*The post below was published in December of 2021 naming Fort Myers a 2022 Best Destination. As of this update published on October 16 2022, Fort Myers is rebuilding after the devastation of Hurricane Ian (see NPR photos below).
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/09/29/1125903958/hurricane-ian-florida-photos
To find out ways to help, please go here:
https://www.fortmyersbeach.org/hurricane-ian-recovery-how-you-can-help/
Do you have post-holiday letdown or New Year’s Eve dread? Do you feel deflated — like a Christmas yard decoration lying in a heap upon the ground?
There’s a way to flip your mood, stretch yourself like a starfish, and feel happy as a clam. Ok, cliches aside…
Even if you’re not a beach person, celebrating the new year on the southwest coast of the Sunshine State has many benefits. Booking a stay in Fort Myers, Florida, “The City of Palms,” is a really great plan.
If you’ve joined my two-year expedition down the southwestern coast of Florida, you know that I’ve fallen in love with this area of the state. Here I’ve found the white sand and clear aquamarine waters that I played in as a child on the Panhandle’s Emerald Coast. But I’ve also found educational, historical, and cultural treasures. I’ve felt welcome in a community that still marvels at manatees and dolphins and salutes sunsets with bagpipes, conch shells, and guitars.
Why Travel?
If wellness is a goal for the new year, multiple studies have shown that merely planning travel gives our mood an instant boost. Amy Blankson, author of The Future of Happiness and authority on health and wellness in the digital era, explains in Psychology Today:
The anticipation and sense of hopefulness for better times can keep us motivated and excited for the delayed gratification of a getaway. This ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ often has a long-term mood-boosting effect and can help us relax as it puts us in the mind frame of a more soothing future.
And about that light…
Sunlight provides Vitamin D and releases higher levels of serotonin which lowers anxiety while elevating mood, focus, sleep, and immunity. (I can attest to the power of perpetually sunny skies. While living in Marrakesh, Morocco, I felt happier and had more energy year-round.)
Travel is also a way to reconnect with people we love as we create shared memories of precious moments. Solo travel provides opportunities to reconnect with ourselves and Creator as we discover (or remember) our passions and purpose. It can also push us to make new friends.
A getaway provides escape into a new world where we can try on another life, explore, learn. It provides not only adventure but also perspective. Miles create distance from our problems, sadness, or stress. We can rest, recover, rethink, and reset when we see the Big Picture. Sometimes this means rising above obstacles and changing our focus literally. I’ll never forget the beauty I saw and gratitude I felt looking down from a balcony on a Spanish hillside or out from ramparts on the African coast. Morocco taught me the gift of rooftops whether places to gather or to be alone. I started 2021 by looking down on the lights of Sarasota from a rooftop New Year’s Eve party at Art Ovation Hotel. I ended it by looking down on Fort Myers from Beacon, the appropriately named rooftop of the luxurious Luminary, another hotel in the Autograph Collection® of Marriott International. (No surprise that their 2022 Rooftop NYE Party quickly sold out, but you can still see fireworks and the Ball Drop at the New Year’s Eve Downtown Countdown. )
Finds in The Franklin Shops on Main Street, Fort Myers, reminded me that travel inspires us to…
Why Fort Myers?
If you like winters with sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures… a walkable downtown with eclectic shopping and dining outdoors on rooftops, by the river, or along a red-bricked Main Street… art galleries, live music, museums, theatre, symphony, opera, or ballet… Spanish Floridian, Art Deco, or Modern architecture… inspiring and beautiful places like the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, … then this is your place. Seriously, the downtown area is one of the prettiest I have seen.
Other Reasons to Choose Fort Myers for a Getaway
Location
Approximately 20 miles from downtown Fort Myers are Fort Myers Beach located on Estero Island, Sanibel Island, and Captiva Island with world-famous shelling, wildlife preserves, and an “Old Florida” feel. And if you’re up for a vast adventure, The Everglades, an UNESCO World Heritage site, is only two hours away.
Fort Myers Beach Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel
Alligators in Fort Myers Six-Mile-Cypress-Slough Preserve (Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel) 
(Aerial shot courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel) ‘Tween Waters on Captiva Florida (more on this “Old Florida” property in a later post) 
Art is everywhere. (Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel) 
Shelling (Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel) 
Roseate-Spoonbill at Fort Myers Beach (Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel)
Attractions for All Kinds of Travelers in All Seasons
In 2021, MSN, Travel & Leisure, HGTV, Fodor’s Travel, Fishing Booker, Country Living, U. S. News & World Report, Yahoo Life, Coastal Living named Fort Myers, Sanibel, and Captiva as top getaways for many reasons, such as uncrowded family-friendly beaches and outdoor spaces, tropical beauty, charm, island living, wildlife, shelling, fishing spots, and other hidden treasures. And I can vouch for its allure for couple, family, friend, or solo getaways because I’ve experienced all of them there myself.
My romance with Fort Myers Beach started in 2020. In April 2021, my daughter and I recharged and reconnected on Captiva Island. In early December 2021, I returned for an unforgettable writing conference and community event (more on that later), then ended the week solo in downtown Fort Myers at Luminary.
Located In the historic Downtown River District on the Caloosahatchee River, the AAA Four Diamond luxury property — the first in the area of the Autograph Collection® of Marriott International — first lit up the waterfront and city in late 2020. The hotel, decor, and restaurants are named for visionaries and innovators (such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford whose winter estates are within walking distance) who converted Fort Myers from a cattle town to a historical, cultural center. Today snowbirds, locals, and tourists flock to the 12th floor rooftop bar nightly to do what’s customary in these parts, watch legendary sundowns with a drink or meal. My room was perfect. I felt like Kate Winslet in The Holiday when she raised some fancy window shades with a remote, read in bed, and took a dip in the pool below. The shower/bathroom was the largest I’ve seen in a hotel suite and the branding throughout was very Gatsby.
Florida Rep 
Morning walks along the docks 
Fritto Misto at Beacon Social Drinkery, Luminary’s Rooftop Bar 
Southern grits, eggs, sausage and gravy at Luminary’s Ella Mae’s 
Sidney and Bernes Davis Arts Center 
Julie Obney’s oil painting Glasses on display at the Sidney and Bernes David Arts Center At Oxbow I had fresh oysters and a Grouper Sandwich. 
Virginia Newsome, Sean Royal, Hillary Ekwall, Leeds Hill, Jackie Schram, Gary Troy, Haley Clay, Julia Rifino, Ysabel Jasa, Dillon Feldman, Andrew Hubacher, and Alexis Fishman in “Cabaret” at Florida Repertory Theatre. Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel 
Fort Myers is the class of a cosmopolitan city and the heart of a small town. The Edison Festival of Light Parade kicking off the holiday season Photo Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel 
Island Hopper Songwriter Fest 2021, presented by the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau, Cat Country 107.1 and BMI. Photo by Brian Tietz Courtesy of Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel
Sincere thanks to The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, Luminary Hotel, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, for your hospitality. You fed my mind, body, and soul with art, beauty, random roaming, and coral skies of hope.
Planning Your Trip
To plan your trip, start here.
I’ve used Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) twice and Dolphin Transportation and Punta Gorda Airport (Allegiant Air) once, both about a 30-minute drive from downtown Fort Myers.
When you arrive, you can also pick up the Southwest Florida Guide to the Arts: Gulfshore Life with a listing of events and coupons in the back with discounts.
Just a few of Hundreds of Happenings in 2022
Florida Rep‘s A Doll’s House, 2 and Driving Miss Daisy
Gulfshore Opera‘s A Night in Italy, Songs of Ireland, Tosca
Broadway Palm Dinner Theater‘s Singin’ in the Rain, Escape to Margarittaville, and In the Heights
Gulfcoast Symphony concerts from Led Zeppelin to Frank to Billy Jo
In March, the Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Festival and Parade