Tell me about St. Pete, Clearwater on a budget?

[andrews_dad]

Next trip is June 19. June 19-26 staying on Orlando, flying into Sanford. On a whim, we've booked flight home from St. Pete on June 30th. Nice cheap and direct flight to Harrisburg, PA. So, looking to book a 3br place on or close to the beach along the gulf coast near St. Pete or Clearwater or Indian Rocks or whatever for June 26-30. Have never been to the gulf coast. Have no idea what we are in store for. Anyone have insights on best beachy locale to stay? We have Super Grover passes so we get free parking and entry to Busch Tampa and the water slide park near Tampa (totally forget the name right now) so we plan to do a after-nap half day trip to each of those to hit some kiddie rides and slides (kids are 2 and 5). Pecking aroung home away.com and VRBO.com.. trying to narrow what areas to stay? Trying to gauge a fair price. Trying to figure what closest to a safe and nice beach. Looks like many homes are 20 day min rental, other 14 day, and most 7 day. Anything you can share would be welcomed.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

We spent a few days in Clearwater about three years ago. I can't help with house rentals- we stayed in a hotel - but I wanted to recommend a visit to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Your kids may be too little to have seen the movie Dolphin Tale or read the book about Winter the dolphin, but she is a dolphin who was fitted with a prosthetic tale. Seeing Winter was the purpose of our visit, and my kids really enjoyed seeing her and all of the other animals. This is more an animal hospital/rehab center than an aquarium, but I think they have renovated and expanded since the movie came out. My younger DD was 7 when we visited and she had read the book in kindergarten. She was thrilled to see Winter and hold her prosthetic tail, and she came back to school and showed pictures, talked about Winter, etc.

I know there is a Residence Inn in Clearwater if you can't find a house for a short stay, but it is not that close to the beach.

 

[Danibelle]

When I go to that area, I stay at Towne Place Suites Clearwater (near Residence Inn and the St. Pete airport) and save some dollars. We just drive to the beach and pay a small amount to park. It is not that far from Clearwater Beach. According to Mapquest, it is a 22 min. drive (12.49 mi.) via SR-60.

 

[krystalleigh1]

We stayed at Madera Beach a few years ago and really enjoyed it. We stayed at the Surf Song resort and had a great experience! It was quiet and very family friendly. They even have some beach toys that they keep at the resort for kids to play with. We also found the price very reasonable for our family of 4.

I would highly recommend Surf Song. We loved it!

http://www.sunhostresorts.com/Resorts/Surf-Song-Resort/54/

 

[pooh4evr]

We have stayed in that area a few times, and love it! The water is fairly calm (compared to the Atlantic side for sure) sand is nice, lots of shells (wear water shoes). We have used HomeAway Vacation Rentals twice, and it has worked perfectly. Try looking around on the site and see what they have. We do drive up to Clearwater to do some of the tours, Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise is lots of fun- do the evening sunset one, and The Little Toot Dolphin tour is wonderful. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium is ok, small , but that is where Winter the dolphin lives (the dolphin without a tail they made a movie about a few years ago) it is a rehab aquarium. John's Pass also has some tours and fishing charters too. It is a nice relaxing easy place for a little r&r?

 

[momofEAP]

We spent a few days in Clearwater about three years ago. I can't help with house rentals- we stayed in a hotel - but I wanted to recommend a visit to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Your kids may be too little to have seen the movie Dolphin Tale or read the book about Winter the dolphin, but she is a dolphin who was fitted with a prosthetic tale. Seeing Winter was the purpose of our visit, and my kids really enjoyed seeing her and all of the other animals. This is more an animal hospital/rehab center than an aquarium, but I think they have renovated and expanded since the movie came out. My younger DD was 7 when we visited and she had read the book in kindergarten. She was thrilled to see Winter and hold her prosthetic tale, and she came back to school and showed pictures, talked about Winter, etc.

I know there is a Residence Inn in Clearwater if you can't find a house for a short stay, but it is not that close to the beach.

I have a couple quick question about the Clearwater Marine Aquarium...Is it something that will take the whole day to visit or can we plan on going there and then to the beach? My DDs saw the movie and would LOVE to see Winter but we are also on a tight time schedule. (We only have one free day to go to the beach and possibly see Winter.) Do you have to go to both Aquariums to get in to see Winter? I couldn't quite tell from the website if they are completely separate or not.

 

[pooh4evr]

I would say it is a maybe a 2 hour visit. It is small but the things they do there are amazing. We have only done the main aquarium, so no you don't have to do both.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I have a couple quick question about the Clearwater Marine Aquarium...Is it something that will take the whole day to visit or can we plan on going there and then to the beach? My DDs saw the movie and would LOVE to see Winter but we are also on a tight time schedule. (We only have one free day to go to the beach and possibly see Winter.) Do you have to go to both Aquariums to get in to see Winter? I couldn't quite tell from the website if they are completely separate or not.

We spent about half a day, but you could go for less time. My kids were really interested in the medical procedures and the rescued turtles in addition to Winter (who was clearly the main draw). There is a show with Winter and also with some of the other dolphins (they had a new baby rescue when we were there). We did a Behind the Scenes tour, but it was mainly about the filming of the movie and the props that were still onsite (we didn't even know there was going to be a movie when we went). You could walk through fairly quickly (it is small) or delve deeper if you are interested.

 

[DawnS]

For the past 4 years we have stayed at the beach cottage 1 in indian shores, johns pass is great, definitely do the pirate ship, it is great, lots of dolphins, they have a hooters and a bubba gump restaurant there, but we prefer the smaller, non chain restaurants. We usually fly into Orlando, do Disney for a week then rent a car and drive to indian shores, and fly back from st. pete airport.