In Southwest Florida, Naples occupies the space reserved for champagne and chic. This is, after all, where the von Liebig Art Center displays Princess Diana’s most treasured evening wear. But nature lovers and beachcombers and even budget travelers need not be scared off by the upscale reputation of Naples, even when browsing the boutiques and clubs of fabled 5th Avenue South.
Planning a visit? Stay at Pelican Lake Motorcoach Resort.
Florida’s “Paradise Coast” earns it moniker not from the high-end resorts but the wealth of its estuaries and cypress swamps on the edges of the Everglades. Collier-Seminole State Park is your gateway to one of the largest mangrove swamps in the world and home to a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. This is the last existing Bay City Walking Dredge that was used to dig the Tamiami Trail between Tampa and Miami. The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary dives straight into the Everglades for boardwalk adventures among towering ancient cypress forests.
Nature is reigned in at the Naples Botanical Garden, with 170 cultivated acres of tropical habitat highlighting over 1000 plant species. The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens also grew out of a botanist’s collection of plants, but now features naturalistic habitats for 70 species of animals along its one-mile walking path. The more than 10 miles of Naples’ snowy white sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico are always ranked at the top of some or another national list.
Make no mistake about it—you are never far from the trappings of wealth in Naples. This is what was envisioned by the founders, United States Senator from Kentucky John Stuart Williams and Louisville Courier-Journal publisher Walter Haldeman. They promoted the town as the equal of its glamorous namesake on the Italian coast. So expect to find the finer things in life in Naples. Discover a vibrant arts community with a resident orchestra in the Naples Philharmonic, Opera Naples and regular productions from theater groups like the Naples Players and the Theatre Zone. But Naples is also the place where speed demons have been racing swamp buggies since 1948. You can hitch a ride on one of these four-wheel behemoths and experience the Queen’s “Mud Bath” at the Florida Sports Park the same day you admire Princess Diana’s ball gowns.
