As most of my friends, family, and readers already know – we LOVE Marco Island. I’ve been going with my family for my entire life and Chris and I got married on the island in 2015. This year we got to bring our baby girl for her first ever vacation! Needless to say, Marco Island holds a very special place in our hearts.

I wrote a very detailed travel guide in 2016 – check out my original Marco Island Travel Guide here. This post is basically a quick update to that post.

NEW TO THE ISLAND

10K Alley

The JW Marriott built a new tower and officially opened 10K Alley. It’s kind of like a Dave ‘n Busters! They have an indoor ‘mini’ mini golf with 6 holes, tons of arcade games, bowling, and a full bar. It’s really fun!

Tesoro

In addition to 10K Alley, the JW Marriott also opened this new restaurant called Tesoro! It’s mediterranean and has panoramic views of the Gulf of Mexico.

WHERE TO EAT

Nacho Mama’s

We love Nacho Mama’s and eat here every year. This year my brother ordered the fish tacos and they were another level. It was one piece of fish across three soft shell tacos. The fish was so fresh. Definitely the stand out dish on our table.

Joey’s Pizza & Pasta

We were in a pinch with a baby that was about to melt down and wanted to eat somewhere we knew everyone would like. We landed here. I was expecting the pizza to be mediocre, but it was actually delish! I recommend the combo – it has crumbled sausage on it. Yum! Also, the traditional cannolis really hit the spot at the end of our meal.

TRAVELING WITH BABY

This was my first rodeo traveling with a baby. We stay at Eagle’s Nest, which is a timeshare condo situation. They don’t have baby gear like a normal hotel would have on hand. This requires ordering gear from a third party. I unfortunately rented from a company called Tiny Tikes. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY. Everything they sent over was in horrible condition. The crib was falling apart and had I not realized, would have put my baby in extreme danger.

I ended up contacting the company several times to exchange items, but they basically ignored me and made me feel like I was inconveniencing them. I demanded they pick everything up and I had to be resourceful. Luckily I packed Brighton’s Dockatot, so she had a safe place to sleep.

After asking around – the recommended company of choice is called Twinkle Twinkle Little Store. I didn’t use this company and cannot give an official recommendation, however I will try them out next year.

FAMILY PHOTOS

Set Free Photography 

If you are interested in capturing some incredible family photos on your trip to the island, I HIGHLY recommend hiring Stacy. She was our wedding photographer that I recently hired for a family session on the beach. She’s expensive, but her images are priceless.

XO, Lauren