My daughter is wanting to go to Busch Gardens for a summer trip. She is 13 and also wants to stay on the ocean. Can anyone tell me a really nice resort area to stay at where we could drive to Busch Gardens? We have been to Clearwater Beach and St. Petersburg and were not crazy about this area. I have been looking at the Sarasota area. Thanks for any help!

you can come upthe interstate from Sarasota.....about an hour...how much do you want to spend?...or how about Siesta Key or Lido?

My guess is Busch is about an hour and a half drive if you stay on the Gulf near Sarasota. It's a hard drive but do-able, especially if you are only going to Busch for one day and plan to spend remaining days at the beach.

From Anna Maria to Sarasota you have tons of places to chose from, from upscale resorts to small beach cottages (Anna Maria). As we live in the area, we go only for the afternoon so I can't be much help with firsthand knowldege...just word of mouth (which you'll find doing s search here too). Dining/shopping is more upscale than Clearwater/St Pete, if that's the difference you are looking for...

might I suggest a day at Busch Gardens and a day at Busch`s Adventure Island..it`s great fun..and spend a night close to there...and the rest at the beach..Anna Maria/Holmes Beach/Bradenton Beach are nice and low key....there is a Econolodge at 2502 n. Gulf Drive that is nice....on the(Bradenton) beach..and some on Long Boat Key...what do you want.?.action?low key?good restaurants?...cheap?expensive?..all depends on that....BuschGardens and I of A would be a daylight thing...don`t know if you`d get bored in the evening...you`ll have traffic to the beach either way.unless you go south to Sarasota or south..say Venice or beaches south...how much time do you have?

We would like a place with things to do, but not a lot of kids. Probably a more upscale resort is what we are looking for. We love a beautiful pool area and a really nice beach as we are sun people. I've done some research on the web and am having a hard time finding just the right place. We also enjoying eating at new restaurants so a variety of places to eat is pretty important. Maybe I'm being too picky. Is there a place in this area that has all of this?