More than 70 percent of Sanibel Island’s businesses, restaurants and hotels have reopened since Hurricane Ian hit in 2022, The Points Guy reports. The beaches have been restored, and the Sanibel Causeway, which collapsed in sections during the storm and cut the island off by land, has been rebuilt. Rebuilding is still going on.
The island sits off Florida’s Gulf Coast and sells itself as the slow alternative to beach towns with boardwalks, beach bars and high-rise resorts. Its pitch is shell-covered sand, daily wildlife and a nature-first pace.
Getting there
There is no airport on the island, so visitors fly into a nearby city and drive across the causeway. Southwest Florida International (RSW) is the closest, about 25 miles east, or roughly 45 minutes by car. It has more than 75 nonstop routes from major U.S. cities on carriers including American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and United.
Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) is about 50 miles north, a drive of around an hour and 15 minutes. It is served mainly by Allegiant, with fewer routes. The payoff can be price: the writer paid $74.50 flying from Concord, North Carolina, and says fares can start as low as $65. Either way, you need a rental car or a rideshare to reach the island.
Where to stay
The island has a small hotel footprint, mostly independent resorts and inns. Several can be booked through Chase Travel, Capital One Travel and American Express Travel.
Sanibel Inn, voted the island’s best hotel in 2025 by Sanibel/Captiva Islander Magazine, sleeps parties of one to eight and has pickleball courts, temperature-controlled pools and bikes. Rates start at $284 a night, or 28,446 Capital One miles. Sundial Beach Resort and Spa is a full-service beachfront property that averages $459 a night, or 56,642 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Shalimar Beach Resort, family-owned since 1959, starts at $299 a night, or 33,315 points.
Cottage and condo rentals are common. Sanibel Cottages is a Hilton Grand Vacations property, and some HGV resorts can be booked with standard Hilton Honors points.
Eating
For breakfast, Over Easy Cafe is the island favorite. The writer rates the crisp, not-too-sweet coconut pancakes above the Scrambler, which puts three eggs on a toasted English muffin, and the giant homemade sticky orange roll.
Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille has one order worth knowing: the Yucatan shrimp, steamed peel-and-eat shrimp in a spicy citrus butter sauce with crusty bread. Timbers Restaurant and Fish Market pairs a seafood restaurant with an on-site fish market, and its daily fresh catch depends on what came in locally. Next door, its sister restaurant The Sanibel Grill is more casual, with burgers, wings, pizza and seafood. Pinocchio’s Original Italian Ice Cream rotates through 130 homemade ice cream and sorbet flavors.
Shells, sunsets and bikes
Called the “Seashell Capital of the World,” Sanibel has over 400 species of shells. Because of the island’s orientation, shells wash up daily. Searchers bend over the sand in what locals call the “Sanibel stoop,” and the best hunting is at low tide or after a storm. Dolphins are often visible in the distance at sunset.
The Sanibel Island Farmers Market runs every Sunday with produce, flowers, jewelry, baked goods and food trucks. Nearly 70 percent of the land is protected as wetlands, wildlife refuge and conservation land. The island has no street or traffic lights, which keeps nesting sea turtles from becoming disoriented. Bike paths run past refuges including J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and several shops rent bikes.
