Hi I have a flight out of Tampa and need to return my car at 5 pm. I'm coming from the Bradenton area and would like to go to a beach closest to the airport for a few hours. Anyone know of the closest one?

There are beaches along the Courtney Campbell Causeway near the airport, but they are on Tampa Bay rather than the Gulf.

If you are coming over the Skyway, you could stop at one of the St Pete beaches, I suppose.

I assume you just want to "lay out" one last time since showering and changing could be a problem if you went in the water.

Be aware that if you are dropping off a car at TIA at 5PM on a weekday, rush hour traffic heading over the Howard Frankland Bridge, (I-275 and the bridge you would take after going to any of the St Pete beaches or coming from Bradenton) becomes very heavy by 4PM. There are a surprising number of people who commute between Tampa and St Pete, both directions, and lanes on the bridge narrow at the end of the bridge going north, creating a bottleneck that backs up to the hump of the bridge.

If you are leaving on a weekend, that of course is far less a factor. Coming from Bradenton I'd stop at one of the St Pete beaches, and Ft Desoto would be my first choice, followed by the Pass-a-Grille area of St Pete. For either of those you'd take the Sunshine Skyway Bridge ((-275) and exit onto the Pinellas Bayway heading west. That highway dead ends at the Gulf, and a left turn will take you to Pass-a-Grille area. You exit the Bayway earlier if you want to go to Ft Desoto Beach. There are small signs for it...best to use GPS. That beach is stunning. Hit the island and head north until the road dead ends. It's undeveloped, dunes and beach. There are rest rooms there and you could change. Entrance to Ft Desoto is now $5, plus a small toll prior to that of about .75.

Great suggestions from 00 if you are not nervous about traffic delays.