Florida
Beautiful Sanibel Island and the Southwest Florida Gulf Coast
Program No. 20899RJ
Discover the rich cultural and ecological heritage of Sanibel Island as you explore its museums, photograph its diverse wildlife and beachcomb for shells with an expert conchologist.
Participant Reviews
Based on 35 Reviews
SHOWING
It is special to stay in one place and learn about its history and the natural world it resides in. We lucked out with perfect weather for our exploration.
— Review left February 25, 2026
Tour director was personable, well organized, effective and entertaining.
— Review left February 12, 2026
I saw Sanibel in a whole new light and, despite previous trips to the island, I learned a tremendous amount about the area and the surrounding ecosystem. the shell museum was amazing.
— Review left January 25, 2026
Road Scholar's Sanibel Island program is a delight. We saw dozens of birds in the Ding Darling wildlife reserve with the guidance of naturalists and dozens of playful dolphins on a boat ride and could collect dozens of shells on the beach if we wished. Walking the beach with a naturalist was such a treat! We could pick up any shell or other sea life and she could tell us what it was along with stories about it. The accommodations were spacious with complete kitchens and living rooms as well as a bedroom. All meals were delicious and lots of seafood was available. Our group leader, Nolan, was delightful and a great community builder. I highly reccommend this trip, especially for those who live in northern climates and need a little sunshine and warmth un the winter.
— Review left January 24, 2026
What a wonderful experience for our first Road Scholar trip. We look forward to signing up for another program.
— Review left January 19, 2026
A wonderful opportunity to learn about this very special island that has an interesting history, beautiful shells, the only U.S. seashell museum, and a wildlife refuge. I am so happy that I took this trip. I learned so much!
— Review left December 22, 2025
I am so pleased with the value, the quality of the accomodations, and the expertise of our tour leader that I will definitely travel with Road Scholar again.
— Review left December 15, 2025
Experiencing Sanibel Island was a great learning experience. What a remarkable comeback for the flora, marine creatures and the residents!
— Review left December 15, 2025
This is a very informative and fun trip, especially the shell museum and the boat ride to look for dolphins. We found a small pod with two mamas and two babies!
— Review left December 10, 2025
This was a very interesting program of learning how nature recovers from devastation and how people recover from devastation. The title perhaps should be temporarily changed from "Beautiful Sanibel" to "Recovering Sanibel." The effects of three hurricanes in two years is evident everywhere. I felt adventuresome visiting Sanibel at this time and have great appreciation for the resilience of nature and the resilience of people as they seek a new normal on the island. Nolan is an entertaining and very attentive group leader--just the best!
— Review left February 23, 2025
We had a wonderful guide Nolan Hines who was very knowledgeable, upbeat, and helpful.
The state of the resort (no elevators), rooms on the third floor made it difficult for my husband who is 80+. We were really not bothered by the construction.
The resort was really lovely otherwise, with an excellent breakfast and omelet station and a delightful pool area near the ocean. We thought the restaurants were all excellent. We enjoyed the field trips, and the area in general and learned a lot about hurricane recovery and seashells as well as the history of the area. A beautiful place to be!
— Review left February 23, 2025
I just returned from this trip to Sanibel Island in February 2024. In spite of Sanibel still dealing with major reconstruction from Hurricane Ian in 2022, this trip was amazing! Led by an outstanding tour guide, Nolan Hines, each day was filled with many learning experiences, great outdoor adventures, great food and great camaraderie with our group. We had the perfect weather too. I highly recommend this trip!
— Review left February 21, 2025
A great trip along with a set of destinations and activities that was very enjoyable. Sanibel was on my bucket list and it did not disappoint!
— Review left February 17, 2025
It was wonderful! I am from the gloomy Niagara Frontier and the best thing about the trip was being in the glorious sunlight.
— Review left February 15, 2025
Escape the winter cold and gray skies by travelling to sunny and welcoming Florida.
— Review left February 9, 2025
A great way to experience the wonders and beauty of Sanibel Island, and to learn about the resilience of nature and the Islanders in the wake of devastating hurricanes and other disasters.
— Review left February 9, 2025
This is a wonderful program if you like history and nature. I learned so much about both on Sanibel and Southwest Florida. I understand hurricanes more and I appreciate more what everyone and everything go through afterwards. It’s a lovely setting with enthusiastic instructors, and important topics. Our group leader was simply wonderful.
— Review left February 8, 2025
Great trip....beautiful!....check out my short - 6 minute - "movie" of some of the trip highlight!....just click on this link: https://youtu.be/pkT5YfXiIe8
— Review left April 6, 2022
WHAT A GREAT PROGRAM! FULL OF INFORMATION AND INTERESTING PLACES. TO TOP IT OFF WE HAD AN AMAZING GROUP LEADER AND AN OPEN AND FRIENDLY TEAM OF TRAVELERS. WE LAUGHED, SANG AND HAD A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. IT EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS!
— Review left April 4, 2022
Another outstanding trip organized by Road Scholar.
— Review left April 4, 2022
Sanibel Island is an amazing place. If you just want a great vacation spot, go by yourself. If you want to learn about the eco system and the history of Sanibel schedule a trip with Road Scholar. You will be glad you did. Charlie Anderson
— Review left March 29, 2022
Beautiful Area
— Review left March 29, 2022
This program offered a mix of education: museum and national wildlife refuge tours, excellent meals at local restaurants, and unlimited shelling on beautiful white sand beaches. For anyone wanting to experience life on Sanibel Island, this is the trip for you.
— Review left March 13, 2022
The program was wonderful (especially our Group Leader, Mike Fowler). However, I was extremely disappointed that none of the program materials mentioned that the vaccination status of participants would not be verified because of Florida law.
— Review left February 12, 2022
The Sanibel Island trip was our 3rd Road Scholar program starting in 2008 and was outstanding, everything we expected and more
— Review left March 22, 2020
Shells are beautiful and fun to find on the beach but learning about the animal that lives in and creates the shell made them even more so. It was also wonderful to visit the remodeled shell museum and see shells from all around the world. Sanibel Island is a unique place because of the shells and also because of the land set aside to preserve native plants and life. Add Edison's life and research to the location and you have a wealth of learning opportunities. Much enjoyed!
— Review left March 15, 2020
This is my 2nd trip with Road Scholar and like the first trip i too with them, this was a wonderful and educational experience enhanced by the accompaniment of a very nice diverse group of other Road Scholar travelers!
— Review left March 6, 2020
Loved this trip. Well done, very informative, fun. Laurieanne (Our tour guide) was the greatest! She went out of her way everyday to ensure we all had a great time with no bumps. I don't know how she did it. I came home sad that I had to leave, and facing below zero weather at home just put the icing on the cake. Thank you for the great memories. It is so comforting to take a trip like this and not worry about anything.
— Review left February 21, 2020
Road Scholars program will positively influence your life. I was blessed to have met such wonderful people who were experiencing life like me. You will learn how to go out of your comfort zone and participate with others our age.
— Review left January 19, 2020
I now see why Sanibel is such a gem. I'm very environmentally conscious, and Sanibel is for nature-lovers. This trip was enhanced by trips to the beach for 'shelling' and the Ding Darling wildlife preserve. Excellent all around.
— Review left January 17, 2020
I did write a review but have thought of additions
The hotel was quite unsatisfactory for us.
We arrived late on Sunday after a long day of airports and travel and were ready to relax by watching Victoria and the Oscars. In our room neither the television or internet worked. We called the desk and at about 10p.m. an engineer came and said he could not fix the router but it would be fixed the next day. It was not and they told me they have service on Mondays and Wednesdays and Monday was booked and we had to wait until Wednesday. It did not really matter as we had to change rooms
Also our room was lacking a hair dryer and any amenities such as soap, shampoo, etc which we had to call for.
The second day they changed our room because of a leak.(See other review I wrote) This room also did not have tv or internet but they fixed it immediately. They did mention that we would have to change rooms again because the owners were using that condo on Thursday p.m However, they never told us when we were moving and when we returned from a full day at The Ding Darling Conservatory the key to our room did not work.We went to the desk and they said our room had been changed and they had gone in and moved all our belongings.
However, we did have to return to get our belongings out of the safe.
We mentioned to Michael that we deserved some compensation since we had been so inconvenienced and he said that in our THIRD room we would be ocean front. As we had a full day of activity on Thursday and were leaving early on Friday that was quite useless!
I've been on many Elder Hostels and in some the facilities were relatively primitive. We never minded as we knew what to expect and it was all part of the fun. However this was a luxury resort and we did not expect or appreciate such shabby treatment.
— Review left March 18, 2019
Sanibel. Slow, warm, relaxed pace. Interesting history and flora and fauna. Great weather....warm!
— Review left March 11, 2019
A good overview of the most important things to see or do in the Sanibel Island area
— Review left March 3, 2019
A wonderful program with historic places and nature venues. The Sundial Resort food was lacking but our meals out in Sanibel were great!
The program itself was flawless. Great schedule and wonderful choices of things to see and enjoyable lectures.
— Review left February 18, 2019
Shelling on Sanibel Island is an excellent program. When reviewing the itinerary there is much more time for shelling than indicated on the program. Early morning walks, rest-time walks, and free time walks provide many opportunities to use the shelling knowledge received during the program. Excellent residence facilities also provide access to shelling locations.
— Review left February 10, 2019