The Best Hotels on Sanibel Island, Florida

Island Inn is pure seaside bliss. At their Traditions on the Beach restaurant, fresh fish is cooked up before your very eyes. In fact, they’ll even cook up your own catch, and if you need advice on the best fishing holes or beaches for shell-hunting, their e-concierge service will answer all of your questions with a few taps of the fingers.

It’s a shame you can’t pay for your room with sand dollars and seashells, because the private beach at Sanibel Island Beach Resort is full of them. You can, however, pay a few extra dollars to have your four-legged friend stay with you in a comfortable king suite at this popular spot. Latch on a leash and walk along the private entrance to the beach where, hopefully, Fido can sniff out some buried treasure left behind by pirates.

Your kids will be shocked when you tell them they need to go to school during their summer vacation – Turtle Scouts Sea School, that is. These exciting kids’ camps hosted by Sundial Beach Resort & Spa give children the opportunity to play while learning about the pirates and wildlife that call this island home. Day and evening camps are available, so you’re always free to indulge in as many massages as you want at the Kay Casperson Lifestyle Spa.

If it’s not the Gulf that brought you to Florida, then it was surely the golf. Sanibel Inn tees you up with an exclusive membership to the Dunes Golf & Tennis Club resort. Practice your short game on their 18-hole championship course, then brag about how much time you’ve spent away from the beach over spritzers and sunsets at the Clubhouse.

We’d normally talk about the kitchens, comfortable living areas and enclosed balconies of the West Wind Island Resort’s suites, but there are just so many other things to do at this resort that you’ll hardly see your room. Parasailing, stand-up paddleboarding, fishing. waverunners, boat rentals, jacuzzis – this place really does have it all.

Casa Ybel Resort stretches out across the Gulf shoreline, with nothing more to do than while the day away in a hammock under a palm tree or with a margarita in hand beside the pool. You could cook up every meal in your room’s full kitchen, but the likes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford preferred beachfront dining at the award-winning Thistle Lodge, located on-site.

Shalimar Cottages and Motel wants you to spend your entire stay under the sun. From kayak and bicycle rentals to basketball and shuffleboard courts, there’s always an outdoor activity at your fingertips. One-room motel-like suites are ideal if you plan on being on the beach everyday, but if you’ve got family and friends in tow, the apartments or cottages offer a little more room to relax. With fully equipped kitchens in all rooms and a heated outdoor pool, you can’t go wrong at Shalimar.