Naples Editor Picks

The Ritz's 450-room property on the Gulf sands is hands-down the top hotel address in town. Marble vanities, Bulgari bath products, flat-screen TVs, and elegant furnishings are expected Ritzy touches, but it’s the added amenities that keep it in the good graces of its well-heeled clientele. Each day, guests have access to one of the two 18-hole Greg Norman-designed golf courses at Tiburon, located three miles away at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort. Onsite amenities include four lighted tennis courts, seven restaurants, a spa, a fitness center with personal trainers, sailboat and kayak rentals. Hotel guests can participate in the Nature's Wonders environmental program, which offers kid-friendly touch tanks, close-ups with baby alligators, and wildlife-oriented field trips.

Tree-lined street views surround the Trianon in downtown Naples, a short walk from the Fifth Avenue South shopping and restaurant district and less than a mile from the beach. The high-ceilinged lobby with traditional furnishings, fireplace, and chandeliers seems a little fussy for this friendly property. The 55 spacious rooms and three one-bedroom suites all have terraces or balconies; the heated pool is small, but well maintained. Continental breakfast and WiFi are included.

This grassroots organization puts an emphasis on education; its Discovery Center teaches lessons about wild Florida with a sea-life touch tank and simulated panther habitat. A birding trail, kayak rentals, and electric boat rides on the Gordon River entice grown-up explorers.

A mile of Naples's famous white sand runs through this Gulf Coast park, which is good for swimming, snorkeling, shelling, and picnics. Fishermen cast their lines at Wiggins Pass, which is off-limits to swimmers; parking area 2 is closest to the offshore reef where scuba diving is permitted; a tower at the north end provides great coastal views. Open daily, 8am to sundown.

Alligators, river otters, white-tailed deer, and the elusive Florida panther lurk among the sanctuary's 11,000 acres of marshes, cypress forests, and pine uplands; it's also home to the endangered ghost orchid, the floral star of Susan Orlean's best-selling book, The Orchid Thief. Alas adventurers, visitors must stick to the raised 2.25-mile boardwalk trail. Open daily except during violent weather; October 1 to April 10, 7am-5:30pm; April 11 to September 30, 7am-7:30pm; last admission one hour before closing.

Pro golfer Greg Norman designed Tiburon with a British Open course in mind – fast and firm in a beautiful natural setting. Stacked sod-wall bunkers and coquina (rock made of shell fragments) bunkers are unusual features of the two 18-hole courses: the Black, a 7,005-yard, par 72, and the Gold, a 7,228-yard, par 72. The swanky club is open to guests of Naples's two Ritz-Carlton resorts.

Lely's Classics course is members only, but its two well-regarded 18-hole courses are open to the public: the tree-lined Flamingo Island, with lakes factoring into 11 holes and a signature par three with an island green; and the newer Mustang, designed by former PGA heavyweight Lee Trevino (both par 72).

The cheery blue and white façade of this locally beloved French restaurant makes it easy to...more

A mostly Latino clientele frequents this little Mexican joint, where two bucks buys a piece of...more

Resembling a two-story Mediterranean villa, Lurcat does double-duty: chic resto-lounge...more