Are you planning a Sanibel & Captiva Long Weekend Trip? Check out our trip journal from our latest trip to Sanibel and Captiva Island, Florida. This itinerary includes all of our favorite Sanibel & Captiva restaurants, things to do, attractions, and beach parks.
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Sanibel & Captiva Long Weekend
We spent a long weekend on Sanibel & Captiva Island exploring new restaurants, beach parks, and fun things to do while also visiting some of our favorite places.
Our goal was to try and visit all new restaurants along with The Bubble Room which recently re-opened. We are super excited to share our long weekend itinerary for Sanibel & Captiva Island with you.
Day 1 - Gulf Shores to Sanibel Island
We left Gulf Shores early in the morning to get to Sanibel before it got too late.
Thankfully, the route takes us through Pensacola, so it was the perfect time to grab a sweet treat from Maynards Donuts and a couple of kolaches for breakfast. You know we had to grab a drink at Dutch Bros. since it was so close. Tropical Green Tea is always a good idea.
Tallahassee was the perfect break to grab snacks at Trader Joe's and a quick lunch before heading back out on the interstate. It was a pretty smooth drive all the way down to St. Pete/Tampa area. We got caught in a small amount of traffic, but nothing crazy.
As we were getting closer to Sanibel the sky opened up with some good rain. We made it to the Sanibel Causeway Islands Park for sunset, and it was amazing.
The most amazing purple sunset greeted us as we pulled onto the island. It was breathtaking.
We checked into the Residence Inn Sanibel/Fort Myers again for our stay. It is just off the island.
Day 2 - Sanibel Shelling and Captiva Bubble Room Fun
The day started early, checking out the Causeway Island Park Beach and heading to Sanibel Cafe for breakfast.
The Sanibel Cafe is a great local restaurant with the best shell tables I have ever seen. The shell tables are designed with fossilized shells, and trust me, you need to go see them.
The food at Sanibel Cafe was perfect for starting our day on the island. Hearty and delicious omelets, along with a fantastic breakfast quesadilla. I may need to go back and buy their mermaid shirt. It is so cute, and I keep thinking about it.
After breakfast, we headed over to Algiers Beach to take a short walk and stretch our legs. The short walk turned into almost two hours of searching for shells and enjoying the walk along the Gulf. It was so nice out, I just kept walking.
I found a few of my favorite shells on Sanibel Island! It is hard to describe how good it feels to reach down and pull out a shell you have always wanted to find.
One of the things I love about shelling on Sanibel is how much fun everyone is having. I met a couple who live on the island, and he was tossing fun shells closer to the beach so that kids could find them. Another woman told me about a few other great shelling spots she loves along the Gulf Coast.
I forced myself to stop when I could feel how pink my cheeks were getting. OOPS! Thankfully, it was an easy drive over to Captiva to celebrate The Bubble Room's re-opening after 3 years.
I just found pictures of John and me visiting the Bubble Room in 2014. I have been searching for photos from a college trip to Sanibel during my undergraduate studies.
Lunch at the Bubble Room was fantastic! The food and drinks tasted amazing, and you know we had to get a slice or two of the Tropical Breeze Cake. We were seated at the Sweetheart's Table, and it was amazing. It felt like we were tucked away in the middle of the restaurant.
After lunch, we had to stop into the Bubble Room Emporium to check out the fun souvenirs and t-shirts.
Since the weather is gorgeous, we headed over to Alison Hagerup Beach Park to check out the updates that have been done. There have been quite a few changes since we were there last year.
The water looked amazing and was so lovely to walk along.
After a great beach walk, we decided to drive around the islands and look at the work that has been done since we were here a couple of months ago. It is amazing to see the progress and how many restaurants and stores have reopened.
We capped off the night with another gorgeous sunset from Causeway Islands Beach Park. This may be our new Sanibel Sunset watching spot during the summer.
Day 3 - Sanibel & Captiva Island
We enjoyed a slow start to the morning before heading over to Over Easy Cafe for breakfast.
This is one of our favorite Sanibel Breakfast Restaurants! The food is always delicious and the staff are amazing. I NEED you to order the orange cinnamon roll. It is hard to stop at just one.
From the first bite of the orange cinnamon roll, you can tell that it was freshly baked that morning with the best ingredients. I am ready to go back for another one as I type up this Sanibel trip itinerary. They are that good.
After breakfast, we headed to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It is a must-visit on Sanibel.
When we pulled into the visitor center parking lot, a Red-bellied Woodpecker was on the tree next to the car. It didn't care that we were sitting there and posed for pictures for a while.
Driving the JN Ding Darling Wildlife Drive is one of our favorite things to do on Sanibel Island. You can drive it 10 times in a row and see something different every time.
During this drive, we saw a group of 3-4 manatees right next to the overlook tower. They were so fun to watch up close.
We also saw White ibis, a Roseate Spoonbill, Herons, and Egrets during the drive.
One tip for traveling to Sanibel and Captiva Island is to write out the low tide times for your visit so you don't miss the optimal time for shelling.
Since the low tide was coming up, we headed to the beach for a long shelling walk. I try to get to the beach an hour or so ahead of low tide so I can wander the beach looking at shells as the water recedes.
The Gulf was incredibly calm and perfect for shelling on this walk. I ended up finding some epic shells, including Turbans, Angel Wing, Gaudy Nautica, Fighting Conch, and more.
It is so peaceful and relaxing to walk up and down the beach looking for your dream Sanibel shell.
After a couple of hours of walking in the direct sun, I was ready for a good lunch. We drove over to Captiva to visit Key Lime Bistro. They recently reopened and are serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Key Lime Bistro menu is filled with options! If they have tomato basil soup for the soup of the day, make sure to try it! YUM!
Everything we ordered was fantastic and tasted great. It was nice sitting inside, taking a break from the Florida Gulf Coast sun and relaxing in the air conditioning.
We headed down Andy Rosse Lane Beach Park after lunch to check on the progress of the Mucky Duck work. It is really cool to see the updates that have been done since our last visit. The Mucky Duck has brand-new windows, and a significant amount of work has been done on the exterior.
Hopefully, this Captiva Island restaurant will reopen soon. It is an icon of the islands.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we headed to Turner Beach to check if there were any shells, even though low tide had passed. I found a piece of a Junonia! It is the biggest piece I have found so far. Moving up slowly but surely to a complete Junonia shell.
Ice cream time! After two beach walks, it was time for an ice cream treat. We headed to Love Boat Ice Cream to check out this Sanibel Ice Cream shop for the 1st time.
They have so many flavors to choose from! The menu is massive with lots of unique ice cream flavors I hadn't seen before. The inside is super cute and comfortable to relax in.
Jerry's Grocery and Deli is next door, so you can grab any snacks and drinks you may want after relaxing with your ice cream treat.
We decided to drive back to Ding Darling NWR for another drive through the park since it was getting closer to sunset. The JN Ding Darling wildlife drive closes at 7:30 pm, so you want to make sure you are through the front gates before this time.
It was pretty quiet on our drive through Ding Darling until we came to an area with low water and tons of shorebirds. There were tons of egrets, herons, and a few Roseate Spoonbills all clustered together in the shallow water.
After a leisurely drive through the wildlife refuge, we headed back to Causeway Islands Beach Park for sunset. It was another gorgeous evening, with families relaxing on the beach as the sun set. The water is super calm next to the beach park, making it an excellent spot for kids to run in and out of the water.
Day 4 - Sanibel & Captiva Island
Started off the morning watching sunrise over the natural area behind the Residence Inn Fort Myers/Sanibel. It was gorgeous and so peaceful while checking emails and getting the day started.
We headed to Captiva Island to check out RC Otters for breakfast. We have been meaning to visit the restaurant during our last couple of visits. The colorful building is so fun.
Breakfast was interesting and hopefully not a normal example of their usual day. The server didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about being there. My eggs Benedict had a pretty good flavor. John's omelet was a bit burnt on the bottom. It was not the experience we hoped for on our 1st visit to the restaurant.
We will try the restaurant again on our next visit to Captiva to see if it was just an off day.
One fun thing about being on Captiva early in the morning was being able to stop at the Bubble Room for a few photos without a huge crowd.
I might have also stopped by Boops By the Bubble Room and picked up a slice of Tropical Breeze cake, because cake on the beach is always delicious.
There was parking available at Turner Beach, so we stopped to look through the shell piles and see if anything fun had washed up overnight.
I found a couple of fun shells and enjoyed hearing everyone's joy as they looked through the shell piles.
We decided to head off the island for a couple of hours and head to Trader Joe's in Fort Myers. Grabbed a few more delicious snacks and drinks before grabbing gas at Costco and heading back to Sanibel.
One fun thing about Sanibel and Captiva is that you can hop over to Fort Myers Beach and Fort Myers for a while to enjoy new restaurants and shopping if you want to change it up for a bit.
We headed straight to Gulfside City Beach so we could time our walk with low tide. It was HOT HOT HOT on the beach, but so pretty at the same time. The temperature felt like 109 during my beach walk.
I found a couple of cute little tulip shells and some fun, small fighting conch shells. There was a thunderstorm in the distance that kept getting louder, so I cut my walk short to make sure I didn't get soaked.
We headed to Cheeburger Cheeburger for lunch, and it was fantastic! The vibe is so much fun, and the food was great. Make sure to get the basket of fries and onion rings. YUM!
They have a huge list of milkshake flavors, including boozy shakes for adults. It is the perfect family-friendly restaurant on Sanibel Island.
After a leisurely lunch, soaking in the air conditioning and relaxed vibe of Cheeburger Cheeburger, we headed out to explore more of the island.
Did you know Sanibel has a Sanibel Historical Museum tucked away on the island? It looks amazing. Unfortunately, for this visit, they were closed for their annual break.
Even though it was a hot afternoon, we decided to take a drive through Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. One great thing about having a National Park access pass is that you get access to National Wildlife Refuges.
We didn't expect to see a ton of wildlife or birds given the heat, but we figured the drive would still be gorgeous. We were really surprised to see a raccoon walking along the road near us. It popped back and forth across the road a few times putting on a show.
We also saw a pair of Roseate spoonbills, reddish egrets, great egrets, and more shorebirds during the drive.
After a leisurely drive through the refuge, we head back towards the hotel. We thought about stopping for sunset at Causeway Island Beach Park but it didn't look like it was going to be much of a sunset.
When we got up to our room and looked out the window, we quickly realized how wrong we were about the sunset. The sky was a bright purple and pink with an unbelievable sunset that seemed to go on for a while. John and I had to laugh that we misjudged the sunset big time, and it decided to put on a show.
Day 5- Birthday fun on Sanibel
For the second year in a row, we are celebrating my birthday on Sanibel Island. Last year, John surprised me with a trip to Sanibel so I could watch sunset on my birthday from Alison Hagerup Beach Park.
This year, we decided to make it a full long weekend adventure.
We started the day with sunrise from Sanibel Causeway Islands Beach Park, and it was perfect.
For breakfast, we headed to Sanibel Deli and Coffee Factory. The past couple of days we have seen a lot of people heading there and knew we had to try it. This restaurant is fantastic.
The vibe is fun and eclectic. The breakfast was so good we can't wait to go back for lunch and try their pizzas and/or deli sandwiches. Their coffee is roasted locally and John said it was great. The Chai Tea was delicious.
We headed to Ding Darling NWR early in hopes that the sort of cooler weather would bring out more birds and wildlife. We were treated to an amazing manatee show in two different locations along the wildlife drive.
The manatees were bobbing up and down pretty close to the wildlife road. It was amazing to see them so close.
The Bailey-Mathews National Shell Museum has reopened on Sanibel with the majority of the shell museum open to the public. It was amazing to sit in the Great Hall of Shells and stare in awe at the displays.
They have finished phase 1 of the Great Hall of Shells and hope to open phase 2 soon. The downstairs portion of the museum now houses the Living Gallery of Aquariums.
We spent time just sitting in the Great Hall of Shells looking at all of the different species that are showcased. It is awe inspiring to see how big the shells can get and the different shapes and sizes.
They have a really fun exhibit on shells in fashion that was fascinating. We are already talking about planning a return getaway to Sanibel & Captiva Island when the next phase of the museum opens.
We headed to Rosalita's Cantina for a late lunch and it was delicious. A friend of ours who used to live in Fort Myers said it was their favorite Mexican restaurant in the area and we can see why.
The restaurant has a really cool vibe, the food was delicious, and our server was wonderful. She made our visit so much fun.
We timed our late lunch to fuel up for a final beach walk at Gulfside Beach Park. Knowing it was our last afternoon on the island, I wanted to make sure I had time to wander the beach at low tide and soak in the views of the Gulf.
This beach walk turned out to be a birthday gift on many levels. I finally saw a Black Bellied Plover and a Black Skimmer during my beach walk. I did a happy bird dance on the beach that probably looked funny but i was so excited to see them.
The Gulf presented me with a gorgeous Lightning Whelk and a few more Tulip shells as a birthday gift. It was hot during the walk but so worth it.
Back in 2014 I wrote a blog post on Tammilee Tips about the quirky mailboxes on Sanibel Island. After walking the beach we decided to explore a bit more of the islands and see if we could find new fun mailboxes to update the post.
It was super relaxing driving around the island seeing the fun mailboxes and the work that has been done to rebuild.
We timed our drive off the island perfectly with one last sunset from the Sanibel Causeway Islands Beach Park.
It was gorgeous and perfectly timed right before a thunderstorm blew in as we reached the hotel.
Day 6 - Travel Day Home
The hardest part of the trip is heading out and leaving Sanibel and Captiva Island in the rear view mirror.
We ended up waking up super early and heading out while it was still dark since John accidentally set the alarm 2 hours before we had planned to get up. Oops.
It ended up working out great and making the drive home pretty smooth. We saw Sandhill Cranes at a rest area along the way and managed to make it back to Gulf Shores before the sun went down.
Now that we are home, we are already planning our next Sanibel & Captiva Island adventure. There is something about the islands that just calls us back over and over again.
Sanibel Long Weekend Trip Recap
Hotel - Residence Inn Fort Myers Sanibel - This hotel is so close to Sanibel. 8 miles to Lighthouse Beach from the hotel! Book HERE
Sanibel & Captiva Restaurants
Sanibel Cafe - 2007 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel
The Bubble Room - 15001 Captiva Dr, Captiva
Over Easy Cafe - 2340 Periwinkle Way, Unit B, Sanibel
Key Lime Bistro - 11509 Andy Rosse Lane, Captiva
Mucky Duck - They are still working to reopen the Mucky Duck
Love Boat Ice Cream - 1700 Periwinkle Way #9, Sanibel
Jerry's Grocery and Deli - 1700 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel
RC Otter's - 11506 Andy Rosse Lane, Captiva
Boops by the Bubble Room - 15001 Captiva Dr., Captiva
Cheeburger Cheeburger - 1975 Periwinkle Way #4112, Sanibel
Sanibel Deli & Coffee Factory - 2330 Palm Ridge Rd., Sanibel
Rosalita's Cantina - 975 Rabbit Rd., Sanibel
Attractions/Things to do
Sanibel Causeway Island Beach Park - 19931 Sanibel Causeway, Sanibel
Algiers Beach - 2001 Algiers Ln., Sanibel
Bubble Room Emporium - 1500 Captiva Dr., Captiva
Alison Hagerup Beach Park - 14790 Captiva Dr., Captiva
Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge - 1 Wildlife Dr., Sanibel
Andy Rosse Lane Beach Park - 11523 Andy Rosse Lane, Captiva
Turner Beach - 17200 Captiva Dr., Captiva
Sanibel Historical Museum - 950 Dunlop Rd., Sanibel
Bailey-Mathews National Shell Museum - 3075 Sanibel Captiva Rd., Sanibel
Sanibel & Captiva Island Lodging
If you are visiting and need to book accommodations, here are our recommendations.
Residence Inn Ft Myers Sanibel - Located right off the island is a great hotel with outdoor pool. Book here
Marriott Sanibel Harbour Resort - Right off the Sanibel Causeway this Marriott has great rooms, an epic pool and easy access to the island. Book here
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