Miami - October 26, 2009

Naples Sugar

Road Trip to Naples

If you like pina coladas, plan an escape. Just across the Everglades, Naples ups the ante of Gulf Coast white sand with prime dining, culture, and shopping.

Read the Paper in Bed
At the serene LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort, eat at Baleen (with your toes in the sand) and relax at SpaTerre. With the Fall for You Package (through December 17), you’ll get resort credits at both places that increase each night.

Into Health Food
Dine on the patio of Sea Salt on dishes made with wild-caught seafood, organic produce, and naturally raised meats. USS Nemo spices up the undersea theme with Indian and Far Eastern seafood dishes (blue crab cake with dill raita, tandoori-spiced mahi).

The Taste of Champagne
Throw on a little black something and get cozy on an outdoor couch at Handsome Harry’s. Enjoy nightly live music, a 24-ounce Bloody Mary, and free Latin dance lessons on Thursdays from 8 to 9 p.m.

Lovely Lady
Absorb the aesthetics of Third Street, where boutiques like Tickled Pink (1300 Third Street South; 239-435-0004) for fashion (Nanette Lepore, Susana Monaco, Trina Turk) and A Mano (for darling hoop earrings) alternate with galleries like The Lady from Haiti.

Nobody’s Poet
Naples Philharmonic Orchestra (yes, Naples has a beautiful philharmonic) performs classic pieces, like The Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, along with tribute shows to The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

You should be making love by midnight.

Keep on truckin’. For more road trip ideas, go to dailycandy.com/guides.

Photo: Courtesy of LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort

  Road Trip