If anyone has suggestions of good towns/neighborhoods to check out on the E Coast south of Melbourne or the W Coast south of Sarasota, please let me know. We are going over to the W Coast in a couple of weeks to explore SW FL.
Generalizations are dangerous, but these are my impressions based on day tripping SWF for a decade.
Gasparilla is old money (ie Tucker Carlson)
From there to Cape Coral is economy land.
Arcadia is an historic cattle town with a lot of antique shops, monthly flee market.
Babcock Ranch is a new family oriented designed inland city, with utopian ideals.
Cape Coral is canal homes with docks, and 70s style bungalows.
North Fort Myers looks like rougher authentic Florida.
Fort Myers restored urban core is nice, with some century home enclaves, but close to challenged areas.
Fort Myers beach, before getting wiped, was middle class beach town.
Sanibel Island is old moderate money, genteel
Captiva is hedge fund big money.
Most of Lee County near water is dated. Note that Caloosahatchie drains lake Okechobee, whereas Peace River (Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte) is a clean river.
Daniels Blvd communities are less dated, and have a Whole Foods.
Treeline Blvd is just filling up.
Note how close Lee County areas are to the airport.
Newest stuff is up Corkscrew.
Estero has some charming old Florida spots
Bonita has great access to beach.
It gets progressively more expensive as you approach Naples, which skews big tasteful money
Marco Island is special but dated. I think Hannity is there. Try Stilts cafe.
Ave Maria is conceived as a Catholic Town. Check out the unusual cathedral.