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A GREAT, WEEKEND GETAWAY DESTINATION
Naples, Florida
If you would like to experience Florida on a grand scale, visit Naples, if just for a long weekend. In Naples, a million dollar vacation home is commonplace. Golf course communities are as common as gas stations and the beautiful white sand beach stretches for miles caressing the Gulf of Mexico. When we visited in August (the 2nd season) the Gulf was like a bathtub, warm and calm.. great for small children. Rich people don't visit in August so the rates were low and the traffic was not a problem as it is in the winter when the snow birds descend on the city.
Naples is very civilized. You can have high tea at the Ritz Carlton on Vanderbilt Beach Road and let the Darjeeling and piano music transport you to another time. For teens... there's the Fort Myers Beach... much younger and happening. It still has a beach feel unlike Sanibel Island to the north and Marco Island to the south of Old Naples which are residential islands with beach front resorts. You can drive around those island without even seeing the water that surrounds them, you view blocked by the resort properties and hotels.
When to Visit: To avoid the crowds and the in-season prices, visit during the summer or as the locals call it, the "2nd Season". To live large, book yourself into a resort in the winter. | 
