With changing times and upheavals in the economy, around the year 2008 a new word entered into the public vocabulary–staycation. A “staycation” is when you stay in the area in which you live rather than going somewhere else on vacation. Given the large number of retirees and snowbirds that call Southwest Florida their home for half the year, a staycation in the Naples area makes a lot of sense. Naples is a great option for having a staycation given the myriad of things to see, eat, and do in the area. You may notice that many of the things you can do on a staycation in Naples overlap from what you can do on a staycation in Fort Myers.

Marco Island

JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort

This a nice little luxury beach resort right on the Gulf of Mexico. They’ve got a large pool, every room has a view of the beach, and there’s a private 18-hole golf course. The pricing is comparable to going to one of the lesser Disney World resort hotels but without the over-crowded super-touristy Disney-magical nonsense. You’re within walking distance of several shops if you decide to explore a little of the area surrounding the resort, but if you’re looking for a place to just relax at the beach and enjoy some recreation time, this is one of the best areas to go.

Beach

One of the great things about living in southwest Florida is that we have a great selection of beaches to go to. This seems like an obvious choice given where we live, but how often do we overlook these types of opportunities right where we live? Some time ago, I moved from Southwest Florida to just outside of Atlanta Georgia and whenever anybody asked me where I was from, the response I got was always the same: “Why would you move here? I’d rather live there!” A short time later, I moved back to Florida and now I have an appreciation for the wonders in our own backyards; particularly our beaches. Now, whenever anyone starts talking smack about Florida I always remind them that everyone vacations in Florida and we live here!

Fishing Charters

There are a stupid number of fishing charter companies that are in the Southwest Florida area and this especially goes for Naples. If you don’t have a boat and you want to do some serious fishing without having to stand in one spot for hours, a fishing charter is an excellent option. I’ll admit that I’m not much of a fisherman and having a guide who knows the water and knows where fish are biting and has all of the equipment is certainly a more attractive option than going out on a boat and poking around on the water by myself because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Florida Everglades

This isn’t something that locals generally think about, but if you enjoy nature, the Florida Everglades is a cool place to go. If you want to go see native animals in their natural habitat without anything between you like at a zoo, it’s a cool experience. You’ll probably see alligators, flamingos, and maybe even a panther if you’re super lucky.

Boat Rentals

The Naples area has a lot of waterways ready for you to explore, especially farther south along the coast toward the Everglades. If you live in Naples and you have a boat, chances are that you’ll launch it from a marina and go to virtually any beach or waterway and enjoy the freedom that you get from having your own boat, but for the rest of us who don’t own boats, you can rent one for a relatively reasonable rate and enjoy the water while escaping the tourists.

Why do I say reasonably priced? Well, imagine the amount of money you’d need to spend to store, maintain, insure, and transport your boat in order to enjoy it (assuming you don’t live on a canal with a boat) and you can see the value in offloading all of that headache onto someone else.

Golf

There are a lot of golf courses in Southwest Florida; something like 100 of ‘em. While many of the golf courses in Naples require membership of some kind, there are somewhere you could get a few buddies together to play a round without having to buy a $70,000 membership (we’re looking at you Tiburon). Even though you may not have to shell out a car loan for membership at some of these courses, they can have some weird rules about when you can and can’t play depending on where you live, so make sure to check out their rules.