We are traveling to Florida in June. We have booked our airfare to Tampa but have not moved forward from there. Any recommendations on where we should stay would be great, we are going for 7 days. Two adults, and 3 children ages 3-8...
St. Pete Beach or other nearby towns have wonderful, family friendly, beaches. We have stayed at the TradeWinds there. You can sometimes find coupons for this or other decent hotels at tourist centers/online. Good luck!
We were in that area in February. There were 3 adults (Grandma came) and our 4 year old twins.
We stayed in a condo development called The Reef Club in Indian Shores (just south of Clearwater Beach) It was fantastic! Right on the ocean (all rooms have a view), stocked kitchen, great heated pool, and beautiful sandy beach. Also, it's right on the trolley line that runs up and down the coast from Clearwater Beach to Treasure Island.
Here is the link to the management company and then just search for Reef Club: http://www.plumleegulfbeachrealty.com/vrmgr/search/WebGro...
It is really nice to have a kitchen and seperate bedrooms on vacation and the price for a 3 bedroom condo was even cheaper than a decent hotel would have been. All the condos are owned seperately so check out the photos and reviews online. We stayed on the first floor in unit 102. It was nice, because it had stairs from the balcony down to the pool and beach. It was a little outdated, but very clean and comfortable.
We liked the Land's End condo development at Treasure Island. We booked through Waterfront Rentals and they were good about matching us with a unit that fit our needs. Was worth the extra money for gulf/ocean view. Good luck!
Staying at a Disney hotel is definitely worth it if you are planning on doing the "Disney thing".
I believe it's about a 2-3 hour drive from Tampa, but Sanibel and Captiva Islands are wonderful. We just returned from having been there on our spring vacation - and I am ready to go back! The beaches are beautiful, famous for shelling (brought back my weight in shells). The sunsets are incredible. Lots of family friendly dining options. There is the Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve, where they offer all sorts of tours for all ages - plus kayak rentals. Also dolphin watching cruises (AWESOME!). And other nature=oriented things to do! Depending on where you stay, you can ditch the car and get around on a rental bike or surrey. Ft. Meyers Beach -- across the bay -- has more tourist-type attractions but we found we had plenty to do and never left the island until our last day.
some links: http://www.fortmyers-sanibel.com/
http://www.sanibel-captiva.org/
Have a great trip!
Try to find a house or condo to rent sometimes there cheaper plus the fact you could make your own food instead of going out the whole time your their and put it in the fridge. Plus you could be near a beach and not have to drive to far to a public one you could get a private beach.
