There are places you visit and places that stay with you. Sanibel Island is firmly in the second category. Ben and I visited briefly one year, fell quietly and completely in love, and returned the following summer for a longer stay — the kind of trip where you slow all the way down, wake up early to walk the beach before anyone else is out, and find yourself already planning the next visit before you’ve even left. Sanibel has that effect on people.
If you’ve been wondering whether now is the right time to go — it is. After Hurricane Ian struck in September 2022 and caused catastrophic damage across the island, followed by additional storms in 2024, Sanibel has mounted one of the most extraordinary community recoveries in Florida’s history. As of 2026, more than 72% of businesses have reopened, the causeway’s been beautifully rebuilt, the beaches are full of shells, and the New York Times named Sanibel and Captiva one of its 52 Places to Go in 2026. The island isn’t perfectly finished — some restoration is still ongoing — but it’s genuinely open, genuinely beautiful, and genuinely ready. Visiting now is both a wonderful experience and a meaningful act of support for a community that’s earned it.
Here’s everything from our visits, updated with what you need to know.
A Note on Sanibel’s Recovery
Before the restaurants and the beaches and the bike trails, this deserves its own space — because if you’re searching for Sanibel, you’re probably searching for this first.
Hurricane Ian made landfall near Sanibel on September 28, 2022 as a Category 4 storm with winds reaching 150 miles per hour and storm surge as high as 13 feet. It damaged every structure on the island and washed out five sections of the Sanibel Causeway, the only road connecting the island to the mainland. The images went around the world. Residents were stranded. The recovery that followed has taken years of patient, determined, community-led work.
What exists now is something genuinely moving. The causeway underwent a full $328 million reconstruction and reopened stronger and more beautiful than before, with the three causeway islands open to visitors offering free parking and beach access. The beaches have regenerated — dune grasses, sea oats, clear Gulf water — and the 25-mile network of bike paths that defines the Sanibel experience is completely intact. The J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is fully open, bald eagles are nesting, roseate spoonbills are back. More than 1,771 hotel rooms are available on the island, including brand new properties built to modern hurricane-resistant standards. The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce has shifted its messaging from recovery to destination — their banner now reads simply: “Just another day in paradise.”
Some tree canopy is still growing back and construction continues in pockets. But the feeling of Sanibel in 2026 isn’t a place in crisis. It’s a place that endured something terrible, responded with remarkable grace, and is ready — genuinely, warmly ready — to welcome you.
Where to Stay on Sanibel Island
On our longer visit, we stayed in an Airbnb at Sanibel Siesta — a condo a short walk from the beach, which turned out to be the ideal base. Being on the island rather than the mainland changes the experience entirely. You can walk to the beach before breakfast, bike Periwinkle Way in the afternoon, and ease into the unhurried pace that Sanibel does so distinctively well.
For 2026, the accommodation landscape has expanded beautifully. Sanibel Inn was among the first major properties to reopen and remains one of the most beloved addresses on the island. Sundial Resort is back and a particularly wonderful option for families. The most exciting new arrival is Shalimar Beach Resort, which opened in September 2025 as the first newly constructed hotel on Sanibel in more than four decades — designed from the ground up to modern hurricane-resistant standards and beautifully done. Casa Ybel Resort, Signal Inn, Sanibel Moorings, and a growing collection of vacation rental condominiums round out an increasingly strong roster of options.
The Best Things to Do on Sanibel Island
Go Shelling on the Beaches
Sanibel’s reputation as the Seashell Capital of the World is entirely deserved. The island’s unique east-west orientation perpendicular to the coastline, combined with a shallow underwater shelf, funnels an extraordinary abundance of shells ashore with minimal damage. Whelks, conchs, coquinas, sand dollars, and the prized and elusive Junonia all wash onto these beaches. They’re fully restored and as generous as ever.
The best shelling is at Bowman’s Beach, Lighthouse Beach, and Blind Pass — early morning at low tide, when the light’s still golden and the beach belongs almost entirely to you. The bent-over posture of the devoted shell hunter is affectionately known as the Sanibel Stoop. You’ll understand why within minutes.
Explore J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
Ding Darling covers one-third of Sanibel Island and protects one of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystems in the country. It’s completely open — Wildlife Drive is accessible by car and bicycle, the Indigo Trail and Bailey Tract are open for hiking, and Tarpon Bay Explorers offers kayak and canoe rentals right inside the refuge. The wildlife is extraordinary: roseate spoonbills, alligators, manatees, bald eagles, and more than 270 species of birds. We’ve visited twice and the experience is genuinely different each time. Before you go, pick up a Birds and Wildlife of Sanibel Island laminated guide — it deepens the whole visit in a way that’s hard to overstate.
Bike Along Periwinkle Way
The 25-mile network of bike and walking trails is one of Sanibel’s great quiet pleasures. The main trail runs along Periwinkle Way, the island’s central artery, which means you can ride at your own pace and wander into whatever catches your eye — a shop, a café, a stretch of mangroves that stops you in your tracks. Biking’s the definitive way to experience Sanibel. Billy’s Bikes on Periwinkle Way has been a local institution for rentals for decades, and many accommodations offer bikes as well.
Visit the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum
The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum reopened with an expanded second-floor Great Hall of Shells in 2025, and it’s a beautiful, genuinely fascinating experience for all ages. The kind of place that makes you look at the shells you collected on the beach that morning with entirely new eyes. It’s worth a visit on its own merits — even more so paired with a morning of shelling.
Explore Tarpon Bay Beach
Tarpon Bay Beach is the kind of place that feels like a discovery even though it’s not a secret. Calm water, beautiful shelling, and a quieter and more contemplative atmosphere than the more visited stretches of beach. Bike here, take your time, and stay longer than you planned.
Where to Eat on Sanibel Island
Mudbugs Cajun Kitchen
Mudbugs is Sanibel’s most festive dining experience — a two-story Cajun restaurant on Periwinkle Way with two full bars, live music every evening, indoor and outdoor seating, and a menu that brings New Orleans to the Gulf Coast with real conviction. Chargrilled oysters, crawfish, jambalaya, po’boys, gumbo. Mudbugs weathered the storms and emerged as lively and welcoming as ever. Sit on the upper outdoor deck if you can — the atmosphere on a warm evening is something special.
Mudbugs Cajun Kitchen — 1473 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, FL 33957
Lighthouse Café
The original Lighthouse Café was destroyed by Hurricane Ian, but in one of the most beloved comeback stories on the island, it was rebuilt at a new location on Periwinkle Way and reopened in 2024 — complete with the original wooden sign that a devoted patron recovered from the storm debris and brought back. It’s the quintessential Sanibel breakfast: warm, unhurried, delicious, and deeply connected to the community that built it. Begin your mornings here.
Lighthouse Café — 1020 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, FL 33957
Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille
Doc Ford’s was among the very first restaurants to reopen after Hurricane Ian — a fact that says everything about the spirit of the place. Founded by author Randy Wayne White, whose beloved Doc Ford mystery series is set on Sanibel, it’s a wonderful destination for fresh Gulf seafood, craft rum cocktails, and an atmosphere that feels like a genuine celebration of island life. A Sanibel institution, restored and thriving.
Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille — 2500 Island Inn Road, Sanibel, FL 33957
Before You Go: A Few Things Worth Knowing
Shell at low tide, early morning. This is when the beaches are at their most serene and their most generous. It’s worth setting an alarm.
Bring a reusable bag — or two. You’ll need it.
Rent bikes. It’s the most rewarding way to move through the island and one of the simple pleasures of being there.
Check current hours before heading out. Sanibel’s still actively rebuilding and schedules can shift. The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce maintains a current and reliable list of what’s open.
Visit Ding Darling on a weekday morning. The early light on the mangroves and the relative quiet of a weekday make for the most extraordinary experience. Bring the laminated wildlife guide.
Plan for at least two nights. Sanibel reveals itself slowly, and that’s exactly the point. Give yourself enough time to stop rushing and start noticing.
There’s a particular quality to Sanibel that’s difficult to articulate and impossible to forget — something in the pace of it, the naturalness of it, the way the shells wash in and the birds move through the mangroves and the whole island seems to operate on its own unhurried frequency. It’s been through a great deal. The community that loves and tends it has shown up with a resilience and a devotion that’s genuinely moving. Visiting now isn’t just a beautiful choice for a trip — it’s a small, meaningful way of showing up for a place that’s shown up for itself, again and again, through everything.
We hope to go back soon. We always do.
