For the past few weeks I?ve been scouring the forum and doing lots of other online research, and now I need some advice. Our three sons, who are all in college, have the same spring vacation week in early March, and we decided to take a family vacation somewhere reasonably warm ? we?d like a break from this wretched Northeastern cold weather.

With three kids in college, we are pinching pennies. This is kind of a compromise vacation ? both the Yucatan and the Caribbean, where we?d really like to go, were too expensive and logistically difficult for various reasons. Because of one son?s schedule we had to make a quick decision, so with little time to think about it, we booked cheap airfares to and from Orlando. We will be ending the week with three nights at the Hard Rock Hotel, spending two days at Universal, our big splurge (much as we enjoy Disney, we?ve done that a few times, so are skipping it this time).

Here?s the harder part. We want a few days of a nice beach vacation. I had hoped to go farther south, maybe to Sanibel or the Naples area, but four of us are arriving Saturday evening, and our son who?s coming from California flies into Orlando on Tuesday night (not arriving until 9:30). Therefore, we really can?t go too far away from Orlando. I?ve considered Cocoa Beach, which would be closest and probably the most convenient, but I think that the Gulf Coast would be nicer. I spent all of the summers of my youth vacationing in the Fort Walton Beach area, and haven?t been there in a few years, and I miss those sugar white beaches and beautiful blue water. I?ve been considering either Clearwater or Saint Pete Beach as being easiest to get back and forth from ? I had been thinking about Amelia Island or Siesta Key for awhile, but it seems that they would be a little too far away to easily fetch our son from the airport. Is the Clearwater Beach ? Saint Pete area as nice? My husband is worried that Clearwater Beach is too far from Orlando to be reasonable to go back and forth from twice in a few days, especially the airport run to pick up our son. What do those of you who are familiar with the area think? I need to make reservations ASAP before all of the good hotel rooms are booked.

I am also interested in the Clearwater Beach Hotel; do you think this is a good choice? I?ve seen some positive comments about it here. Is it likely to be warm enough to swim in the gulf in mid-March? Thanks for any feedback.

Ok, this is weird - I don't know where all of those question marks came from. It must be an artifact of having written the message originally in Word and copied it over into the Fodor's message window. Sorry about that.

Tough call on the airport! Much depends on your tolerance for driving, I would allow a little over 2 hrs drive time between CWB and Orlando airport. It is doable if you must, certainly. We had a similar situation getting our family together for Thanksgiving. Son could not fly in until several days after the rest of us, so we drove from Sedona to Phoenix to pick them up, then back to Sedona at 10:30 at night. You'd rather not, but of course it is worth it for all to be able to get together.

I've never been to cocoa beach, but have to vero and that area. (pardon my typing..had surgery on one hand tuesday and it's still just too hard to use it so i'm reverting to no caps). i prefer the gulf coast beaches to the atlantic and you stand a slightly better chance of being able to swim as the shallower water of the gulf warms up more quickly. sand here is very white, though not as white as ft walton and although the water is pretty, again, it isn't the turquoise color you remember from the panhandle (prettiest beaches in all fl, imho). cwb is broad, white, and very active area during spring break, which should please your sons. there are normally beach volleyball games going on right around the cwb hotel. living here i've had no opportunity to stay in most of the beach hotels, but from the outside anyway, the cwb hotel appears to be a lovely old historic hotel. i have abolutely no idea what their rooms are like, but their location is certainly ideal.

st pete beach is slightly quieter (positive), as nice as cwb, and although a bit of a longer drive mileage-wise, time-wise it will not take you any longer to get back to the orlando airport as it is all interstate driving, as opposed to cwb where you must drive across clearwater on a fairly congested highway to get back to the interstate. i find the traffic around spb far more tolerable than cwb during spring break which may be a factor in your planning. cwb built a roundabout a few years ago and it created even more of a traffic hassle than they had previously--though it was built to ease traffic flow. yikes. i avoid it like the plague, but that's just me.

by mid march people are back in the water, or visitors are anyway, and if you are from the northeast the water may be what you are used to in july!

you'll find two camps here--east coasters and west coasters, and living on the west, i really can only speak for this area and compare it to the few trips to the "other side' of the state. hope this hasn't muddled things more for you!

I live on the east coast and unless you go south of Jupiter (which is 21/2+ hrs from Orlando) the beaches and water are not as nice as you will find in Crwater/St Pete. Clearwater is very busy and congested all the time so Iwould vote for St Pete/Madeira Beach area. You can get stranded in traffic in and out of Clearwater for a long time ! Go a little further south ! Like the other guy said, time wise it will be quicker !

For what you are looking for, inexpensive, close to Orlando, Cocoa Beach would be fine.

Granted it isn't as nice as the Gulf or Palm Beach but it is still a very nice beach.

I agree that you should stay closer to Orlando. Go to Cocoa. Daytona. Ormond. The surf is stronger than on the west coast of FL, get boards for the boys to body surf. The drive from Orlando to Tampa is grueling, full of nonstop traffic, very stressful. Four hours of driving in a day is a lot for someone who is on vacation.

All that said, the gulf is definitely warmer than the Atlantic in March. But if the sun is out, and no wind, you will be very happy at either.

As someone who grew up in Cocoa Beach, and who goes home every year to visit, i'm going to vote for Cocoa Beach. It's a great little beach town, really relaxed with some fun casual places to eat (try Taco City). The beach there is nice and there's always something going on. Plus, it's an easy hour drive from the airport.

Thanks to everyone who gave me help.

OliveOyl, I hope that the recovery from your hand surgery is going well; thanks for typing your advice under adverse conditions! I had a major injury to my hand and surgery about three years ago - the rehabilitation period was annoying and frustrating, but just keep doing what your hand therapist tells you, and do those exercises. Except for some minor nerve damage, (which I don't notice too much), after 6 - 8 months, (I know it seems along time) I was pretty much recovered. I now have full function, and have had for a long time, which I am grateful for. I hope you fare as well, and I'll be rooting for you.

Here's what we decided to do; the four of us will arrive Saturday evening, and we'll economize by spending Saturday night at a motel in Orlando-lots of great deals to be had there,.

Despite what a few of you advised, we decided to opt for the gulf coast - however, we're going for Saint Pete Beach, rather than Clearwater Beach, mostly due to OliveOyl's feedback on the terrible traffic situation.

I did research lodgings at Cocoa Beach and nearby beaches, but finding a place that would accomodate five was pretty hard (I didn't find any). Therefore, I decided it was worth the extra driving back and forth to stay at Saint Pete Beach at a reasonably nice place. The possibility of warmer waters for swimming, the chance to watch sunsets over the gulf, and what seemed like a number of alternative activities (museums, etc.) if the weather is really bad were the deciding factors. Plus, we'd all really like to go to the Dali Museum in Saint Petersburg.

We've made reservations for 4 nights at the Alden Beach Resort, in a gulf front unit with a balcony - I hope that this will be nice. We'll be spending our last three nights at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal, I have very little doubt that this will be a good place to stay!

I appreciate all of the advice, and I may be starting a new thread asking for info on what to do while we're there. Thanks for all of the helpful feedback.

You made a good choice...the Alden is a well run hotel , next to the Tradewinds resort with good activities. Excellent location Have fun

My friend loves the Alden. She has two boys and a girl, and they love all the activities at the Alden. She plays tennis and there are many courts there.

But if you would be interested in less resort and more just beach apartment (for less money), the Bon Aire around the corner has very nice spacious beachy apartments. Unfortunately, no units with balconies, a nice amenity.

While there, find the Shells restaurant nearby, then head to the back of the attached hotel to the wood beach bar in the back -- the Swigwam. Order dinner by telephone from Shells and enjoy the Swigwam's outdoor seating. Your boys will like the lively bar and band next door.