My first destination this year was to Clearwater, Florida. I was in desperate need of a beach vacation and all I wanted to do was just lay in the sand and soak up the sun.
I feel like when we plan vacations, we jam pack them with so many activities to try to see as much as we can. We are not left feeling invigorated and need a vacation from the vacation.
I was intentional about ONLY relaxing on this trip and it would truly be a vacation to fill my cup and recharge my batteries.
I had visited Clearwater for the first time back in 2021 and fell in love with it. It’s located 20 minutes outside of Tampa Bay and the area is definitely becoming a hot spot.
Clearwater has soft, white sand and sparkling, turquois waters with palm trees. You almost feel like you’re in Mexico.
There are strip of colorful hotels along the beach and it absolutely has that vacation vibe. I believe Clearwater is a great destination for a beach trip if you don’t want to leave the country to go somewhere more exotic.
I will say I was pretty much a beach bum and laid on the beach like a starfish the whole time. I would get there around 11 am and stay until 6 pm when I got hungry for dinner. I honestly could have stayed longer if it wasn’t for needing food.
Besides laying on the beach, I carved out cool places to check out and how to get the most from a trip to Clearwater.
BEACH RECS:
The first thing that comes to mind is SUNSCREEN. Pack at least 2 full bottles. The Florida sun is no joke and even as someone who doesn’t burn often, and doused themselves in sunscreen, I still got pretty bad sunburn 3 days in. I wasn’t able to be in the sun at all one day because my skin needed a break. The second most important item to pack is ALOE VERA. I ended up having to buy some while I was there and chances are you’ll get some sort of burn from being on the beach.
I also found having a BEACH CHAIR made it more relaxing instead of only laying on a towel. There is a funny story to this by the way. My first day of the trip, a woman walked up to me and asked if I wanted to use the beach chair they bought since they were leaving and didn’t want to take it with them. Of course I said yes and was very thankful. I felt it was good karma coming back to me. My recommendation would be to buy a beach chair and use it while you’re there so you can enjoy the comfort and then gift it to someone else upon leaving. (I promise the good karma will come back to you).
I also recommend bringing a couple BEACH TOWELS from home because the hotels won’t provide them. It also wouldn’t be ideal to have to buy some them at the beach where everything is more expensive.
Water, drinks, and snacks are a must of course. There is a drink stand outside of the Hilton Clearwater Beach Hotel called TOMMY’S TIKI BAR where you can buy alcoholic beverages (My fav is the frozen mango daquiri). Once I had one of these in my hand, I truly felt like I had been transported to a tropical island. There is a bathroom conveniently located outside the hotel if you don’t want to go in the ocean.
You can also rent beach chairs and cabanas for the day. I personally was content baking in the sun like a reptile.
HOTEL:
I stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Clearwater Beach Hotel and did a ton of research before booking. I try to get the best bang for buck and am neurotic to the point of having an Excel spreadsheet to help me compare. After checking out reviews, pictures, pricing, location, and comparing them all, I finally settled on this hotel. Some reviews for other hotels stated that they were run down, had noisy guests, weren’t clean, etc., but this one had great reviews.
