“My wife and I wanted a laid back family week with our daughter, her husband and our two-year-old grandson; and Naples was perfect. The home, Casa Bonita, is beautiful and in a quiet neighborhood. There is a huge pool with hot tub, lots of glass, and everything is nicely appointed. We watched my alma mater, U of Tennessee, beat Arkansas on the High Def big screen, which we could see from the pool. We took advantage of the Saturday morning open market downtown to pick up food stuffs for the evening, including huge stone crab claws for $14 a pound. I bought 10 pounds and we ate on them all week.

They say the only real things to do in Naples are eat and shop. I’m not much of a shopper, but everyplace we ate, we enjoyed. Consensus best was Maxwell’s on the water – everything was superb. We also ate at Campiellos, which is outdoor Italian; the Boathouse, a local favorite where we sat outside watching the boats pass; and Bella Maria, a little Spanish restaurant with wonderful homemade Sangria and Paella that we tried because we had met the owner’s son at the Saturday market. The last night we had a casual dinner at Amore, an Italian restaurant in the Publix Shopping Center a few blocks from the home. We enjoyed it all!

We played tennis on the city’s well-maintained clay courts downtown. It cost $12 a piece for an hour and a half. There is a nice gazebo and water fountain at each court. We never had a problem playing. I think private club courts are about the same, but we ran into the city courts first. We visited Naples Pier and watched the free fishing. It is amazing to see all the mackerel being hauled in. We also visited the Cypress reserve, which was an interesting couple of hours. And we walked several times to the beach and watched a great sunset one evening. We did a half-day of fishing, with dividing time between offshore and inshore. I think we would have caught more from the pier, but the inshore part was a lot of fun catching Lady Fish – great fighters, just not food fish.

A tip: we flew in to Ft. Myers and drove the 45 minutes from the airport to Naples. If anyone else does this, be sure to note gas stations on the way out. There is nothing close to the airport and I had to drive about 10 minutes back from the airport to fill up the rental.

Overall, Naples strikes me much like West Palm, with lots of recent expensive development, but much more laid back. We had a wonderful time.”
Member Bob Baron

“Tom’s parents are in their mid-80s and don’t travel often anymore. It is so nice for us to get them out of the Boston cold and spend one-on-one time. Tom’s parents have friends who live in Naples seasonally so we had them over and entertained at the house. The house is so easy to be in, so it works well for us. We could walk to dinner, shopping and the beach or just sit by the pool.”
Members Tom and Diane McMeekin

“We went to Naples on a family trip in at the beginning of January. We took a sunset sail and as soon as the sun went down, the full moon came up. It was fantastic!”
Members Mike and Patti Rozek

“Our recent trip to Naples was for a family reunion. My wife’s parents, and three brothers and sister with their respective spouses, all made it. The home was able to accommodate the whole family and it was the first time in a long time they had all been together. Family members all took turns cooking and then we gathered at the large round dining table for dinner. My wife’s parents said that it was the best vacation of their lives.

We did things together and separately: a boat ride in the Everglades; a sailing excursion on a catamaran between Naples and Marco Island; a trip to Cork Screw Swamp, which is one of the five largest Audubon reserves for bird watching in the United States; and attending a car show, which showcased everything from vintage 30s cars up to present-day Ferraris and Roles Royce. Downtown was closed to traffic so we could walk around and it was one of the best car shows I’ve been to.”
Member Donald Steiner

“My daughter lives in Jupiter, Florida. We flew there and drove to Naples. I brought my 87-year-old mother and brother and it was just perfect. We got a wheelchair for my mother and she fell in love with the house and all the shopping nearby. We also went to visit her 96-year-old friend in Sarasota; they’ve been friends for nearly 65 years!”
Members Mike and Patti Rozek