Planning a Trip

Visitor Information -- You can get advance information from the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau and from the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, 17200 San Carlos Blvd., Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931 (tel. 800/782-9283 or 239/454-7500; fax 239/454-7910; www.fortmyersbeach.org), which also sells a detailed street map ($2) and operates a visitor center on the mainland portion of San Carlos Boulevard, just south of Summerlin Road. The chamber is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, Saturday from 10am to 5pm, and Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

Getting Around -- Estero Island is absolutely inundated with traffic during the peak winter months, but you can get around on the Beach Trolley, which runs every hour, daily from 6:10am to 8:10pm, along the length of Estero Boulevard from Bowditch Regional Park at the north end south to Lovers Key. In winter, the Beach Park & Ride Trolley runs daily from 6:10am to 8:10pm between Summerlin Square Shopping Center, on the mainland at Summerlin Road and San Carlos Boulevard, to Bowditch Regional Park. Both trolleys cost 50¢ per person. Ask your hotel staff or call LeeTran (tel. 239/275-8726; www.rideleetran.com) for more info.

For a cab, call Local Motion Taxi (tel. 239/463-4111).

There are no bike paths, per se, although many folks ride along the paved shoulders of Estero Boulevard. A variety of rental bikes, scooters, and in-line skates are available at Fun Rentals, 1901 Estero Blvd., at Ohio Avenue (tel. 239/463-8844; www.funrentals.org). Rates start at $55 a day for one-passenger scooters, $18 a day for bikes.