SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: Daring wilderness, dazzling arts

Southwest Florida goes to extremes when it comes to welcoming and engaging its visitors. It balances wildlife-rich Everglades backcountry with the art of masters, beach abandon with sophisticated museums, hometowns with home runs. Soon, six major-league baseball teams will spring train here. Already its sporting reputation for golf, fishing, boating, paddling, and now pickleball spreads wide. Throw in superb shopping, dining, and theater and you indeed score a home run. Stretching from the Everglades in the south to Sarasota–Bradenton in the north and from the Gulf of Mexico in the west to the shores of Lake Okeechobee eastward, the region covers all the bases.