Heads up Cape Coral, Airbnb has noted that you are top destination this summer.
For those of you who are fairly new to Southwest Florida, it didn't use to be like this. Traffic was thick over the winter months, and then in the summer we pretty much had the town to ourselves. Sure, there was a few more people around over 3 day weekends and a few families with their summer vacations. But for the out of towners, our summers were just considered to be too hot. That's all changed.
In Airbnb's Top 15 summer travel destinations for 2022 I was shocked to see two of our spots made the list. Fort Myers I can kind of understand because of the beaches. Those white sand beaches posted all over Insta look absolutely amazing. But Cape Coral? Cape Coral doesn't have those beaches, so aside from El Chocolate Cafe (and that Cuban pizza), I didn't understand what made Cape Coral such a hotspot. Then I found this on the Travel and Leisure website.
The site is literally comparing Cape Coral to Venice, Italy. The site notes: "The small Florida city has more canals than anywhere else in the world — including Venice. That's why it's known by locals as "Waterfront Wonderland."
They continue, "There are more than 400 miles of navigable waterways in Cape Coral that can take you to the Calooshatchee River, Matlacha Pass, and the Gulf of Mexico. Or you can journey via canalways down to Cape Coral's downtown district. (If you don't have your own boat, you can easily charter one — or try to befriend a local.)"
So, there's a New York based writer on a major travel site talking up Cape Coral's farmer's market, Wicked Rum Distillery, and basically your ability to take a boat anywhere you want to go in town. This is great for the tourism industry in Cape Coral, but man, the traffic.
Here's some of the Cape Coral places up on Airbnb right now. After this, ya'll might actually consider charging more.
