St Petes/Clearwater/Where else?

[PudseyChancer]

I have always stayed in Orlando on my previous trips to Florida, but fancy travelling a little further this time. As my flatmate drives we are planning on doing 10 days in Orlando to do the parks, a 4 day trip down to Key West which leaves us with 7 days to play with. As we're flying back from Orlando, we need to make our way back up from the Keys - would like a beach holiday but have no experience of where would be good.

Would like to have a nice relaxing time , but somewhere that has decent shops to pick up those clothing bargains (!) and some decent bars to enjoy those cocktails . Am looking at Clearwater and St Pete's, but where do you recommend?

 

[scottishsue]

We're just back from 4 days at St. Pete's. In fact if you go to the Trip Report section you could read my report and see some photos of St. Pete's beach. (Check out "Sue on Holiday" at the bottom of Page 1).

We love it there - it's so peaceful. I could also highly recommend the Sirata Beach resort hotel. There's a Mall - Tyrone Mall, which we thought was very good also, and only a 5 minute drive from where we stayed.

Also a few good bars around for those cocktails. Harrys Bar which is owned by the Sirata, is on the beach and I would highly recommend it.

Any other info you would like please feel free to PM me. (Also welcome to the boards !!)

 

[castanea1985]

The Naples and Venice area on the Gulf Coast are lovely! And you've got the Everglades National Park to see enroute!

 

[PudseyChancer]

Thanks for the replies, I'm just not sure what to do! After the excitement of the Parks and then the booziness of the Keys , I imagine that I'd be looking forward to a rest, am just concerned that after a couple of days I might get bored if there's nowt to do! I favoured St Pete's over Fort Lauderdale as it has Busch Gardens not too far away for a few more thrills, 'just in case'!

I dunno, this planning larks complicated!

 

[wayneg]

We once had a week in Clearwater after 2 weeks in Orlando. All the time there wishing we had stayed in Orlando.
Not our kind of places to eat, Stayed at Hilton, staff were miserable, walked out of their buffet it was pathetic. Stingrays in ocean.
Not for us but others love Clearwater. If we want a beach hol would rather goto Majorca or Italy.
Went to Key West on Disney Cruise. Was great for a day but would not want more than that there.
We just love Orlando with chill days by the pool.

 

[PudseyChancer]

We once had a week in Clearwater after 2 weeks in Orlando. All the time there wishing we had stayed in Orlando.
Not our kind of places to eat, Stayed at Hilton, staff were miserable, walked out of their buffet it was pathetic. Stingrays in ocean.
Not for us but others love Clearwater. If we want a beach hol would rather goto Majorca or Italy.
Went to Key West on Disney Cruise. Was great for a day but would not want more than that there.
We just love Orlando with chill days by the pool.

I'm beginning to wonder if I should do the two weeks in Orlando, the 4 days in Key West and just have three days on the beach. Definitely want to do the trip to Key West, for the stunning drive and to try and get a bit of culture (am a fan of Hemingway's books) and to be honest, fancy getting blathered visiting all the bars!

 

[Hilary]

I'm beginning to wonder if I should do the two weeks in Orlando, the 4 days in Key West and just have three days on the beach.

Whichever way you split it, if you are starting and ending in Orlando for your flights, personally I'd recommend spending time in the parks each end of the trip. If you decide on two weeks in Orlando, I'd do a week at the beginning and a week at the end. That way, you'll end your trip on a theme park high

Mind you, you'll need another holiday when you get home to regain that chilled-out feeling from your time at the beach!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We used to do 2 centre holidays and have stayed at many beach locations such as Clearwater, Naples, Sarasota, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

It all depends on what you are after really, Clearwater and St.Petes have the nicest beaches.
Naples is a lovely place to visit but it's very quiet there , a week for example would probably be too long.
Shopping is great in Miami and at Fort Lauderdale is probably the best discount mall I ever been to, Sawgrass Mills (it's massive).
Also down that coast you have Palm Beach, Boca Raton both worth a day trip also.
Staying down the east coast does give you options to visit a few places, plus it's kind of on the way to/from the Keys too.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

the beaches at Sarasota are lovely - I recommend Lido Key and the beautiful St Armands Circle ( a small open shopping circle (funnily enough!! ) with lovely boutiques and cafes - its really nice to stroll up from Lido beach in the evening and have a meal outside one of the cafes and wander back with an ice cream from one of the parlours!! - lovely!!

Another option would be Sanibel or Captiva Island - haven't been there for a few years, but Sanibel was voted one of the best 'shelling' beaches in the World and both islands were fabulous (assuming hurricanes haven't disturbed them in the last few years??!! )

have a good trip!!

 

[wayneg]

Maybe doing what Hilary suggests is a good idea, our Holiday ended on a low(very low) after 2 great weeks in Orlando, if we had done the beach in the middle at least you have a great week to end the holiday.
Everyone wants different things out of holidays, we are not drinkers so you will find different things to do. I took 12 cans of Bud on the 7 night cruise, brought 6 back off at the end.
Don't listen too much to me though we are not beachy holiday fans, get bored after 2 hours in the sun.

 

[PudseyChancer]

It all depends on what you are after really, Fort Lauderdale is probably the best discount mall I ever been to, Sawgrass Mills (it's massive). Staying down the east coast does give you options to visit a few places, plus it's kind of on the way to/from the Keys too.

Just fancy doing something different Johnny, think it's a shame that I haven't ventured further than the theme parks ! My mate did suggest Fort Lauderdale but we wondered about the journey time from there to Orlando on the last day, if it's nothing outrageous then it's a possibility also. The fact that there's a massive mall there is a huge bonus as well!

 

[PudseyChancer]

Maybe doing what Hilary suggests is a good idea, our Holiday ended on a low(very low) after 2 great weeks in Orlando, if we had done the beach in the middle at least you have a great week to end the holiday.
Everyone wants different things out of holidays, we are not drinkers so you will find different things to do. I took 12 cans of Bud on the 7 night cruise, brought 6 back off at the end.
Don't listen too much to me though we are not beachy holiday fans, get bored after 2 hours in the sun.

Appreciate your opinion though , my flatmate's two previous holidays were to Goa in India, so I think he's in for a culture shock , so kind of feel obliged to put in a 'rest period'! I'm not too much of a beach lover at all to be honest, that's why I need some other attractions/shopping distractions to keep me occupied!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Just fancy doing something different Johnny, think it's a shame that I haven't ventured further than the theme parks ! My mate did suggest Fort Lauderdale but we wondered about the journey time from there to Orlando on the last day, if it's nothing outrageous then it's a possibility also. The fact that there's a massive mall there is a huge bonus as well!

We used to travel all over but these days tend to stick to Orlando.

If it's the journey time then Clearwater is probably about half the distance, although as I say within 50 miles of each other on the east coast there are several place to go and see.
Certainly if you are looking at somewhere with more going-on and the shopping too Miami/Fort Lauderdale can't be beat.

Naples is very nice, but very quiet (not necessarily a bad thing). Wasn't all that keen on Sarasota personally, although Joshua was just a baby when we were there last!

 

[DISWolves]

When to Clearwater for a day visit from Orlando in Aug 2007
Superb beach, spent 5 hours totally under a huge beach umbrella and still ended up like a blistered lobster

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

The Naples and Venice area on the Gulf Coast are lovely! And you've got the Everglades National Park to see enroute!

This is our favourite area of Florida - including Orlando!!

We only ever spend a week in Orlando, then one, one and half weeks down the beach.

We prefer St Pete's to Clearwater, but really love the southern areas like Naples, Fort Myers and in particular, Marco Island.

Like Castanea says, the Everglades National Park is there, on your doorstep, where you can get some brilliant airboat rides, fab wildlife.

This more southern area is less 'touristy' than St Petes/Clearwater.