious French-inspired cuisine – love awaits.
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Guided Walks & Fauna Tracks
A 2000-acre woodland and wetland, Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve acts as a filter collecting run-off water during heavy rains. Before making its way out to the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, the water is filtered by the slough, where sediment and pollutants settle or are absorbed by the plants. It's an interesting place to visit during the wet season (June through October), when water up to 3ft deep flows through the area.
The preserve also has an otter pond, a mile-long boardwalk lined with benches, free guided walks (call for times), a picnic area and an amphitheatre used for flora and fauna talks.
From downtown Fort Myers, take Cleveland Ave south to Colonial Blvd (Hw…
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Lakes Park
This innovative and scenic county park encompasses two original creations: the fragrance garden and a miniature train village. The garden was created in 1991 as a place where visually impaired and wheelchair-bound visitors could smell, feel and even eat herbs and flowers. The gardens were built by volunteers from the Master Gardeners Club, Boy and Girl Scouts and at-risk students from a nearby high school.
The miniature train (7.5in gauge) tootles around the 1.25-mile track every 15 minutes. In case you're looking for something else to do, you can rent boats here, too. Lakeside Marina rents canoes for around US$8 per hour. There are alligators in the lake and on the small…
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Edison & Ford Winter Estates
Say ‘American innovation’ and Thomas Edison (lightbulb, phonograph, voice recorder telegraph, etc.) and Henry Ford (mass production, Ford motors) are good contenders for word–image association. Both of these frontier pushers chose Fort Myers as their warm-weather winter-break spot, and their Estates are one of the prime tourism draws in Lee County. Each estate drips with Florida architectural heritage (including one of the state’s first modern swimming pools), while adjacent gardens are a wonderful green escape. A museum extensively catalogues the lives of Edison and Ford, and special events, concerts and educational days spring up throughout the year. Prices and times su…
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Boyd Hill Nature Park
A great 245-acre park, Boyd Hill is an oasis hidden in the midst of an urban area. Partly on the shores of Lake Maggiore, this natural butterfly habitat has about 3½ miles of nature trails and boardwalks that traverse scrubland, pine flatwoods, swamp woodlands and coastal willows. On Willow Marsh Trail you’ll likely hear young alligators squeaking and see bald eagles, snowy egrets, box turtles and opossums among the oaks, cypresses and ferns. The friendly rangers here offer lots of good walks (check at the entrance when you arrive). Daily tram tours depart at 1pm; on Saturday there’s an extra tour at 10am. There’s a picnic area, playground and paths for bicycles.
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Key West Express
Kicking back on the Key West Express will save you 300 miles of driving and seven hours in the car. The high-speed ferry leaves Fort Myers Beach in the morning and arrives at Key West in the early afternoon; it arrives back in Fort Myers Beach at around 22:00. All in all you'll have about 5½ hours in Key West. Round-trip tickets (adult/child/senior around US$140/around US$120/around US$130, including parking) cost the same even if you're not returning that day.
To reach the ferry, head south on San Carlos Blvd (Hwy 865) toward the Sky Bridge to Fort Myers Beach; just before the bridge, turn right on Main St and left on Fisherman's Wharf.
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Coffee Pot Bayou
This old northeast neighborhood, the heart of which is east of 4th St and between 19th and 30th Aves NE (but it's also very sweet around 9th Ave NE), was developed in the 1920s and is lined with brick streets and authentic period architecture. A 30-minute drive will reward you with an insider's view of St Petersburg beyond the museums and marinas.
While you're in the area, drive over the Venetian-style Snell Isle Bridge (at Coffee Pot Blvd and 21st Ave NE) to appreciate some Mediterranean-style architecture. To reach the Coffee Pot Bayou, follow the waterfront north of downtown; take Bayshore Dr to North Shore Dr to Coffee Pot Blvd.
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The Pier
Walk straight into the Gulf of Mexico, or so it feels when standing on the fishing platform at the edge of this old railroad pier on the eastern edge of town. At the end of the long paved boardwalk is the pier’s star attraction: a crazy looking, bright and blocky inverted pyramid structure that houses a five-story shopping mall, complete with three restaurants (which allow you to eat your seafood directly over the sea) and even a small aquarium. Walk to the fishing platform at the very edge of the pier around sunset for a fabulous natural-light show. A shuttle runs between the parking lots and the action. Parking costs $3.
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Fort Myers Historical Museum
This museum is a hit with kids if only to tour the Esperanza, a private Pullman railroad car. Permanent exhibits document the city's history and include Calusa and Seminole artifacts and a display on Colonel Myers - the man for whom the city is named (though he never actually visited his namesake fort). Other exhibits include a Spanish cannon, a complete saber-toothed tiger (Smilodon) skeleton and an early rural pioneer home, or 'cracker' house. There is also an exhibit on Fort Myers' two WWII training bases, which trained British, American, Canadian, Russian and Yugoslavian pilots and gunners.
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Imaginarium Hands on Museum
- Fort Myers, USA
- Sights › Other
This excellent science museum, with over 60 exhibits, is favored by the wide-eyed kid in everyone. Don’t miss the weather-forecasting exhibit, where kids can pretend they are meteorologists and present the weather using monitors. There is also a tornado machine and exhibits on ozone depletion and weather; touching a cloud is pretty neat. A 3-D theater runs shows at 1pm and 3pm. Outside, a ‘dig pit’ lets kids look for fossils and shark teeth, while the lagoon teems with tons of freshwater fish and other Florida aquaculture. Check out the coral-reef tank, aquariums and reptile retreat.
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Weeki Wachee Springs
- Tampa, USA
- Activities › Other
Since 1947 tourists have been lured up the coast by the siren song of Weeki Wachee Springs, one of Florida's original roadside attractions. Elvis Presley and Esther Williams were among the guests who flocked here to watch glamorous long-haired mermaids perform in an underwater grotto. The mermaids are the main attraction, but there's also a river cruise, plus swimming and waterslides at the adjoining Buccaneer Bay water park. (Hint: admissions are reduced in the off-season when the water park is closed.)
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Little St Mary’s
At the very start of the pier – just after crossing Bayshore Drive – is Little St Mary’s, the coolest public toilet in the region, and probably the only toilet in all of Florida that is also a historic landmark. So how did this happen? Well the story begins with Henry Taylor, who was never paid for his design work at St Mary’s Church. Out of spite he then built this Romanesque-revival miniature church and dubbed it Little St Mary’s. The joke? When people showed up, they were greeted with a public toilet!
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Biff-Burger/Buffy’s BBQ
The last remaining Biff-Burger (once a national burger chain) is a St Petersburg institution. It’s no longer a fast-food drive-in, but instead a sit-down restaurant kitted out with the longest bar in town, two patios and 20 big-screen TVs tuned to sports. Come for eggs, pancakes and every other conceivable breakfast entrée in the morning, or stop by for live entertainment and a greasy cheeseburger or traditional Southern BBQ at night. Biff’s attracts a biker crowd, especially on Saturday nights, and is proud to say so.
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Florida International Museum
Ensconced in a former department store, this enormous museum, a Smithsonian Institute Affiliate, hosts some of the country's most spectacular traveling exhibits plus a permanent one on the Cuban Missile Crisis. All those international blockbusters that you read about in the London Times make a stop here. Recent shows have included: Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post Covers, Treasures of the Tzars, Splendors of Ancient Egypt, Alexander the Great, Titanic and Diana, A Celebration.
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GAEA Guides
GAEA Guides offers superb, ecofriendly tours with professional naturalists and run a variety of tours through the Great Calusa Blueway. With almost 200 miles of kayaking routes, the Great Calusa Blueway is like a watery circulation system that beats throughout Lee County. The warm, calm waters are a joy to paddle through, and there’s a lot you miss on land that’s only visible by boat. Check the website for information on ‘trails’ throughout the county and where they can be accessed.
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Seminole-Gulf Railway Murder Mystery Tours
Founded in 1888, this railway operated between Arcadia and Naples with a second line running between Bradenton, Sarasota and Venice. Today, it offers 3½-hour, five-course, murder mystery dinner tours on the line's restored trains; reservations are required.
The station is near the intersection of Colonial Blvd and Metro Pkwy; from downtown, take Cleveland Ave south to Colonial Blvd east until you think you'll run out of gas; the terminal is on the left.
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Garden
The oldest restaurant in town hosts live jazz and makes a good salad Niçoise at lunchtime. Mediterranean-influenced dinner dishes might include grilled lamb chops or wild mushroom pasta. Or just sample a few dishes from the tapas menu. The Garden has indoor and outdoor seating, poetry readings, a martini bar and live jazz with the Buster Cooper Jazz Trio every Friday and Saturday from 9pm to 1:30am. On Salsa Nights (Thursdays), they dole out free dancing tips.
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Bella Bravo
Authentic northern Italian cooking, a 1000-bottle wine list and lots of atmosphere in a building, whose frontage sports bright-orange-and-yellow checkered tiles, all combine to make Bella Bravo a top Tampa eating experience. Whether you’re indulging in thin-crust Roman pizza on the downstairs patio or house-made potato gnocchi on the upstairs balcony, you can bet that your nouveau Italian meal here will be delicious.
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Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
1 day (Departs Tampa, Florida)
by Viator
Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa is the ultimate family adventure park, featuring an unparalleled combination of animal encounters, live entertainment and world-cl…Not LP reviewed
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BayWalk
The downtown revitalization continues with BayWalk, an upscale shopping mall, bounded by 2nd and 3rd Aves N and 1st and 2nd Sts. The open-air emporium is pretty much just a mall, with lots of shops, eateries and a 20-screen theater. At night, however, it becomes one of Tampa’s favorite restaurant and party zones, when loads of bars compete for your attention with various drink specials.
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Coliseum Ballroom
Also called the Palace of Pleasure, this ballroom opened in 1924 and, over the years, big bands, classical orchestras and rock bands have all played here. In 1985, the Colliseum Ballroom made its film debut in Cocoon with an incredible ballroom scene. The red-oak dance floor is classic. If you’re here on a Wednesday, big band Tea Dance sessions run from 1pm to 3:30pm (bring your own booze).
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Tropicana Field Tours
Tropicana Field Tours is home to the major league Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Take a behind-the-scenes tour of Tropicana Field (around US$5 adults, around US$3 seniors and children) to check out the dugouts, press boxes, batting tunnels, weight rooms and the field. On nongame days, the 45- to 90-minute tours are given from 10:00 and 16:00 weekdays; on home-game days, they're at 10:00 and noon weekdays.
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Florida Holocaust Museum
This memorial, one of the country’s largest, is worth a visit not just for its Holocaust exhibits but also for those of Jewish life around the world. It also exhibits one of the three boxcars located in the USA used to transport prisoners to death camps in Poland. Visit the quiet meditation court before leaving and vow to make the museum’s mission your own: promote tolerance today.
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Dolphin Cruise from The Florida Aquarium in Tampa Bay
90 minutes (Departs Tampa, Florida)
by Viator
The Florida Aquarium in Tampa Bay is offering cruises aboard a 72-foot, 130-passenger catamaran, officially named Bay Spirit II. The Aquarium has partnered with…Not LP reviewed
from USD$21.89
