Beach vacation - first week of August. Where?
 

A friend and I are considering meeting someplace for a beach vacation the first week of August. She'll be coming from NYC, me from Phoenix. My first thought was San Diego but she doesn't want to fly all the way there.

So where can we meet? We don't want to spend over 200 a night, and the hotel has to be on the beach. Open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Destin, or some other Florada location is pretty equal distance from both homes.

Florida - gulf beaches are way nicer imo, but if you fly into Fort Lauderdale, there are a lot of great places very close to the airport (Hollywood area, Clearwater area is our favorite though (Tampa airport), a lot of great condo/home rentals. The panhandle coast is even nicer, esp St. George & Cape San Blas (Panama not so much), but harder to get to.

Florida is a great place. Surely you will score very well

I Love Cape San Blas but there is no airport that is close. I would recommend St Pete Beach flying into Tampa. You could certainly stay within your budget there. You might want to look at Tradewinds, I've never stayed there but they enjoy good reviews.

So far leaning toward the Marriott Harbor Beach in FLL as I can get a rate of 160 a night for our dates and the hotel looks great. Will check into the St Pete Beach area.

Not to knock Florida Panhandle beaches, take a look at South Padre Island Texas. Fly to either San Antonio or Corpus Christi.

Now we are thinking the Hyatt Clearwater Beach, as I just remembered I have Hyatt points I can use, and the hotel looks nice and has good reviews on Tripadvisor.

Clearwater beaches are wayyy better than FLL!

I vote for the Hyatt in Clearwater! If you have a rainy day, the Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg is wonderful!! Their is a trolley that runs from Clearwater to St Petersburg but I don't know how close to the museum it goes.
Frenchy's on the beach is a fun place for grouper sandwiches and I love it's beach location http://www.frenchysonline.com/rock_index.html

We are booked at the Hyatt Clearwater Beach, which looks gorgeous. Just one more question: are we crazy to go the first week of August?

" . . . are we crazy to go the first week of August?"

Well, since you asked -- it depends on your tolerance for heat. When I've been in Florida at that time of year (it takes a funeral to get me to go then) I've found it too hot to enjoy the beach.

I would suggest somewhere between Cape Cod and New Jersey for tolerable temps and good swimming.

FD

I can tolerate the heat. I live in AZ (and yes, I know, "it's a dry heat" here). My parents lived in south FL and as it happens, I, too, was there for a funeral. Went to the beach while there and it was just beautiful. So I guess it's a crapshoot. I just don't want to fly to NY or BOS and then have to rent a car.

Drastic change of plans. We are meeting in San Diego and staying at the Loews on Coronado Island. My friend is willing to fly to SAN from NY and we figure we have a better chance of good weather.