One night in Clearwater

[Sweeney Todd]

At President's Weekend we are considering getting away from Orlando and going down to the Tampa/Clearwater area for a couple of days and staying one night in Clearwater - doing Busch Gardens on one of the days.
There will be 7 of us - 4 adults and 3 hobbits.

Couple of things I want to know -
Will it be as busy as Orlando will probably be that weekend?
What are best value hotels in the Clearwater area?
Would we be better off going down then trying to get accomodation on spec?

Thanks in anticipation of 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>

 

[AlexE]

Can't offer much advice with this one I'm afraid only don't stay at the Hilton Clearwater Beach unless there is no hotel room free for 50 miles.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Sweeney

We stayed in Clearwater for a week over the Labor Day weekend in 2002, and if President's Day is as busy as then, well...!! Let me just say that there were queues miles long to even get to Clearwater Beach, nowhere to park (cars being towed away constantly for naughty parking) and no room at the inns. The beach (which we pretty much had to ourselves for the rest of the time) was pretty busy but we couldn't go in the sea as lots of boats were moored close to the edge. Luckily we had a hotel booked (and a guaranteed car space!) but I wouldn't recommend going down on spec.

We stayed in the Quality Inn which was excellent for what we paid for it (not much!), right on the beach with a bar and small children's playground.

Having said that, I would guess that President's Day may not be as busy as Labor Day beachwise, but personally I wouldn't take the chance..! Book in advance!

Cheers

Karen