Everglades City
Everglades City is not a place that is spoiled for luxury lodging options but it does have the advantage of being for all practical purposes in The Everglades so remember when you look at the room rates, you are paying for location. We have stayed at the Captain’s Table Lodge and Villas. The rooms are spacious but very basic. The pool is good. We stayed some years ago at the Rod and Gun Club which is more quirky but in our opinion needs a little TLC. There are also a couple of B&Bs and an RV Park.
Marco Island
Marco Island is a large island in the Ten Thousand Island chain and is mostly given over to housing, large hotels and tourist condos.
It does have a fabulous beach and a much broader range of accommodation than Everglades City but it is over 60 miles to the Shark Valley Visitor Center and the drive takes around an hour and 15 minutes.
We recommend…
We have stayed at the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort which we really liked; pleasant rooms and large well maintained public areas and access straight onto the beach. The pools are particularly nice and we enjoyed having a fridge so we were able to have a cold glass of wine every evening on our balcony. We have also stayed at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Marco Island – Sunset Cove in a lovely large apartment. We prefer to self cater so enjoyed the apartment which came very well equipped and is within an easy walk of a supermarket and a number of restaurants. It was not on the beach although a shuttle service was available.
There are lots of holiday rentals available on Marco Island as well if you enjoy self catering.
Naples
Naples is very slightly further from the western access to the Everglades than Marco Island, (about another 5 minutes driving time to Shark valley) but has more to offer in terms of a centre in its own right.
It is quite a large settlement and has an art gallery, a philharmonic, plenty of shopping and lots going on in tourist season. We like Naples but have only really stayed there for work so have not spent much time enjoying the town itself. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Naples, which in our view has beautiful public areas, but the rooms did feel a little bit tired but were OK.
We recommend…
If you want to be within walking distance of restaurants and some retail, our recommendation would be to stay somewhere near Naples Pier, there is a good cluster of restaurants on 3rd St South (south of Broad Avenue South) and along 8th St South, also south of Broad Avenue, towards Naples Bay. Bayfront Inn is a great option, well located with nice rooms, a pleasant pool and a nice outdoor terrace. If you want some self-catering facilities or you are travelling with a family or in a group the Bellasera Hotel is really hard to beat. It has a mix of suites with kitchenettes and 1-3 bedroom condos complete with full kitchens including washer machine and dryer. They also run a free shuttle service to the beach (just over a mile away). If you want to be on the beach itself, the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club is a good bet, especially for golfers. The proximity to the beach means you may be further away from walkable eating options outside those provided by the hotel.