St. Pete / Clearwater, Florida

resorts and hotels; restaurants - scroll down below

St. Pete / Clearwater Restaurants
With 35 miles of beaches, visitors expect great seafood.

At Guppy's (small, casual, terrific), try shrimp stuffed with blue crab, smashed potatoes, or seafood bowl. Or eat upstairs at The Hurricane and watch the drama of the weather down at Pass-A-Grille beach. Be sure to try a Grouper Sandwich sometime during your stay.

St. Pete / Clearwater Hotels & Resorts

At the St. Pete and Clearwater Florida's Beach site, you can find everything from national chains to local legends.

The Radisson Sand Key Resort all-suite resort has a Kids Klub, pool has a grotto and waterfall, and suites extend from one side of the hotel to another, giving two sea views-- cool! No beach, but you can take a free shuttle or a five-minute walk to the shore.

This resort is now the Marriott Suites Clearwater Beach on Sand Key.

Across the street, the Sheraton Sand Key sits on a swathe of beach that's been steadily widening since the hotel was built. Watch for cordoned-off turtle nests: if you take a late-night stroll at the right time of year, you might see a massive loggerhead laying her eggs, or hundreds of hatchlings scuttling seaward.

Further south, at St. Pete Beach, we stayed at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort, which has a kids' club, family activities, five pools, and a meandering little river you can navigate in a paddleboat. We also liked the huge inflatable waterslide on the beach.

Finally, filling the role of local legend, the Don CeSar Beach Resort, a Loew's Hotel presides in pink splendor on St. Pete Beach. Built in 1928, the ambiance verges on the stuffy but the place has class, and a kids program called Camp CeSar.

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*photos copyright Teresa Plowright 2002.

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary accommodation for the purpose of review. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.