Patti

Hi All,

I'm trying to find a hotel or motel in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater area for two nights in March. The motel on St. Pete Beach that I had tentatively booked has fallen through. Places within walking distance of the beaches in the Clearwater or St. Petersbug area would be my first choice, but any suggestions are welcome. We won't have a car so within walking distance of restaurants, too, would be good. I've emailed and/or called at least 20 places and everybody's full (I know, I know, March in Florida...) I'd like to do $150/nt or less if possible. We're OK with mom and pop motels or chain places.

Thanks,

Patti

Patti

I know it's a tedious question, but can anyone offer suggestions?

Thanks,

Patti

TravelsHappy

Patti, before we sold our property at that beach two years ago, we were very familiar with the beach places in that area. One I do recall as being especially nice was Island's End, at Pass-A-Grille. 727-360-5023, and www.islandsend.com. March is a busy time, but perhaps this place can help you. Wish you the best of luck, and have a nice trip.

hampsterbrain

Hi Patti-
A couple of years ago we stayed at this place www.barefootbayresort.com
It was very clean, very close to the beach and the restaurants in the Clearwater Beach area. I don't normally stay at motels but it was only for 2 nights and we found it to be perfect and VERY reasonable. Hope this helps.

Patti

Thanks TravelsHappy and hampsterbrain (love the name!)

I've tried Barefoot Bay, they're full, but I'll check out Island End.

Thanks again,

Patti

hampsterbrain

Patti
Have you tried Priceline? You can look at biddingfortravel.com to see what hotels usually pop-up.

Tandoori_Girl

Patty, how about the Clearwater Beach Hotel. I hesitate to recommend it just because the pool was really dirty when I was there last but if you can get it, this part of Clearwater Beach is the nicest. Also, the Adams MArk. Not exactly my style but it's big, maybe space there.

At SPB, try the Alden. The Tradewinds. And if you call them, maybe the Bonaire (smaller). How about Treasure Island? Try the Thunderbird or the Best Western Sea Castle Suites (stipulate Gulf side not Bay Side). You'll be within walking to stores and shops and restaurants there.

Let me know what you turn up. Good luck.

mikieguns

i stayed here once and it was awesome!

http://www.shephards.com/

KathyK

Just a warning, we visited Clearwater Beach last year and there is not much of a beach in front of many of the hotels. The public beach is big, but in front of some hotels there is little or no beach, so if you're going for a nice beach, I'd skip Clearwater. I was very surprised, everywhere else I've visited in Florida had nice beaches where you could walk for miles.

Tandoori_Girl

This is not the case at the Clearwater Beach Hotel, which is north of where KathyK is referring to. But it is the case at the Adams Mark and other hotels that are near it.

Patti

Thank you all so much! There's a whole bunch of places listed that I haven't tried. I'll keep you posted.

Patti

cd

Patti
Cannot tell you how much we loved the Island Inn in Treasure Island. Some of the hotels in Treasure Island have too wide of a beach between hotel and water for us. We like to open our sliding glass doors and not just see the ocean, but hear it, and with this place you can. They have efficiencies, one, two and three bedrooms. We loved the spaciouness of our room with full kitchen and felt the price was right for a oceanfront. There is also a restaurant right on the beach(Sunset Beach) just a 5min walk away that was so much fun to stop at for drinks on our beach walks and their grouper sandwiches were very good for lunch. (sorry, cannot remember the name but you can't miss it)See the Inn at: http://www.islandinnresort.com/

Tandoori_Girl

cd, great recommendation. The Island Inn is a condo-hotel. Each unit is individually owned. And cd is right about the location. It is closer to Sunset Beach where there is not such a large beach. I love TI's large beach, it is very unusual in Florida where we are constantly trying to keep the beaches wider -- but it is a trek to the beach from the Tunderbird and the Best Western. There are always lots of things going on at this wide section of TI -- there's a drum group every evening, there's kites, and in March there's a sand sculpture competition which has some incredible entries. I don't know how they do those but they are all shapes and sizes.

joan

Ditto on everything above, with two exceptions:

Shephard's has a reputation for giant spring-break type parties. Unless you are a certain age, I wouldn't stay there.

Travelshappy has a grudge against some posters here, and posts false info. So far he has claimed to live in about three different spots in Florida, so who knows what the truth is? Island's End is cute, but so far I have not seen any personal recs here for it. And the location at the south end of SPBeach would be complicated without a car.

The Island Inn on TI is very nice. I hope they have a vacancy for you! That bar cd is referring to is called Caddy's, a great place to watch the sunset or have lunch. You could also walk to the drum circle (only on sundays I believe) and the Saturday afternoon kite gatherings are awesome - I cannot believe how huge and intricate those kites can be - really worth seeing. Have fun!

NewEngland

Try the Westin Innisbrook in Palm Harbor. It is not on the beach, but is very nice. It is a private gated property with nice condos, numerous pools, several restaurants, fantastic golf, tennis, walking, nature, etc. We booked with Southwest Airlines on a special last year.

wispackman

We have been going to the Alden beach resort for the last ten years in St. Pete beach. Clean, 2 pools, rooms all have full kithens. www.aldenbeachresort.com

fredlmoore

Patti:
Avoid the Clearwater Beach Hotel. Just came back from there and it's dirty and run down with not enough parking.
Ever seen a palmetto bug? Big, brown Florida roaches. We shared our room with several.

simpsonc510

Check out www.dolphinbeach.com. I've stayed there many times over the years since 1972.

gmoney

Simpsonc510, Could you provide more info about the dolphin beach club. I was considering staying here but did not know how nice it is. Are rooms clean, etc. Appreciate any comments you may have with your experience here.

BoulderCO

Do not go to the Clearwater Beach Hotel. They are getting ready to tear down the entire property and build a new development so they are not maintaining the hotel. Our room last year had dirty underwear hanging on a hangar in the closet. The Hilton right next door is quite nice.