The city also boasts modern metropolitan conveniences: a thriving international airport, sophisticated shopping, dining, and a continuous cultural menu of theatre, festivals, exhibits, fairs, and music from jazz to classical, bluegrass to blues.

For recreation, there's the restored and expanded city yacht basin, the white sands and famous shells of nearby Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island, and excellent fishing on the Caloosahatchee River and the Gulf.