Naples, Florida
Hi friends!
Happy New Year!
I cannot believe it's 2019... We got home last week from our first trip to Naples, FL and we LOVED the area! What a beautiful city Naples is. I thought I would share a few of our favorite local spots, eateries, and places we visited with our little ones. We were really impressed with the beautiful city of Naples, and I would go back in a heart beat!
Beach Please...
First of all, the beaches in Naples were AMAZING! We rented a house near Vanderbilt Beach for the week, and loved being able to walk/drive to the beach. Vanderbilt beach was just beautiful! The sand was amazing, the beach itself was clean, plus there were a few really great places to eat and grab drinks at. We also drove to the Naples Beach Pier. What a view! They have an adorable boardwalk you can take a stroll on and enjoy a gorgeous sunset, or walk alongside the beach and enjoy a day of beach fun. The Naples Beach Pier was in a BEAUTIFUL area. The houses along the beach are incredible... We also drove over to Bonita Springs and spent a morning at the Bonita Beach. What a pretty beach full of gorgeous shells! But be careful, this beach is FULL of shells. A little rougher sand than we are used too with our little ones, but still a fun beach to enjoy.
Feed Me! Restaurants...
The foodie in me LOVES checking out new places to eat at while we are on vacation. While we're traveling, we don't typically eat out for every meal on vacation... because well, we have little ones, and that can be a big task, HA. We usually do try a new place every day while we are traveling, usually brunch or dinner because our kiddos tend to take long naps while on vacation. Vacation is tiring! HA... Anyways, we ended up catching a sunset dinner at Gumbo Limbo one night along Vanderbilt Beach connected to the Ritz Carlton Hotel of Naples. Wow, that hotel was gorgeous! We loved enjoying dinner along the beach and catching the sunset with our family. We also enjoyed a delicious Italian date night on the patio at Bravo Cucina Italiana {in the beautiful Mercato shopping center near our rental house} and we also ate at Burntwood Tavern also in the same shopping center. YUM! Would highly recommend both places. Burntwood also had an amazing happy hour {from 3-6pm everyday} which we enjoyed. Yum!! We grabbed drinks a night or two in the Mercado shopping area at Cavo {beautiful spot to grab a late night drink!} and we also grabbed drinks at The Blue Martini located right across from Cavo. Both beautiful spots to check out! Another night we grabbed dinner along the water at The Pub in The Village shopping center. WOW! That area was gorgeous and full of so many cute boutiques and stores, plus a handful of yummy spots to grab dinner... Naples had so many great foodie spots, we just didn't have enough time to eat everywhere. Looks like we will have to go back!
Shopping... YES PLEASE!
Of course the shopper in me found some amazing places to check out while we were on vacation... We loved going to the Mercato shopping center near our rental home. What a gorgeous outdoor shopping spot! Full of beautiful shops, boutiques, and great places to eat or grab a late night drink at. We also checked out the shops along 5th Avenue Street, WOW! That whole area was amazing! So many great shops, boutiques, and amazing patio restaurants. We also went to the historical Tin City. Loved this area! Such a great area to grab lunch or dinner along the water, take a boat tour, or grab some local Naples souvenirs. We actually ended up grabbing dinner along the water and sat out on the patio here, we LOVE sitting outside with the little ones and enjoying the ocean views!
We had such a great time in Naples with our family and friends! I would really recommend visiting this area. With us traveling right after Christmas through the New Year, everything was decorated for Christmas and so beautiful. We had a blast getting to see all of the palm trees decorated with Christmas lights... Can't wait to visit this area again!
-Thee Girl in Yellow, Kasey