The practical argument for staying on the south end is that you do not have to leave it. Santini Marina Plaza sits at 7205 Estero Boulevard, a short way north of the condo, and it covers most of what a week actually requires — dinner, a bottle of wine, groceries in a pinch, and the hardware you forgot to pack.
It also matters as a marker of where the island is. Santini took the storm hard and came back, and the plaza being busy again is the clearest sign on the south end that this is a working neighbourhood rather than a construction site.
What is there
- Legano Italian Kitchen — sit-down Italian with live music on the schedule, and the most likely answer to "where are we eating tonight" without getting in the car for long
- South Beach Grille — casual, local, the sort of place you end up at twice in a week
- Liquor store — for the evenings on the lanai, which is most of them
- Ace Hardware — beach chairs, a cooler, sunscreen, batteries, the charger cable someone left in Ohio
The Ace is more useful than it sounds. On a barrier island, the nearest big-box store is a bridge and twenty minutes away, and a hardware store that stocks beach gear solves most holiday emergencies at ten in the morning.
The Santini Farmers Market
Market details
- When
- Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Season
- Early January through the end of April
- Where
- Santini Marina Plaza, 7205 Estero Blvd
It is a seasonal market, which means it runs through exactly the months most people visit and closes for the summer. Produce, prepared food, baked goods and crafts from local vendors. Go early — the good bread does not last until noon, and parking at the plaza gets tight by ten.
If you are cooking in the condo for the week, a Tuesday market run plus one proper grocery shop covers you comfortably.
Where this is from the condo: Santini Plaza is at 7205 Estero Blvd; the condo is at 7700. A few minutes up the boulevard on foot, by bike, or on the trolley.
Check your dates at Eden House 403 or look through the photos.
Groceries and the weekly shop
Publix is the main grocery option, a few minutes up Estero Boulevard, and it is where most visitors do the real shop. Go on your arrival evening or first morning rather than mid-week — Saturday changeover day is the busiest the island gets, and the checkout queues reflect it.
The condo kitchen is fully equipped, so you can genuinely cook: full-size range and oven, French-door refrigerator, dishwasher, coffee maker, knives, cookware and dishes for six. Between the market, Publix and one or two nights out, most guests spend far less on food here than they expect.
Eating further afield
When you do want to go out properly, the island's waterfront restaurants and the Times Square cluster are north — an easy drive, or the beach trolley if you would rather not park. Heading the other way over the Big Carlos Pass bridge puts Bonita Springs and, a bit beyond, Naples within reach for a special dinner.
That is the quiet advantage of this end of the island. You are close enough to everything to go when you want to, and far enough from it that you can hear the surf when you do not.