Hi, My first time on the forum. I am not sure if it will be posted in the right area though. We are staying in St Petersburg Flordia for a week. We are renting a hotel and a car. We are beach bums for sure. I would like to take a day or two and just beach comb. Which beaches are close to St Petersburg that we can visit. Daytona? Coco beach? thank you, LOri

Daytona and cocoa are on the east coast, St. Pete is on the west. You will be close to St Pete beach! Go to google maps type in st. Pete and you will see all the little beaches that line the gulf coast.

Check out Ft. Desoto Park ($5 to enter, but worth it!)

http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm

Ft Desoto is the best. Go to the North Beach (turn right when the road T's, then go to the end and park. Another pretty one is Caladesi Island, accessible from Honeymoon Island Ferry. Actually, you can walk to Caladesi from N Clearwater Beach, but it's about 5 miles round trip. Caladesi is no longer an island, the cut having been filled in by a storm several years back.

The beaches on the west coast around St Pete are some of the prettiest in FL Absolutely NO reason to go to Cocoa or Daytona! IMHO, they don't hold a candle to the beaches here.

Sorry, that wasn't clear. Go to the North Beach section of Ft Desoto, just my preferred part of the island. Once on the beach, keep walking north there until it cuts back into a little bay with another island visible across the pass. A sailboat has washed aground on this second island...feel sorry for the owners, but it makes for a picturesque view across the pass.

okay, got you. no Cocoa beach no Daytona. St Pete's beach for sure and Ft Desoto sound awesome.I will go there for sure! Caladesi island sound beautiful. Thank you very much!! next time i will google map! Lori

Will enthusiastically second St. Petersburg Beach and Ft. DeSoto Park. Also seriously consider visiting Pass-a-Grille Beach, Clearwater Beach, and (in Sarasota) Siesta Key Beach.