FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Nine parking spaces are snugged along the front of the Silver Sands Villas, just a few feet from a stream of vehicles that transits Estero Boulevard morning, noon and night. It seems like a miracle that two of them, side by side, are vacant.

But, like so many of life's miracles, it is a mirage. The two gaping spaces contain brightly painted tire stops, and the paint exclaims brightly: BEACH DOGGIE DOG PARKING ONLY, on behalf of an elaborate hot-dog stand.

Charles Hester Photography (ENLARGE)
Silver Sands Villas at Fort Myers Beach, Fla., offer a variety of accommodations, from one-bedroom efficiencies to villas.
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IF YOU GO Where to stay • Silver Sands Villas, 1207 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931. 1-800-603-0501, www.silversands-villas.com. Room rates range from $137 for one-bedroom efficiency in season to $177 for two- bedroom (sleeps four). Off-season, rates fall to $79-$115. Each room has a kitchenette. There are laundry facilities, a heated pool and gas grills on the premises. No smoking in any rooms. Dogs are permitted ($10 extra). Things to do • The villas are across the road from the fine, white sand of a majestic Gulf of Mexico beach that runs the length of Estero Island. Dogs and bicycles are numerous on the beach, and the atmosphere is friendly. The tourist shops of Times Square are two blocks away, and there are several bars and restaurants a one-minute walk away.

Having darted through a small crack in the procession of cars and comprehending the prohibitive text too late, we did what probably countless thousands of visitors have done — turned the car off and studiously perused the Beach Doggie Dog menu as if we had just driven across the state expressly for a tube steak.

With our presence thus legitimized, I snuck into the Silver Sands office and checked in. The good news: The room was ready. The bad news: There was only one parking space per unit in front, and two of them were occupied by the villas owners' cars.

The owners, however, were not on the premises but next-door at the Beached Whale, a big wooden restaurant bar with an outside deck upstairs, where I, a short time later, would lose all sense of purpose while consuming a heavenly concoction called "toasted artichoke hearts."

Having to park behind the bar next to the Dumpster turned out to be the only bad news about the Silver Sands.

In general, accommodations come in two categories — those you intend to use merely as a place to sleep, and those in which you feel comfortable enough to ponder the restorative wonders of vacations.

The Silver Sands' units — not a very homey term, but they come in a variety that defies simple description — are of the type that encourage observant habitation.

Tastefully appointed with colors that appeal to modern sensibilities (salmon, plum, coral, periwinkle) and pleasant flourishes of decor — a small shelf with ceramic plates of colorful fish patterns surprised us from one wall; in another room, a carved fish whose center was a round mirror — the rooms reflect a thoughtful sense of interior design.

Artworks on the walls are watercolor scenes of boats in harbors or leafy, sun-dappled vales, with the sea beyond. Artwork that one can study and appreciate. Open a drawer or the bathroom cabinet, and behold in the bottom a cute little checkerboard pattern hand-painted in cream and baby blue. Nowhere is the spell broken.

The grounds are well-kept, with paths through clumps of exotic tropical foliage, growing in a random natural concert that only painstaking spadework can produce.

The pool, sparkling, is heated in winter to counteract a chilly breeze.

Outside, more decorative touches put the guest at ease. A goofy crossroads sign by the pool, with directional arrows pointing off at a dozen compass headings, specifies distances to the Beached Whale, Times Square (two blocks) and the fishing pier (two blocks and change) in addition to various gloating references to snowbound destinations in Illinois and Michigan.

A fountain with bronze doves bathing stops you like the interesting piece of sculpture that it is. There are three short finger piers in the canal for boaters who want to keep their boat in the water near their room.

Most of the Villas' 20 units are, indeed, villas, a cabin community that encircles the grounds, each blessed with its own off-street parking space. They are not cookie-cutter, coming in many shapes and sizes, and the variety is part of the spice of this pleasant enclave.

Many have a porch or balcony, some have a second story, all have a cute coziness inside and out that will reward the traveler and linger in the mind.