Gulfshore Neighborhoods

Like a mesmerist, southwest florida captivates even the most die-hard season lovers who cherish the first daffodils of spring and the slight chill of early autumn. While basking in the sunshine, however, visitors soon realize that those colored leaves in the North are falling, leaving bare trees and the promise of gray skies for months. Meanwhile they're enjoying the beach, the golf green and the the Gulfshore's weather. Before they know it, these visitors are repeating the famous mantra, "Yeah, I could get used to this."

Most of the real estate transactions in Southwest Florida occur during our Season, October through April, when tourists and seasonal visitors decide it's time to buy their own piece of paradise. And they'll find those homes in neighborhoods and communities that exactly fit their lifestyle, whether it's a yachting community in Naples or Fort Myers, an equestrian estate in Golden Gate Estates or an island cottage on Matlacha. And no matter where they decide to live, they're never too far from the beach, the mall, fine dining or the solitude of the outlying counties. Discover the many neighborhoods of Southwest Florida in this in-depth guide.

Collier county, florida's largest county, is marketed as Florida's Paradise Coast for good reason. Beautiful beaches, unspoiled mangroves and backwater bays nestle into the fringes of the Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands. No longer the retirement mecca it once was, Collier County has a dynamic population of full-time and seasonal residents, and more than 75 percent of its population is younger than 65.

The Gordon River and Wiggins Pass immortalize Collier County's first modern-day settlers-Roger Gordon and Joe Wiggins, who arrived in Naples in the late 1860s. When Louisville Courier-Journal owner Walter Haldeman arrived in 1887, he and fellow well-heeled Kentuckians helped turn Naples into a winter playground for the rich and famous. The Naples Hotel soon became the social center for visiting celebrities, among them Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, Greta Garbo and Gary Cooper.

In the 1920s, Barron Gift Collier bought more than a million acres of swampland, including most of Naples. He then pledged his own money to build the 275-mile Tamiami Trail, linking Tampa to Miami, which officially opened in April 1928. The completion of I-75 and the Southwest Florida International Airport some 60 years later put Collier County officially on the map. Today it's a study in paradoxical worlds-stretches of beaches boasting multimillion-dollar mansions and luxury high-rises and quiet fishing communities that recall another place and time. Home prices in some areas now command more than $20 million-well above the $125 of a turn-of-last-century beachfront lot.

Beaches

Consistently ranked among the world's best, Collier County's 17 miles of Gulf beaches can be reached within a half-hour drive from most anywhere in the county. Forming a winding ribbon of shell-strewn white sand, the county's coastline extends south from Barefoot Beach at the Lee County line to Marco Island, the largest of the area's famed Ten Thousand Islands. The shore alternates between more than three miles of city and county beach parks, state preserves, neighborhoods of beachfront cottages, mansions and high-rises and the Gulf-front resorts in Naples. Travel south from Naples and beaches give way to a mangrove-tangled coastline that signifies the beginning of the Everglades.

Most beachfront homes are found in named communities, gated and nongated. Those not directly on the Gulf are within an easy walk and boast something their beachfront siblings can't-deep water for a prized boat-in-your-backyard lifestyle. Yet, living on the beach comes with a cost: higher home prices and some lack of privacy (all beaches are public).

Barefoot Beach is flanked by a county beach park and the 324-acre Barefoot Beach Preserve state park where visitors are updated daily on wildlife sightings-everything from bottle-nose dolphins to sea turtles and gopher tortoises. The neighborhood is a short walk or bike ride away from several restaurants (seafood is the specialty) and retail stores along Bonita Beach Road. The adjoining Bonita Springs beach access offers picnic and restroom amenities and wide shell-crushed beaches. Some of the best hotdogs around can be found under the umbrella of a curbside vendor. Nearby Doc's Beach House, a two-story landmark, serves up burgers, sandwiches, seafood, a fabulous grouper sandwich and pitchers of beer. Open until 11 p.m., it's also one of the most popular sunset-viewing spots on Bonita Beach.

Homes in Barefoot Beach, found in just a handful of neighborhoods, range from condominiums, villas, cottages and three- and four-story Mediterranean and Florida-style homes. "Homes have become bigger and more expensive over the years," says Barefoot Beach Realty's Nick Fontana, who's been selling Barefoot Beach property for nearly 20 years and has seen most of the neighborhood's original beach cottages razed and replaced.

Vanderbilt Beach, south of Barefoot Beach, offers a multitude of waterfront options: single-family homes along canals, bays and the beach and Gulf-front high-rises with views of the Gulf and Sanibel Island. The neighborhood demonstrates Southwest Florida's ease in the art of juxtaposition; it's sandwiched between the natural beauty of Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park on the north and the cosmopolitan resorts, boutiques and restaurants to the south at Gulfshore Drive and Vanderbilt Beach Road, home to the Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort and Vanderbilt Beach Park.

Delnor-Wiggins Pass is coveted for its amenities that give visitors the opportunity to enjoy nature's bounty, from snorkeling, sun worshipping and swimming to fishing and kayaking along estuaries and scuba diving the hard-bottom reef of the Gulf. Gulfshore Drive ends at Vanderbilt Beach's southern boundary and is lined by condos, resorts and the occasional single-family home. Vanderbilt Beach Park offers sugary beaches and newly added parking, thanks to a new parking garage. Residents and beach visitors soon discover the area's close-to-everything amenities, including top-star dining at Baleen in LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort; Da Ru Ma, a Japanese steakhouse; or the Turtle Club, part of the quaint Vanderbilt Beach Resort.

The 2,100-acre Pelican Bay community occupies the sprawling span of land between Vanderbilt Beach Road and Seagate Drive. Only a handful of luxury high-rises and The Strand, an exclusive triple-gated neighborhood of just a dozen multi-story Mediterranean homes, enjoy an on-the-beach venue. Developer WCI Communities, however, brings the beach to Pelican Bay residents, who can opt for membership privileges in a private beach club. Prime shopping is close by at the tony Waterside Shops, where a recent renovation yielded a more contemporary look and exclusive boutiques from Gucci, Burberry, Hérmes, Tiffany & Co. and other high-end designers and retailers. Other symbols of Naples' growing cultural cachet are the newly renamed Naples Grande Resort and entertainment options at the nearby Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts and Naples Museum of Art.

Neighboring clam pass Beach Park marks the northern point of Naples proper and its 10 miles of beaches that earned kudos in 2005 from the Travel Channel as America's Best All-Around Beach. Beaches stretch along Gulf Shore boulevards north and south from Seagate Drive to Gordon Pass, the southernmost point of the famous Port Royal neighborhood. The coastal boulevard passes elegant high-rises, high-end resorts and restaurants, and offers glimpses of the Gulf between the homes, an eclectic mix of new estates and older cottages, some dating back to the late 1880s. Clam Pass' three-quarter- mile boardwalk winds through scenic mangrove forests and over coastal dunes en route to the 35-acre county park, where amenities include picnic areas, rentals and a canoe launch. Naples Cay and Park Shore, just south of Naples Grande, are mainly high-rise condo communities, offering a mix of old and new buildings. Naples Cay is set on 33 acres of preserve and the white-sand beach of Clam Bay. Park Shore incorporates single-family homes and towers along Gulf Shore Boulevard North and the picturesque and oft-photographed Village on Venetian Bay, an upscale collection of restaurants, boutiques and galleries.

The northern sweep of Gulf Shore Boulevard takes in two of Naples' oldest communities, The Moorings and Coquina Sands. Both feature mostly single-family homes (with some mid-rise condos) on larger landscaped lots (some waterfront) and homeowner associations with beach access. The Moorings, Naples' largest subdivision with more than 4,000 residents, 1,300 acres and 1,938 homes and apartments, offers many waterfront homes, including some with mile-long views to the Village on Venetian Bay, and frontage along Moorings Bay, which provides access to the Gulf at Doctors Pass. Homes in Coquina Sands are nestled along winding streets lined with ficus, banyan and palm trees and sidewalks for jogging, biking and walking. Close to the Fifth Avenue shopping district, the neighborhood is within walking distance of the resorts along Gulf Shore Boulevard.

Coquina Sands and Moorings residents are also close to Coastland Center shopping mall, Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, Fleishmann Park, Naples Community Hospital and perhaps one of Naples' best-kept secrets-the 9.5-acre Naples Preserve, a scrub oak community nestled into the southeast corner of U.S. 41 and Fleischmann Boulevard, just across from the mall. Although the unique glass and angular architecture of the preserve's eco-center should tip off the unsuspecting, visitors delight in the .4-mile boardwalk and the feeling of traveling back in time and viewing Florida 10,000 years ago.

Beach outposts in Naples include Lowdermilk Beach Park, offering shade trees, picnic tables, concessions and sand volleyball; public access points at the eastern boundaries of Naples' east-west avenues; and the picturesque Naples Pier, which extends 1,000 feet into the Gulf and is found at the west end of 12th Avenue South. The pier is especially popular with anglers; a bulk fishing license allows all to enjoy without an individual license. The facility also offers a concession stand, bait shop and volleyball nets. It's another favorite spot to catch a sunset.

Gulf Shore Boulevard North assumes its southern coordinate at Central Avenue, and rambles south passing old cottages and multimillion-dollar beachfront estates, hidden behind thick landscaping. One of Naples' most historic homes, the 1895 Palm Cottage, is found along the boulevard close to the beach. It was the home of Louisville Courier-Journal owner Walter Haldeman, who helped put Naples on the map. Gulf Shore Boulevard South eventually becomes Gordon Drive, the western boundary of Port Royal and the Port Royal Club, one of the world's most exclusive members-only clubs.

EVERGLADES CITY

Residents love Everglades City for what it doesn't have-a shopping mall, a traffic light, high-rise condos, golf courses or any of the amenities of its more suburban Collier County siblings. The original county seat and the staging area for Barron Collier's ambitious road-building undertaking (the Tamiami Trail), Everglades City is rich in history and prized for its natural setting, brushing up to the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve and set along the banks of Lake Placid and Chokoloskee Bay.

Yet with all this water, E.C. has no beaches. Inevitably residents are lured by the rural, small-town Americana delivered by E.C., all two miles by four blocks of it, and its ample opportunity for outdoor recreation-fishing, boating or kayaking around the Ten Thousand Islands or hiking and nature photography for landlubbers. In fact, Jan Brock, the sole real estate agent in Everglades City until a recent land rush a few years ago, sees a residency pattern. Southeast Floridians, she says, will buy a weekend escape, gradually lengthening their visits until it's finally time to make the move permanent. "Everglades City is laid back. You know you can't be at the mall in five minutes, and you really don't care," she says.

Everglades City becomes the center of the seafood universe each February with the annual Everglades Seafood Festival, featuring live music, rides, attractions and, you guessed it, seafood. Other nearby attractions include the Gulf Coast welcome center to Everglades National Park, the 11-mile Jane's Memorial Scenic Drive in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve (home of the elusive ghost orchid) and Ochopee, where Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher hangs his shingle and displays his famous black-and-whites.

Everglades City and its surrounding environs-Pleasure Island, Plantation Island, Copeland and Chokoloskee Island (a pioneer trading post and home to the historic Ted Smallwood's store) feature a variety of residential offerings-sportsmen's cabins and condos right on the water, million-dollar estates, Barron Collier-era cottages, mobile homes and vacant lots. Prices range from nearly $200,000 to more than $1 million.