Day trip to clearwater - any tips?

[tanyamatt]

We leave for orland on the 13th for 3 weeks and during our stay we have hired a car for the last few days so we can take ourselves off to buschgardens & popping over to clearwater to see the coast.
We are toying with the idea of staying overnight at clearwater beach and are just wondering if anybody had any good tips/places to stay/bars etc or even if it is worth staying & missing a night at our hotel for.

 

[Elise79]

We did a day trip to Clearwater in December. We headed to CMA for the morning and were going to go on the beach in the afternoon but it started raining so we had something to eat and headed home.

We do spend a night at the coast in the summer though but at Longboat Key usually

 

[bex7583]

we stayed at the quality suites was very cheap under $100 for 5 of us and had a lovely exit at the back straight out on to beach. lots of boat dolphin spotting excursions ( i have seen dolphins all the times i have been on it and there were even dolphins swimming just a few metres from where we were playing in the sea

lots of eating places and chains such as hooters . we went for lunch at shor in the hyatt and it was amazing

plus kids enjoyed late night fishing off the pier

<i even caught my 1st fish quite emmbarrased how small it was after all the carry on i made reeling it in ( i was expecting free willy ) it was hard work

 

[Portugal1000]

We stayed at St Petes Beach last year for four nights and loved it. The beach was beautiful. Only downside was that it was just too hot to be on the beach between 1 and 5 but we made the most of it at other times. It was such an easy drive from Orlando, exactly 100 miles. We stayed at Tradewinds which was pretty expensive compared to Bonnet Creek but it was lovely and lots going on for the kids. If I went again I would stay at one of the condo places on the beach as more space and cheaper. The sea was glorious, like stepping into a bath. My son loved the paddleboards and we had a floating cabana one day. So I would definitely say worth it to stay overnight if you can find someone reasonable.

 

[Beep]

We go to Busch Gardens or Big Cat Rescue and then head to Clearwater. We stay at Pelican Pointe or the Beachview for the night and eat at Crabby Bills, there are fantastic views over the beach and Ocean as the sun sets.

It's lovely to mooch along the pier looking at the arts and crafts stalls, and watching the ships with the lights twinkling off the water.

We generally don't do much, grab a seat outside a bar and spend a few hours relaxing. We aren't beach people but it's a lovely place to visit.

 

[canadiankim]

I love Clearwater and that area and often go there for a day trip or a few days when we can squeeze it in. As in PP, there are lots of chain restaurants and hotels. I usually try and pick up one of the travel books that are usually in the lobby's at hotels or places like Denny's which show you all the hotel deals along the coast so you can sometimes pick up a deal that way.

 

[welshsue56]

Arrived at Clearwater about 11 am for an overnight stya we then headed for the beach which is amazing we stayed at the Hilton so we were in an ideal location for the pier at night we wished we had booked an extra night as their is so many things we wanted to do in such a short time

 

[joannjoe]

We are going to do the almost the same thing we are flying in to Tampa going to WDW for a few days then 4 nights on the DCL then over to Treasure Island for 3 nights we are staying at the Sunset Vistas they have very large rooms. I would love to hear from people that can recommend good sea food restaurants around there.

 

[crmscotland]

We are staying at St Pete Beach for 4 nights before heading to WDW. Been there before & love it. Salvador Dali Museum is worth visiting - new building looks amazing too. We like travelling south of Tampa & going over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to get to St Pete that way.

 

[chmurf]

We stayed at the Sheraton Sand Key.
that's just across the bridge, south of clearwater beach
private parking lot, decent and clean hotel on the beach. Prices were affordale
I would recommend it.