Need Gulf Beach ideas close to Orlando

Lobstah wrote:
Honeymoon Island state park. Spectacular, and it's in Dunedin.
I think you'll find it's easier than going further south to Clearwater.

X2 for Honeymoon Island for a day trip but seriously doubt that you could drive it in 2 hours. I'm about 28 miles away and can spend 1 hour or more to get there. Traffic can be very bad.

dogvetia wrote:
Hello We are taking some grandkids to Orlando for a Volley Ball Tournament and one of their main requests is to go to a beach on the gulf side. Due to time restraints of the VB Tourney I don't have time to drive the 2 hours each way to go up the coast to the north. Since many of you either winter or hang out down that way I thought you would be the perfect source of info for this part of our adventure. Needs to be on the Gulf side and as close (driving time wise) to Orlando as a decent beach can be found. Thanks in Advance!! Tom

I'm sure there's something closer, but this is one of the finest... Fort Desoto
Also consider Anna Marie Island and you may have to plan your way in-route, rather than going back and forth.

I don't believe that you gave an exact schedule for your trip so I think I will add that Hurricane Season started down here on June 1st and will continue until November 30th. Even Orlando is not immune to severe weather but the coastal areas can be worse during a hurricane. No matter what you plan, keep an eye on the weather while in Florida.

I have lived in the Tampa area for 27 years and have watched traffic congestion grow exponentially so I feel it's fair to warn you that any route from the Gulf beaches, unless you can really time your travel for non-peak times, can experience some lengthy delays. I do not know how Volley Ball tournaments are run but we did girls fast pitch tournaments for years and remember how our schedule was never concrete always depending on brackets and losing/winning so planning travel was almost hour to hour.

There are some excellent beaches on the East Coast, several thousand people use them daily so they can't be that bad. So from a travel standpoint I would advise the East Coast. Just please pay attention to the beach warnings and advisories as the Atlantic with the right conditions can have some wicked rip-tide currents that can be dangerous.

My real advice is after you win the tournament head on over to the Gulf Coast for a couple of days of celebration and experience the sugar white sand, clear blue waters and cool breezes of the Gulf.

If you can get a spot at Fort desoto I know you would love it. As far as the beaches the east coast has what I call gravel sand and the west coast has sugar sand.

Here is an article listing the top 10 beaches in Florida. Top 10 Florida Beaches

As you will see, they are listing beaches on both the East and West coast of Florida. Both coasts have great beaches but they are different. If you enjoy doing some surfing or wave riding, the East coast, Atlantic Ocean beaches, are better. To just relax and enjoy the sugar white sand, the West coast, Gulf of Mexico beaches are better.
The East coast beaches are closer to Orlando and driving due East will have less traffic than heading West to the Gulf Coast beaches.
You can't go wrong going to either coast.

Virtually all the beaches in Florida are good to excellent.

The Atlantic side of the state has higher waves than the Gulf side, as off shore, the water is much deeper.

Honeymoon Island state park. Spectacular, and it's in Dunedin.
I think you'll find it's easier than going further south to Clearwater.

I'm sitting 5mi from there right now...have been in the RV for 90 days, and close on our new house in Dunedin tomorrow.

We go there all the time.

Google says 1hr 53mins. I would use Rt 60 to cross Tampa Bay. It's less congested to get on to Honeymoon than going through Clearwater.

Jim

dogvetia wrote:
We will be staying near and playing Volleyball at the ESPN facilities. I have arrived at the conclusion that 2 hours is a minimum drive time to the gulf beaches--are the ones on the atlantic side as poor as some say? thanks tom

East Coast beaches are much closer to Orlando.

Would rate them much closer to excellent than poor.

Since it is such a long drive either way, how about Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. Just a thought. You can swim with the sharks and float along rivers all day or take some huge plunges.