Nightfawl

Hi All, last year I was frequently on this forum when my wife and I traveled through Spain and Italy. The information I got here was so helpful with our planning, so i'm back.

We now have a 1 year old daughter (wife was pregnant during our European trip) and we are looking to take a 1 week vacation in Florida to relax.

My pie in the sky idea is to rent a place via airbnb in the Siesta Key area for a week, rent a car and enjoy our time down there. It doesn't have to be Siesta Key Beach, but I have heard it's a beautiful public beach. We want something on the gulf side, with an easily accessible family friendly beach and looking for an area with other attractions to check out as well, so we don't have to spend all days at the beach.

Any tips and insight would be great! Thank you as always.

Peter_Hasdon21

It was great idea to spending vacations in Florida with family.Every tourist town in Florida has already anticipated the needs of every age demographic in your family. With increasing skill and refinement, nearly every Florida museum, zoo, attraction, restaurant and hotel aims to please traveling families of all stripes.

J62

Nice quote Peter. I see it is cut and pasted verbatim from Lonely Planet

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/flor...articles/76819

Sassafrass

Hi Nightfawl,

I remember all your planning for your trip to Europe and how much work you did to make it good for your wife. Congrats on becoming a Dad.

I have not been to Siesta Keys, so can't compare, but can offer another place for you to look at. It is the Pass-a-Grille beach that is either just South of St Pete Beach or is the Southern most beach neighborhood of St Pete.

Pass-a-Grille is a charming, old Florida area of little cottages. You will not find high rise glitz and glamour. You will find a kind of a village center with candy shops, ice cream shops, family friendly seafood restaurants, wide sandy beaches, moms pushing strollers and kids riding bikes.

There are a lot of old, but updated, cottages for rent. To give you an idea of the area, check out this craftsman cottage available for vacation rental.
VRBO #566058

Sassafrass

Meant to add.
You might want to visit the cute little town of Gulfport. It is really Florida's small town America - charming old houses, sidewalks, really excellent (but non-pretentious) restaurants. They do have a beach (I didn't go so can't speak to the quality), but love the small town vibe plus many little art shops, etc. Twice a month there are evening art and food walks with music, entertainers, etc. and a once a week outdoors fresh market. Check dates so you could time your visit with the events.

I stayed in Gulfport, and enjoyed it, but the rest of the family stayed in Pass-a-Grille and while I liked the art walks, etc in Gulfport, I would rather have stayed in Pass-a-Grille and just visited Gulfport.

Sassafrass

J62,
Peter keeps doing that. I thought perhaps he had difficulties with the language because some things are so poorly written, but it is also just generic stuff - as if he has not been there. Now I know. Thanks.

williamscb13

I want to reply to this post as I've spent some time in the area with ,y young son but don't have time. If I don't reply within the next few days, email me at my screen name at yahoo and I'll come back and comment.

schmerl

Siesta Key has one of the most beautiful beaches around. Soft, white sand, laid back atmosphere.

nytraveler

Sorry to hijack but I have been wondering about Peter. He posts on quite a few threads but never really says anything except that the place is wonderful.

It's obvious English is not his native language (although I shouldn't complain given my very limited skills in other languages) but the posts just don't seem to make sense.

Not sure if he is lonely or doesn't get the idea of the threads.

mabella101

You might want to check out Sanibel island. Lots of family friendly resorts. Laid back low key atmosphere. Miles of bike paths. We visit every year with the family in tow and love it.

JoJoSiestaKey

Siesta Key Beach is by far the nicest beach on the Gulf Coast and none other can compare.

The Village of Siesta Key is also quaint and lovely with great beach town attractions and fantastic dining (The Hub, The Cottage, SKOB).

You don't have to be oceanfront at Siesta. I would book one of the small mom and pop inns. They are great value.

Also, look down the road at Point of Rocks. Lots of condos and they have a small village.

I agree, Pass-a-grille and the St. Pete beaches are definitely worth a visit. Beautiful and unique in their own way.

Nightfawl

Thanks for the replies everyone, especially Sassa. Always helpful.

I didn't even look in to Pass-a-grille, but it does look very nice. And a bonus is that it's so close to Tampa, which I wanted to visit as well. We've talked about possibly moving to Tampa some day but I've never been, so wanted to check it out for a couple of days to get a feel for it.

I've also never used VRBO (i've used AirBNB), but I have heard about it and it seems just as reliable.

In terms of time, do you think splitting a week's vacation between Tampa and something like Pass-a-grille is a good use of time? We also have to consider our 1 year old who may not be the best car traveler, so I want to keep our driving minimal.

Pass-a-grille is also very close to Largo and Clearwater it seems, so there may be another couple of spots to check out. Thoughts?

williamscb13

So just for reference, traveling it's usually me, my son and my sister. My sister likes to have something to do while my son is napping so we try and stay close to shopping for her. we typically eat breakfast in our condo maybe lunch and go out for dinner.

Two years ago, we rented a condo right on the beach on Anna Maria Isand and absolutely loved it. We rented it very close to the date and were very lucky to find it. It was at the southern end of the island on Bradenton Beach but the town of Anna Maria is super cute. Great restaurants, easy to get around, we rented bikes and biked around town. Highly recommend.

This past thanksgiving we decided we wanted to go to Siesta Key but got worried that it was a little remote for us. Mwe really wanted to stay at the Hyatt House. We ended up driving there in the first day and checking it out. The restaurant shut down at 5 pm which was a no go for us and it seemed like there wasn't much town. We decided not to stay there and kept our reservation at the Ritz in Sarasota.

We love Sarasota. The Ritz was great, gave my son a new toy every day and did it even blink when he rode his scooter all over the hotel the whole trip. They have a beach club on Lido Beach with a fantastic pool. We liked the Ritz but decided that next time we might try and look for someplace to stay on Lido Beach. It's close to St Armand's Circle for shopping and restaurants. But a little more remote.

We typically land inTampa because it's cheaper, has more flights and seems to be an easy airport. However, make sure you allow lots of time to get back to the airport because you gave to go over a bridge and the last time we got caught for 45 minutes because of a wreck.

Lastly, on the way down from Tampa to Sarasota, we detoured to Pass A Grille beach to have lunch. Very cute end of the island. Beach gorgeous though I didn't like it that you had to cross the road to get to the beach. I'm not sure anything is directly on the beach. I like to be on the beach. So much easier with a little one.

You cannot go wrong with any of the beaches. It's a gorgeous area of Florida.

And lastly, we also have taken trips to Rosemary Beach which we really loved. It's family central. So much fun to have a bike and ride it everywhere. And Destin which we hated. Too many people, too much traffic and too many big box stores.

JoJoSiestaKey

The restaurant was shut down on Siesta Key at 5PM? What restaurant? At the Hyatt? Point of Rocks?

Do you realize how many restaurants are on Siesta Key?

At least 50.

Siesta Key remote?

I don't know where y'all went but it wasn't Siesta Key. Most people wish is was remote.

williamscb13

It was the restaurant at the Hyatt House and it truly felt deserted on the Friday night before thanksgiving. No idea what it's like during the day or more of the area around it. That being said, we thought the rooms at the Hyatt House were lovely and I think it would be a great place to stay.

marlene_

Siesta Key is lovely.

I'd recommend visiting the Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium that is nearby.

We have used VRBO on our trips to Europe--never had a problem. So nice to have a kitchen when travelling with a little one.