Planning a trip to Fort Myers Beach
Visitor Information
You can get advance information 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.fortmyersbeachchamber.org), which also 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 There
This region is served by Southwest Florida International Airport, off Daniels Parkway, east of I-75. You can get here on Air Canada, AirTran, American, America West, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, LTU International, Midwest Airlines, Northwest/KLM, Royal, Spirit, Sun Country, United, and US Airways. The two baggage-claim areas have information booths (with maps) and free phones to hotels.
Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, and Thrifty have rental cars here.
Naples Transportation, Tours & Event Planning (tel. 239/262-3006; www.nttep.com) offers an airport-to-hotel shuttle service for $30 per person from Southwest Florida International Airport to greater-Naples-area hotels.
Vans and taxis are available at a booth across the street from baggage claim. The maximum fares for one to three passengers are about $35 to downtown Fort Myers, $45 to Fort Myers Beach, $56 to $64 to Sanibel Island, $75 to Captiva Island, $50 to $70 to Naples, and $90 to Marco Island. It's a dollar more for each additional passenger.
Amtrak (tel. 800/USA-RAIL [872-7245]; www.amtrak.com) provides bus connections between Fort Myers and its nearest station, in Tampa. The Amtrak buses arrive at and depart from Greyhound/Trailways (tel. 800/231-2222; www.greyhound.com) bus station, at 2275 Cleveland Ave.
Getting Around
Estero Island is 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 $1.25 for adults, 60¢ for seniors, and are free for children under 42 inches. 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 $90 a day for one-passenger scooters, $25 a day for bikes.
