Clearwater Hotels

[Sweeney Todd]

We've decided to stay one night in Clearwater, possibly a Tues after doing Busch, but there are so many hotels to choose from and such a range of prices.
We require two rooms for me, DW, my bro & partner and 3 kids (under 12yrs) between us.
Me & DW just want somewhere cheapish to crash but my bro wants to be on the beach. The cheapest hotels appear to be around Highway 19 and for the hotels on the beach the average premium on top is £40/50 (& a further £10/20 on top of that for Gulf view)

Anyone with any experience of the hotels in Clearwater please give me an idea of what they are like.
Is the premium for beach hotels worth it?
What are the budget hotels actually like?
Do the savings of a budget hotel over a beach hotel outweigh the extra journey to the beach area and lack of Gulf view?

Thanks in advance for your replies.


Sweeney <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/10/10_1_112.gif' border=0></a>

 

[WDWfan uk]

I have stayed at a hotel in Clearwater Beach - we were there for four nights and were right on the beach and visited Busch Gdns from there, which still took some 45 minutes to reach.

It sounds like your brother may want a day at the beach and if that's the case, then the answer is to have a hotel on the beach which means you won't have to worry about parking or paying for parking.

The sand on Clearwater Beach is great! I don't like gritty sand but this is fine and powdery!

If you do not want to visit the beach, then it might be best to visit Busch Gdns from Orlando - we did this in December. It is a bit of a way, it took us about an hour and 15 to get there, but I'd sooner do that than bother finding a hotel to crash.

So I'd suggest - a hotel in a good location on the beach if you plan on spending some time there, if not, returning to Orlando the same day.

Check out this site for some pointers about Clearwater -

http://www.floridasbeach.com/



http://www.floridasbeach.com/

 

[WDWfan uk]

... just found the hotel we stayed at on the following link (The Clearwater Beach Hotel) but it isn't cheap.

http://reservations.hotel-guides.us/hotel/10006044-11251475O.html

This next link has some good hotels listed on it too

http://clearwater-beach-hotels.number1hotels.com/hotels/