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Best of the Best Bucket List 2025

Enjoy these award-winners for your best stay ever.

Best of the Best Bucket List 2025

Bowman's Beach

Where to Get Your Beach Fix

The stunning natural beauty and historic charm of Sanibel Island offers an escape that’s sure to steal your heart. Unwind on pristine Bowman’s Beach, where gentle waves sooth the soul and seashells blanket the shores.

Sanibel Island

Accolades for Sanibel Island

  • Travel + Leisure Readers' #11 Favorite Islands in the Continental U.S.
  • Travel + Leisure's 50 Places to Travel in 2025

Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island

Accolades for Bowman's Beach

  • #6 Best Beach in Florida - USA Today 10Best
  • #9 National Geographic’s 100 Beaches of a Lifetime
  • Condé Nast Traveler’s 21 Best Beaches in Florida

Where to Stay

Indulge in a stay at the historic Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande, an elegant island enclave, family owned and operated, with a century-long tradition of southern hospitality: “Our guest’s loyalty and enthusiasm inspire everything we do.”

Gasparilla Inn

The Gasparilla Inn won the #1 spot on Travel + Leisure Readers' 15 Favorite Resorts in Florida, surpassing thousands of other resorts in the state. 

Every whim is answered within steps at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa in Bonita Springs, a sanctuary of total relaxation. Treat yourself to a massage at the spa then meander down the lazy river while the kids enjoy the waterslides.

Lazy river at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point

The Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa also received rave reviews from Travel + Leisure Readers, ranking #13 on their list of favorite resorts in Florida. 

Where to Dine

How about one of the most romantic restaurants in America? Revel in the intimate setting of Angelina's Ristorante and raise a glass to the good life. 

Angelina's Ristorante

Angelina's was named one of OpenTable’s Top 100 Romantic Restaurants in the Country and has earned the coveted Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence every year since 2012. 

Cabbage Key Restaurant

On USA TODAY Network’s List of Charmingly Historic Restaurants 

At Cabbage Key Restaurant, breezy vibes and a juicy cheeseburger may remind you of a certain tune... Indeed, Jimmy Buffett was one of many celebrities who frequented this Old Florida hideaway.

Where to Explore

Tour the historic winter homes, acres of botanical gardens and fascinating inventions of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford at Edison and Ford Winter Estates.

Edison and Ford Winter Estates

This charming attraction was accredited by The American Alliance of Museums for its quality and credibility, one of only 1,122 museums to earn this honor out of 30,000+ museums across the U.S.

Getting Here

Breeze Airways was named #3 domestic airline in Travel + Leisure's World Best Awards and one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. Southwest Florida International Airport here in Fort Myers is one of Breeze's base of operations and offers affordable, nonstop and direct flights to and from 30 cities in the U.S.