Nicole E.
Yelp
3.5 stars for La Playa. My husband and I came to La Playa this past summer to celebrate our honeymoon. After spending more than I'd ever like to say out loud on our wedding and several months planning, we didn't have the finances or energy to plan a more elaborate honeymoon. My requirements were that it not require a long or international flight, but that it feel like the Caribbean. We researched several Florida-area hotels before deciding on Naples, FL (our first time in Naples) and La Playa.
La Playa is on a street largely populated with condo buildings and enormous single family homes that belong to people who must either come from generations of wealth or who sold off some kind of tech company/app. La Playa has a tower on the bay side and the "beach house," a smaller 3-4 story building on the ocean side. Don't be too hesitant, though, to stay across the road. It's not a very busy street and it's just one lane each way.
The hotel itself requires valet parking, so be sure to account for that daily expense. There's a restaurant within the hotel. We didn't eat here, but you may want to familiarize yourself with this bar, though, as there isn't much else around La Playa.
About the area:
La Playa is in a pretty suburban area, so there's very little to do right near the hotel. When we were visiting, the Ritz Carlton, just a short ways down the beach from La Playa, was under renovation, so that was not an option for dining. Other than the Ritz Carlton, there's a restaurant inside of what appears to be a long-term condo rental resort called the Turtle Club. It's right on the water, but very pricey and average food. There's two beach bar/dive bar sort of deals at the end of the road, about a 8 minute walk from La Playa. During the day, it doubles as a bagel/coffee shop/pizza joint, and is filled with a steady stream of college-aged beach goers (the public beach is at the end of the road that La Playa is on).
Downtown Naples is a 20 minute or so cab ride from La Playa. It's a cute little downtown, filled largely with Italian restaurants. There are plenty of restaurants there, but pay attention to the hours. If you're in Naples during summer, the off season, several restaurants and bars close early or close on weekdays.
About 3 miles from the hotel is a place called Mercado, which was recommended to us by several taxi drivers/hotel workers. I didn't get the hype. It is essentially an open air shopping mall/condo complex. Skip it.
Beach:
You won't find crystal blue waters here, on the Gulf of Mexico side of FL, but the views are nice, and you'll find some good shells. If you wake up early, you may see a dolphin swimming pretty close to shore. I saw one 3 mornings in a row -- pretty incredible! There's beach service, just raise the flag on your chair for a drink or snack. There's also a pool-side bar. Drinks are not strong, but the bartenders were friendly. 20% tip automatically added to any drink or food purchase.
Additional notes:
La Playa is certainly a nice resort, but little things about it it show you it's not kept up as well as a place of this price should. For example, the bathrooms at the pool weren't attended to nearly as frequently as is needed, and the other common areas of the hotel suffered, too: there was broken pieces from a glass bottle near the elevator on our floor for the whole period of our stay, elevator buttons didn't light, hall smelled musty, walls and doors had scuffed or peeling paint. We saw many used plastic cups scattered along the property, in the rocks or grassy areas.
Spa:
The spa was pretty disappointing. There is no real lounge area like you'd expect in a resort spa. There's no jacuzzi tub to lounge in before or after your services. There are no locker rooms. Just one bathroom with a standard tub. We had a couples massage. The massages were ok, but after getting them, we wouldn't do it again. We are willing to pay nutty prices for resort massages, as we have done several times on past vacations. But they were not worth the exorbitant prices. Despite the masseuses asking the areas we wanted focused on and level of pressure we preferred, the masseuses just spent a short period of time on the targeted areas and used light pressure. We didn't feel rejuvenated as we had hoped.
Staff:
Overall, almost every staff member we came into contact with was exceedingly friendly and helpful. We mentioned at check in that we were there for our honeymoon. When we got back to our room after checking out the resort, there were chocolates and a small wine bottle waiting, which was a nice touch.
Overall, La Playa and Naples was a nice honeymoon, but don't expect the resort to be as impressive as somewhere you'd maybe find in the Caribbean -- though you'll be paying as if you were at a top island resort. I'm not sure I'd return, but we were happy to come here and have our easy, relaxing little honeymoon get away.
