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Photography by Christina Bankson

What's New in Southwest Florida Wellness 2026

Healthcare system expansions, mobile wellness services and a new paddle sport are among the latest additions shaping healthy living across the region.

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Wellness

Health is no longer something we think about only when something goes wrong. Now, we invest in it every day through movement, recovery, nutrition and preventive care. Across Southwest Florida, that shift is driving major investments in healthcare infrastructure alongside new recovery clubs, community-driven fitness and more personalized approaches to care. Here are nine wellness stories we're watching this year.

Our two largest healthcare networks step into new eras

Southwest Florida is in the midst of a major healthcare buildout. In Collier County, NCH Naples Comprehensive Health rings in its 70th year in collaboration with Northwestern Medicine to expand cancer treatment, with a new outpatient infusion center, greater access to clinical research, and a gynecologic oncology clinic. Meanwhile, the newly announced Van Domelen Institute and Pavilion for Women & Children bring expanded high-risk pregnancy, pediatric specialty and women’s health services under one roof. 

Further north, Lee Health replaces its aging Lee Memorial Hospital with a new $824 million campus in Fort Myers. There’s a 100,000-square-foot medical center under construction in Cape Coral, along with plans for a standalone pediatric surgery center and a graduate physician training facility—a parallel effort to strengthen specialty care and the workforce needed to support it. 

Naples’ upcoming ­­­­Sterling’s Club anchors on an advanced recovery ecosystem

When Sterling’s Club opens inside Naples’ Carnelian Hotel in winter 2027, the region gets a new social wellness club. The team dedicates 23,000 square feet on the second floor to recovery protocols—a biosauna (steam’s gentler, herb-steeped European cousin), a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, infrared and plunge pools—and high-touch perks like a golf simulator suite and a beauty lounge for manicures, facials and blowouts. A valet handles post-workout friction, taking guests’ athletic wear and returning it freshly laundered the next day. Standard resort pampering, this is not.  

Southwest Florida Proton opens in Estero

One of 46 proton centers in the U.S.—with the next-closest facilities in Miami and Orlando—Southwest Florida Proton debuted last year, bringing targeted cancer treatment to the region. Here, a cyclotron accelerates charged particles and delivers proton beams rather than X-rays to tumors, limiting radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue and organs.  

Wellness institutions hit the road

From fitness to beauty to clinical care, these regional health institutions make their services mobile. VersaGym introduced the concept in 2020, transforming clients’ driveways in Bonita Springs and Naples into full-fledged training grounds for a convenient, consistent at-home gym routine. 

Mother-son-owned Reset Wellness Lounge recently rolled out its wood-paneled Mobile Wellness Suite with a 12-person sauna and two cold plunge pools for contrast therapy. Known for its holistic approach, Bonita Springs-based concierge clinic Nuesana eliminates waiting rooms with a membership-based mobile facility that administers annual labs, IVs, and hormone, food-sensitivity, gut-health, and genetic testing. 

On the aesthetics side, Project Glammers’ mobile clinic offers everything from IV infusions to Exo-Glow facials and contouring to popular neurotoxin smoothing treatments. Clients book through an online portal, selecting their desired location from Fort Myers to Naples. 

Head spas abound in Southwest Florida

What started with one or two spas a couple of years ago has become a full-fledged movement, as more and more Southwest Florida scalp pros offer the Japanese practice, pairing the sensory experience with targeted care for dandruff, buildup and irritation. At Hollis Head Spa in Cape Coral, RN and cosmetologist Toni Lee’s sessions start with a microscope scalp assessment before moving to exfoliation, a head bath, custom mask and serum treatments, steam and Japanese Shiatsu scalp massage. MAJA Head Spa, with locations in Port Charlotte and Fort Myers, focuses on locally made, plant-based shampoo bars to nourish, hydrate and strengthen hair. Naples’ Scalp Bar favors a moodier atmosphere, with private treatment rooms and a blow-dry bar. Farther south, Eskap Head Spa owner Priscilla Schertell—a former esthetician at The Ritz-Carlton—draws on Ayurvedic traditions to ease stress. And Bonita Halo Head Spa partners with mobile IV concierge Nurse U2 Wellness so that clients can add vitamin drips to their layered self-care experience.

Sports-centric classes offer motivation to work out outside of the gym

Because a fitness routine shouldn’t be cookie-cutter, locals look to sporty classes to break a sweat. Part of an adult ballet revival, Naples Ballet hosts thrice-weekly classes to improve posture and mobility through constant micro-adjustments in the ankles, hips and upper back, strengthening the feet, legs and core while recruiting smaller stabilizing muscles. “It’s hard to go to the gym by yourself and try to do the same thing every time,” artistic director Christophe Maraval says. “With ballet, you never feel static.” 

At former pro boxer-run The Sweet Science—with locations in Naples, Estero and Cape Coral—HIIT-style rounds blend functional fitness drills, speed work and mitt training. The pace leaves little room for distraction. Thrillseekers work the entire body with 45-foot-tall indoor rock climbing walls at Fort Myers’ 2026-opened Central Rock Gym. Climbers study routes, strategizing where to grip, step or shift weight. “That total stimulation of the physical and mental sets it apart,” general manager Ben DeSalle says. The built-in reward of reaching the top keeps you coming back. 

The world’s favorite new paddle sport lands in Southwest Florida 

Now that pickleball has saturated local courts, another racquet obsession is surfacing. Played on an enclosed court with walls that stay in play, padel combines the social ease of pickleball with the quicker pace and shotmaking of tennis. At Emilio Sanchez Academy, a trial court installed in 2025 now hosts lessons with European coaches, matches and pairings that signify the sport’s growing local popularity. This fall, the game goes residential as Quail Creek Country Club in Naples debuts three courts.

Pelican Cycle Shop opens in Estero

This summer, cycling couple Greg and Sue Pelican opened Estero’s new 2,600-square-foot indoor-outdoor Pelican Cycle Works shop. For six years, Greg has coached endurance athletes through Pelican’s Pain Cave and spent three years managing Naples Cyclery, a fixture for the region’s road riders and triathletes. Inside, the inventory offers regional first access to marquee brands, from Italy’s holy grail Colnago racing bikes to carbon fiber saddles from Boulder’s Wove. Greg offers a fitting—which optimizes the rider’s position on the bike for better comfort and performance—with every bike purchase. He also hosts intro lessons, rentals and recurring group rides. “We want people to stop in and hang out,” he says. “That’s the culture we believe in.”

A Cape Coral recovery studio with built-in childcare 

Set to open early next year, Cape Coral’s BioRituals aims to help parents who lack time to invest in self-care. An onsite play area staffed by a certified childcare specialist runs alongside a menu of cryotherapy, red light therapy, flotation tanks, infrared sauna with cold plunge, compression therapy and hyperbaric oxygen—a layout built for those who need a quiet hour the most.