Clearwater beach or Siesta Key

Hello !

We are a swedish family with two children aged 12 and 15 who are planning to go to the Gulf coast in July next year. I can%26#39;t decide which part that will be the best. Clearwater or Siesta Key?

We will stay in Fort Lauderdale for one week and the other in Orlando and finish with a week at the Golf.

I would also love to have tips on where to stay close to the beach.

Catharina

Clearwater beach or Siesta Key

I have visited florida%26#39;s gulf coast my entire life and finally became a florida resident when I moved here 3 years ago. My advice: Siesta Key! Here is why: Siesta Key is dazzling as far as its beautiful sugar-white sand beach. Additionally, the area is much nicer, has more activities, and is kept cleaner. I recently stayed on Clearwater beach on two different occasions and was somewhat dissappointed. While they have a lovely pavillion for beach-goers, the lodgings in the area are old, run-down, and not generally well cared for but they still charge full price-plus because of their beach location. At siesta key you will find excellent accomodations, a beach that is just as beautiful (in fact, I think more so) and a nicer, clearner, more well-kept environment with more character. I hope this helps -- enjoy your vacation no matter what you decide. Also, if you choose Siesta a good day-trip is Sarasota, FL close by. An art and cultural center.

Clearwater beach or Siesta Key

Siesta Key is close to Sarasota, which has the Ringling museum, home and Circus museum. John Ringling was one of the founders of the Ringling brothers circus; he and his wife collected numerous works of art that were left to the state of

Florida (some of the most notable are 4 cartoons, paintings used as patterns for tapestries, by Reubens)

Clearwater is an easy day-trip to Tampa (Busch Gardens, an amusement park with roller-coasters and zoological park with many African animals).

Siesta Key!

We stay at the Holiday Inn Lido Beach. It is close to St. Armands (great food and shopping). The hotel is beachfront and Ringling Museum is 10 minutes away and definitely worth the half day or so it takes to go through it and the grounds.

Siesta Key is very nice but limited in things to do which is why I would suggest Lido, which is just a few minutes away, instead as there is so much within walking distance.