Captiva island or Satibel???

Does Captive have the sea shells found in satibell island?

for anyone who experience bot, which would you recomend for beach and accomodations free from ';tacky sea side reort area';

Which is a better value. not giving up a class resort?\

What airport is nearest and how do you transfere to hotel without driving a car?

Captiva island or Satibel???

Captiva Island is quite upscale and, at the same time, quaint, and can be more pricey than Sanibel. The grand SouthSeas Island Plantation is there, but closed for repairs due to hurricane damage.

Sanibel is a place to ';kick back, relax, and enjoy natural surroundings';. Two thirds of the island has been kept undeveloped. You can travel all around it on bicycles. Resorts on Sanibel include Sundial and Casa Ybel...perhaps Casa Ybel is the most ';classy';.

Regional Southwest International Airport in Fort Myers. Limousine service is available, but highly recommend a rental car unless there is some specific reason why you prefer not to drive.

Captiva island or Satibel???

Tween Waters on Captiva is the best. Upscale but not snobby, good food, beautiful pool and beach. Not tacky. Been staying here for 10 yeras in Feb. Only complaint..some of the older room need facelife buy that%26#39;s minor. Tons of shells. Fort Meyers airport -would need a car.

My husband %26amp; I just stayed @ Sundial Resort West 3-21-09 - 03-28-09. We rented direct with the owners. The one bedroom Condo A-203 is so close to the water. We loved it. The condo was very comfortable. The pool was close by however we loved the beach. The condo provided beach chairs, umbrella and beach toys for children. The furniture on the lanai was also comfortable with a chaise lounge chair another reclining chair %26amp; ottoman and a table and four chairs. After viewing pics online it looked so conmfortable I never even checked with Sundial Resort for prices. We went direct with the owners which was so easy and everything they told us was true, no surprises. One thing for us it was no big deal, but if you rent thru the owners if you want to use some of the things at Sun Dial it%26#39;s extra which I find rediculous. The cost would have been $50.00 a day per person, even to use their bar or resteraunt. That seems so anti business to me, anyway we found wonderful places to dine on Sanibel and also Fort Myers. A203 was so nice we%26#39;re already trying to decided when to go back. The location, watching the sunrise, going to bed listening to the waves crash onshore......ahhhhh peaceful %26amp; wonderful!!!

There are no %26#39;tacky%26#39; areas on Sanibel. The %26#39;tacky%26#39; areas were over on Ft Myers Beach and gave it kind of a funky vibe, not run down. The city is slowly closing places and planning upscale generic places so the poor town will lose all it%26#39;s character.

I%26#39;ve vacationed on both islands many times. Shelling is better on Sanibel thanks to the shape of the island. Where it%26#39;s best varies a LOT. Blind Pass, where they%26#39;re currently doing dredgng, is one of my favorite spots.

Sanibel has better prices, but you can get a few more reasonable places on Captiva. Condos, always the most cost effective places, are more abundant and therefore priced more competitively on Sanibel.

It is almost impossible to get around either island without a car. Sanibel has 24 miles of bike paths, bu it isn%26#39;t practical in high summer because it%26#39;s just too hot and humid much of the time.

Many resort are not what you might of as %26#39;full service%26#39; resort. They%26#39;re condo resorts, so service levels are much lower. If you want resort style amenities here are your best bets:

Sanibel Inn - not the %26#39;residences%26#39; as their quality varies a lot

Sundial Resort (rent from and owner or agency and pay the resort access fee separately)

Casa Ybel - the nicest resort on Sanibel and closest to a true resort

Island Inn - and historic imm with a range of accommodation

West Wind Inn or Sunset Beach Resort - similar motel style complexes on West Gulf in very quiet locations. West Wind has a pool bar and food service. Sunset Beach has nicer room and no food/restaurant on site

Castaways Cottage - a small complex of historic cottages that have all the pluses and minuses of such places, but a killer location. Profoundly not upscale. Three restaurants are adjacent to the property

Captiva

Tween Waters Inn - an historic resort with cottages and rooms on historic buildings. They have renovated, but the buildings are just old wooden strictures. Nice pool busy marina, best restaurant on Captiva. You walk across the stree to the Gulf. There are no building on the Gulf there, but you do the street. Second bar that often has live entertainment.

South Seas Resort - Killer location on 300+ acres covering the entire north tip of Captiva. Sprawling 2.5 miles of beach front, it has a very wide range of of accommodations from rooms to private mansions. It also hosts a number of timeshares that are like tenets on the property. Beautiful pool complex bayside at the north end.

For questions on Sundial or SSR, please ask separately as they are manged very differently from what you%26#39;re used to.

Airport transfer FROM the airport to SSR will be about 60 minutes and cost is about $81 + tip using either a taxi or car service one way. Going back, the prices are not controlled, so they%26#39;re higher. SSR has transfer service, but you have to ask them. Rates to Sanibel have two tiers - from Tarpon Bay Rd t the Lighthouse is $61+tip from Tarpon Bay Rd to Blind Pass Bridge it%26#39;s $60+tip No tax service both island, though Sanibel has a kind of unreliable taxi services if you want to around. You can rent cars on the island for a day, but frankly, a week rental is usually cheaper than the transfers and you%26#39;ll the car to get to the restaurants.

Time to reach the east end of Sanibel from RSW airport is 35 to 40 minutes. Nearest airport with 2 non-stops a day from Newark on Continental is Ft Myers International (RSW) airport.

Nothing tacky on captiva...at all.place is island paradise....and im from jersey..trust me..i know tacky..