Outrigger Beach Resort

Situated on the Gulf of Mexico, the Outrigger Beach Resort is housed in a series of motel-style buildings on landscaped grounds with palm trees and gardens with flowers. The vibe throughout is laid-back, beachy, and casual. The white-sand beach is huge, and the hotel is far enough away from the gulf that it gives the resort a private and secluded feel. Guests can relax on the beach, play volleyball, or engage in water sports like parasailing and kayaking. Guests also gather in and around the outdoor pool, which can get a bit crowded at peak times. The thatched-roof Tiki bar is a nice spot to sip a cocktail, listen to live music, and watch the sunset. The resort tends to draw tourists and couples, who appreciate the affordable rooms, beach, and pool.

Outrigger Beach Resort is on Estero Boulevard overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, in an area with numerous other resorts. A movie theater is next door. The hotel is on the Fort Myers Beach Trolley line, with service to Lover's Key State Park, Times Square, and points in between. Lovers Key State Park is a five-minute drive from the hotel and features canoeing, kayaking, and wildlife viewing. Fish Tale Marina offers boat rentals and fishing tours -- it's about 15 minutes away on foot, or a two-minute drive. Also within a five-minute drive is Mound House, Estero Island's oldest standing structure sitting on an ancient Calusa Indian mound. Located a 10-minute drive up Estero Boulevard, Times Square -- with its shops, outdoor dining, and street performers -- is in downtown Fort Myers Beach. For spring training baseball fans, Jet Blue Park (Boston Red Sox) and Hammond Stadium (Minnesota Twins) are both within a 30-minute drive of the hotel. The center of Fort Myers is about a 40-minute drive, and is home to the Imaginarium Science Center and Edison and Ford Winter Estates. The Southwest Florida International Airport is a 35-minute drive from the Outrigger Beach Resort. 

The 144 rooms at the Outrigger Beach are arrayed in a series of two and four-floor motel-style buildings with exterior corridors. The two-floor buildings have no elevators, and the elevators in the four-floor buildings only go to the third floor. Most rooms have a common walkway balcony, and some rooms have private balconies or semi-private wooden decks. Rooms are all non-smoking, but smoking is allowed outside on the walkways and around the pool, which may bother non-smokers. Rooms come in Standard, Resort View, Beach Front Efficiency, Pool Front Efficiency, Pool Side Efficiency, Office Side Efficiency, and Garden Efficiency, and start at 285 square feet, so they're all fairly spacious. Clean and quiet, the King Efficient unit we visited was modern and fresh, but many rooms here are dated and could use a general freshening up. The more updated rooms have a white, beige, and brown color scheme with largely bare walls, furniture with floral print upholstery, and white cotton bedding with brown decorative throws. Rooms come with ceiling fans, wall-mounted air-conditioning units, safes, coffeemakers, mini-fridges, free Wi-Fi, and 32-inch flat-screen TVs with cable channels and HBO. Efficiency rooms also include full kitchens. Bathrooms are clean, spacious, and well lighted, and come with big mirrors and adequate counter space. Some bathrooms do not have bathtubs. Only a small number of rooms have gulf views, while most overlook the pool or parking lot. Rooms facing the pool may be a bit noisier than others at the hotel. 

The outrigger resort offers a fairly standard set of features for the area, and its standout offering is the wide, white-sand beach behind the hotel. The hotel provides beach towels, and Adirondack chairs and cabanas are available for rent. Volleyball is available on the beach and guest services can arrange shelling excursions, bicycling, kayaking, parasailing, air boating, dolphin tours, and sunset cruises (fees may apply for these activities).The outdoor pool is another popular feature, but it can get a bit crowded at peak times. There are few specific children's activities on-site, so it's not the best spot for families with small kids. A cafe serves American fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with service indoors and on the pool deck. Specialties include grouper sandwiches and key lime pie. Room service is available, but no meals are included in room rates. The grill restaurant features steaks, fresh seafood, ribs, tropical martinis, and a salad bar with over 50 items. while the beachfront Tiki bar offers tropical cocktails, nightly live music, and views of the gulf and sunset. The hotel also has table tennis, a gift shop, board game and DVD rental, a public computer, coin-op laundry, 24-hour front desk and free parking. Wi-Fi is free throughout the property.