Florida Westcoast Beaches on the Gulf of Mexico

About Florida Beaches on the Gulf Coast

Clearwater Beach

World famous and offering just about every water and beach activity imaginable, Clearwater Beach has been named the top city beach in the Gulf Coast region and has some of the best places to stay. This 4 mile long beach is one of the largest in the Tampa Bay area. A tourist mecca with major hotels and small, family owned properties.

Pier 60 Park features a family recreation complex on Clearwater's expansive beach with covered playgrounds, fishing and concessions. The Sunsets at Pier 60 Festival features music, entertainment and a beautiful Gulf of Mexico sunset throughout the year.

Major Volleyball tournaments are frequently featured on the beach, and volleyball nets provided on the beach are often in use by tourists and locals. Fishing charter boats, dinner cruises, parasailing, and other boating excursions are available from the Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina.

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Sand Key

Sand Key Beach Park a perfect venue for a wedding, was opened to the public August 1984. Ninety-five acres are located on Sand Key, a barrier island between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida mainland. Clearwater Pass, leading from the Gulf to the Intracoastal waterway, separates the park from the popular resort area of Clearwater Beach. The park welcomes more than one million each year.

Gulf Boulevard runs down the middle of Sand Key, which is a barrier island on the West Coast of Florida. Less than a mile wide, it includes sandy white beaches, high rise Beachfront Condos on Sand Key Beach, townhomes, and single family homes. There are two resort hotels and a shopping center that provide a variety of restaurants, shopping and banking.

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Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands

Americans got their first glimpse of Honeymoon Island in the early 1940's through newsreels and magazine ads which promised undiscovered pleasures for beach weddings and newlyweds. The palm-thatched bungalows, or cottages, subtropic climate and balmy breezes seemed perfect. It was until Pearl Harbor. America went to war, factories operated around the clock. A New Yorker who had purchased the island in 1939 for $30,000 saw his vacation paradise re-commissioned as an R & R site for exhausted workers.

By the 1950's man was a major competitor in the reshaping of what was now Honeymoon Island. A causeway bridged the gap between Honeymoon and the mainland by 1964, and the island passed through the hands of several development corporations. Visitors can observe one of the few remaining South Florida virgin slash pine stands along the island's norther loop trail. These large trees serve as important nesting sites for the osprey.

Caladesi Island State Park is located just north of Clearwater Beach, three miles offshore from Dunedin. This 600 acre park is one of the few undeveloped barrier islands left in Florida and is accessible only by boat. Construction on the island is limited to one small area, including boardwalks, picnic shelters, bath houses, a ranger station and a concession stand.

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Belleair Beach

A community of single family homes, many built on canals or the Intracoastal Waterway, and condominiums built on the Gulf of Mexico.

Incorporated on March 16, 1950, much of Belleair Beach's 1 1/2 square miles was built with a "dredge and fill" operation creating fingers of land reaching into the Intracoastal Waterway.

Gulf Boulevard runs North and South through Belleair Beach, connecting Sand Key (Clearwater Beach) and Indian Rocks Beach. 2,200 residents - a mix of Seniors, professionals, and families - call Belleair Beach home.

Belleair Beach is connected to the mainland via causeway and drawbridge. Belleair Bluffs is directly to the East, accross the Intracoastal, from Belleair Beach.

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Indian Rocks and Indian Shores Beach

Indian Rocks Beach is located on a barrier island on the West Coast of Florida, only a 30 minute drive from Tampa International Airport.

On the West side of Gulf Blvd are the sandy beaches and a conglomeration of beach cottages, homes, high rise condominiums, and a few businesses. The area provides an abundance of vacation rental options, several outstanding restaurants, and a variety of gift and convenience stores.

The Eastern side of Indian Rocks Beach features frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. Many waterfront condo's, townhouses, and single family homes are east of Gulf Blvd. most with boat docking facilities. Indian Rocks Beach housing also includes many inland homes and complexes. Residents include young families, empty nesters, northern snowbirds, and active retirees.

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Redington Shores / Beach

This primarily residential town of less than two square miles and approximately 1700 residents, is proud host of the new Tides Beach Club. This 214-unit condominium fronts a quarter mile of the Gulf of Mexico. This quaint residential community has private beaches with no public parking and hosts only three motels on Gulf Boulevard.

Redington Shores has several Gulf front condominiums and homes, as well as homes on the canals, condo's on the Intracoastal with docks. North Redington Beach is a prestigious Gulf front community, with many top rated restaurants and shops, catering to any need. It is the home of the new Tides Condominium and Tides Village Townhomes, also many upscale homes on the Intracoastal waterways. There are several gulf front condominium complexes as well as a hotel and motels to accommodate guests.

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Madeira Beach

A major tourist area with direct entry to the Gulf, one can find fishing charters, daily cruise and gambling trips at the Boardwalk on John's Pass, along with lots of shops and waterfront restaurants. There are investment or vacation condo's, as well as waterfront homes with easy access to the Gulf, this area has many multiple type family dwellings.

Located close to Treasure Island and St. Pete Beach, the locals like to call it the island that is "two miles long and a smile wide." Beautiful, soft, white sand and turquoise waters are perfect for swimming, sunning, beachcombing, diving, jet skiing, parasailing and other water sports.

Fishing excursions are available at Madeira Beach or you can fish from the piers, seawalls and bridges. John's Pass Village and Boardwalk at Madeira Beach is an old fishing village that has been transformed into a quaint area with 110 shops, galleries, restaurants and water-sport vendors. You'll find antiques, art, local crafts, unique clothing and jewelry, as well as tempting restaurants featuring fresh fish and seafood.

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Treasure Island

Treasure Island is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico on 3 sides and is a popular tourist area located just North of St. Pete Beach. Truly one of the nicest communities within the Tampa Bay area. Treasure Island is a special tropical community which engages nature and the water environment at every opportunity.

The brilliant sun, white sandy beaches and glorious sunsets are part of everyday life. You'll know you are in paradise when you cross one of the three bridges that brings you to our tropical world of lush flowers, palm trees, parrots, pelicans and dolphins.

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St. Pete Beach

St. Pete Beach offers some of the most beautiful sun-kissed shores in the Sunshine State, and is home to the famous Don César Beach Resort. Take a picnic and enjoy cool sea breezes or relax on soft, sugar-white sands while getting that deep, tropical tan.

Famous for its miles of St. Pete Beach Hotels and Motels, this is an area located close to restaurants, downtown St. Petersburg and its museums, schools, cultural and entertainment complexes such as Tropicana Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Rays.