hotels on st. petes beach ?

[eeyoreangel1]

hi everyone

On our forthcoming holiday to wdw we are going to spend two days at St. Petes,so the big question is where to stay? Any ideas, at the moment we are looking at the Holiday inn hotel & suites resort which is right on the beach.
Has anybody stayed there or can anybody give us an alternative?
thanks
:thewave:

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

We've stayed at the Holiday Inn there three times. It's on a great part of the beach and each room in the hotel you get great views of the water. Like most beaches down on the gulf coast, there's the gulf - the ocean - and the inland water ways. Unless you upgrade you will get an inland water view - not a problem at all because you get wonderful views and loads of dolphins are in these bays.

From the gulf views you see the most amazing sunsets, but this can also be done up in the revolving restaurant (book your meal at the right time!) or from the beach bar. This is such a good spot that quite a few locals come down to the beach bar in the evenings to watch the sundown.

There's a nice pool, not overly large though, but good enough for a swim. And the beach is great. Shelling is the national pastime so you need to be up early for that, or get down on the waters edge after the tide has turned, that's when all the best shells are around

There are loads of restaurants within a few minutes walk, or drive - highly recommend Durangos next door at the Sirata, or Silas Dents. Fantastic food in both. There's a publix 6 mins walk away with a great deli bar (we used to walk up in the morning, get freshly made subs and pastries and then go sit on the beach for breakfast!). There's even a Ponderosa, but this is only open for lunches and dinners, apart from Sundays when they do their Sunday brunch breakfast! Quite unlike the Orlando Ponderosas, much more laid back.

I've also stayed at the Sirata which is part of the Tradewinds resort. Of the two I have to say, for views alone, the Holiday Inn is our fave.

Let me know if there's any other info I can help with - have you been to St Pete Beach before?

 

[eeyoreangel1]

Thanks very much for your reply Mrs Dazzle, we found it most helpful and have now booked the hotel. And to answer your other questio, we have not been to st petes before but have stayed at a holiday inn on Maderia beach.

Now i have a question for you if you don't mind
have you done the seascreamer in clearwater?

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Oh yes - and great fun it was too, even though we went out on quite a choppy day by Gulf coast standards. It is a great fun thing to do.

We've also been on a couple of more sedate sea trips which I would highly recommend if you want to laze around on a yacht, travel with dolphins alongside the boat, spend a couple of hours on a deserted beach with a picnic and shell, snorkel or just snooze. We've also done a motor launch excursion to watch dolphins that takes you over to Egmont Key, a great place to nosey around (nothing there other than an old lighthouse and wildlife and a superb beach), have a picnic and then go back on the boat to snorkel off a little reef.

Don't forget Jonny Leverocks - as you come into St Pete from Madeira beach way - great food and atmosphere