Southwest Florida Beach Family vacations

The Lee Island Coast, from Boca Grande to Bonita Springs, offers more than 50 miles of beaches famous for rare shells and calm Gulf of Mexico waters. Visitors looking for Florida beach family vacations will particularly enjoy the gently sloping sands of Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island, long recognized as one of the world's safest beaches. Brilliant sugar-white sand for sculpting sandcastles, and numerous public parks with plenty of amenities, make Fort Myers Beach an ideal family playground.

Sparkling off the Lee County coast, Sanibel and Captiva Islands are among the best known islands in the region, popular for their excellent shelling and captivating beaches. But visitors will also find picturesque paths and historical gems tucked along Sanibel's main thoroughfare -- Periwinkle Way. On this lush island, where all the buildings must be lower than the tallest palm, the sites are best seen by cycling along Periwinkle Way's canopy of whispering pines and expansive banyans.

Next, island hop to a string of colorful communities with histories as retreats for the rich and famous.
Situated at Milemarker 60 in the Intracoastal Waterway, Cabbage Key is actually a 100-acre ancient Calusa Indian shell mound. Accessible only by boat, the island centers around a white clapboard inn built by mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart and her son in 1938. Today, the inn offers rustic guest rooms and cottages, plus a restaurant wallpapered entirely in autographed $1 bills. Daytrippers can enjoy the inn's hospitality and climb a wooden water tower for a spectacular view of Pine Island Sound.

Tucked amid the Ten Thousand Islands strung along the southernmost reaches of the Gulf of Mexico, visitors will find Marco Island. Although today a popular beach vacation destination, the island still retains remnants from its days as a turn-of-the-century Indian trading post. Visitors can dine at Olde Marco Inn, a quaint gathering place for islanders since 1883 or stop by Smallwood's Store, a 1906 general-store-turned-museum that displays old patent medicines, ledgers and hand tools, plus pelts and hides once swapped for supplies. For more ancient and mysterious sights, visit the remains of the Marco Island witch's watchtower, remnants of the Caxambas clam colony, ancient Indian burial mounds or the Cushing Archaeological Site, where 3,500-year-old Native American artifacts have been unearthed.

Along Lee County beaches, shellseekers will find more varieties than anywhere else in North America. In fact, the shelling posture is so common, it's been given a name -- the Sanibel Stoop! More than 400 varieties of shells can be found covering the beaches, particularly after especially high or low tides. Vacationers can hop on scenic cruises to nearby uninhabited barrier islands for beaches blanketed with rare sea treasures, such as brown speckled junonia, sculpted lion's paw, golden tulip and Scotch bonnet. Also along the Lee Island Coast, visitors can observe the endangered West Indian Manatee in their natural habitat during the winter months of November through March at Manatee Park.

A 25-cent trolley service takes sunworshipers to the popular Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Beach and Bowditch Park recreation areas. Nearby, nature lovers will find several parks of particular historical and natural interest.