My husband and I would like to visit Florida in May with our (then) 15 month old. I'd love to stay somewhere right on the beach (hotel, b&b, or house rental) with gentle, warm water our daughter can splash in. My husband and I typically enjoy walkable locations with plenty of eating and drinking options and plenty of local color. It would be great if there were a few interesting day trip options too. We are coming from Philly, so we'd like to be able to take a direct flight to the destination with a drive on the other end of no more than 1-2 hours. One thought we had was Amelia Island, but please let us know your suggestions.

(Also, is there anything toddlers are likely to enjoy on vacation? When our daughter was 8 months old, we went to an aquarium and she seemed kind of into it.)

Rosemary Beach, Seacrest Beach, Seaside or one of the villages of 30a -
www.30a.com

Amelia is on the Atlantic so probably a bit rough for a 15 mo.

The Gulf is gentle, both in the Panhandle as recommended by starrs and further south.

The beaches from Clearwater beach to St Pete Beach are all easily accessible from Tampa, a wonderful airport.

Most places aren't "do-it-all-without-getting-in-a-car" but St Armand's Key off Sarasota and Old Naples both do.

It isn't going to be seriously busy in May compared to now, so even if you have to get in a car, it won't be the nightmare that Florida is at the moment.

We were just in Amelia Island. It is cute, but not much to do for more than a couple days.
As suggested above, look into the gulf coast. Siesta Key has gorgeous beaches with beautiful water.

Thank you! This is exactly the advice I needed.

Check out Sanibel and Captiva islands. You can fly into Fort Myers then it's a relatively short drive - about 30 minutes to Sanibel and another 20 minutes or so to Captiva.