Sanibel Island Vacation Rentals  BeachHunter.net

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Visiting Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
 

Sanibel Island Vacation Rental Options

Because Sanibel is such a large island, it offers all kinds of vacation rental options. It has resort hotels, family owned boutique hotels, private rental condos and beach cottages. And there are plenty of great options for rentals a block or two from the beach if you'd like to get more for your money.

Because of zoning restrictions, building heights on Sanibel and Captiva are limited, so you won't find any mega-resorts here. In fact, the only chain hotels I know of on Sanibel are the Best Western Sanibel Island and the Holiday Inn Sanibel Island.

We enjoyed our stay at Ocean's Reach condo, but were slightly envious of the more stylish Old Florida style accommodations next door at the Casa Ybel Resort. So we ate our wedding night dinner at the Casa Ybel Resort's Thistle Lodge restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Prices vary greatly on Sanibel by location and by season. Expect the highest rates during January, February, March and April. During the late summer and fall months there are beachfront accommodations to be found for $800 per week.

Blind Pass is a small community at the north tip of Sanibel, next to Captiva Island. There are some cute beach rentals there, like Castaways. The only slightly negative thing we noted about that location is that the units are very close to the road, so there would be some traffic noise. It is also next to a public beach access, so the beach isn't as "private" as in other areas. Nevertheless it is worthy of consideration and is within walking distance of several very good restaurants.

Something to be aware of when renting a condo is that the rental companies have fees tacked onto the rental rate. If you make a reservation and give a deposit and then change your mind the next day, they will refund your deposit, less a "cancellation" fee, which is often close to $100. Also, although they processed your deposit immediately into their account, they may well take a several weeks or more to refund it. Read the fine print on their web site and in the rental agreement before you reserve.

When choosing a vacation rental on Sanibel, keep your planned activities in mind. We enjoyed riding our bikes to breakfast most mornings, so we wanted a location close enough to restaurants to allow for that. We did a lot of exploring on our bikes.

Captiva Island

This is a tidy little island community that truly is "land's end." There's literally no where to go from here except by boat. It's heavy with tropical foliage, fragrant flowers and coconut palms. There is a smattering of eateries, including the long-standing favorites: the Mucky Duck and the Bubble Room. There is one public beach access and a marina, from which you can launch exploratory jaunts to the nearby islands of Cabbage Key, Cayo Costa and Useppa. Excursion cruises are available. You don't need your car to get around; that's how small it is. Captiva is several miles long, but you can walk the width of the island in a couple of hundred steps. Summers are quiet and humid. Winters bring the northern visitors and cooler breezes.

The South Seas Resort occupies much of Captiva, but without a doubt one of the most popular old favorites is the Tween Waters Inn Island Resort. A week or two at Tween Waters is a long standing annual tradition for many families.

We stayed at Ocean's Reach condos for 10 days during our honeymoon. It was very quiet.

This was the view from our second floor unit at Ocean's Reach, looking through the screened lanai. I didn't care for having to look through the screen, but it did keep the bugs at bay in the evenings.

Beach vacation rentals on Sanibel are heavily landscaped with lush green tropical and sub-tropical plants. There are lots of coconut palms. These units are part of the Casa Ybel Resort next door to Ocean's Reach where we were staying.

The little community of Blind Pass has some really cute rental beach cottages. They are quite close to the main road, so there would be some traffic noise, especially on the weekend. But the traffic is not high-speed so the noise isn't bad. The beauty of the area more than makes up for it for most people.

Beach cottages on Blind Pass Beach. Blind Pass is considered one of the most romantic beach locations on the island.