Does anyone know of a board like this one for Florida beach places?

[drumflower]

Help! I am looking for information on other things to do in Orlando other than the theme parks. I thought it would great to stay at a resort on the Gulf . Is there a board like this one to find that out, or do any of you have any suggestions? I have deceided not to go to Disney and spend my money elsewhere! (I can't believe I am saying that) It breaks my heart.

 

[jennz]

Not really, but you could try Frommers and post a question in the "community" section. The posters there are very friendly and helpful and if you say what you said here, looking for a FL resort on the gulf or something, and mention the time of year and family/single/couple etc they can give some great tips. Good luck!

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

Try www.stpetebeach.org its the Gulf side of Florida and it might help you out...I live on the Gulf (part of the year) and it's a beautiful place to visit!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Help! I am looking for information on other things to do in Orlando other than the theme parks. I thought it would great to stay at a resort on the Gulf . Is there a board like this one to find that out, or do any of you have any suggestions? I have deceided not to go to Disney and spend my money elsewhere! (I can't believe I am saying that) It breaks my heart.

I would start out by narrowing down where on the gulf you want to go. Being a little facetious you can find gulf beaches from all the way down in the Keys and around to the Yucatan. Presumably your target is a little narrower than that. If you want to use these boards as a jumping off point I would suggest going over to the Community Board and ask for suggestions/input. You might want to give a little info about your self like what decade your age is in, whether you are traveling with kids, how much you can afford per day, whether you like fishing, boating, nature walks, museums, laying around, spas, nightlife, watching sports etc...and even more importantly time of year. If you want to keep an urban style vacation the St. Pete/Clearwater/Tampa area is pretty good.

Another good starting point is to go over to your local AAA office and pick up a Florida book. Truthfully you can speed up your planning quite a bit by going offline and getting books about Florida (local library is fine too) and THEN surfing with a bit of knowledge in your pocket. The advantage of a vacation in Orlando is that you can skip that step if you want but for everywhere else in the country you can't beat a good paperback to start with.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Try Orlando Hotels & Attractions on this board. There have been several beach discussions there. People have gotten good response from both the Gulf & Atlantic. Do a search, & ask your specific questions. Another source is www.tripadvisor.com. They have a forum on their site. Once you decide which beach you want to visit, you can search the forum for that beach. The closest & most populated beach on the Gulf, is Clearwater beach. We haven't been over there, since the hurricanes, but I haven't heard of any significant damage. They have a huge white, sandy beach. The water is clearer than on the Atlantic, it is also calm, no waves. There's a county playground & pier with nightly entertainment. There's also dinner cruises & a pirate cruise for the entire family. If you're looking for an upscale resort, try the Don Cesar (a Loews hotel) on St. Petersburg beach. You can go snorkelling from there.

There's many beaches down through there. Where one ends, the other begins. The further down you go, the less populated it is. Clearwater is the 1st you will get to, coming from Tampa. Clearwater is close enough to Tampa, to take advantage of what the city has to offer. Busch Gardens is a pretty good drive, but worth it. You may want to look into leaving the beach a couple days early, and move to one of the area hotels. If you're into water parks, Adventure Island is next door to BG. There's too much to do in the Tampa/Clearwater/St. Pete area to even try to list it all. I'll stop with that, but if you have more specific questions, I'd be glad to try to answer them.

Edited to add: You will drive over Tampa Bay, between Tampa & Clearwater Beach. You still have a little way to go. Also, if you fly search both TPA (Tampa International) & PIE (St. Petersburg/Clearwater). TIA is on the west side of the city (close to the Bay), & PIE is actually in St. Pete.