White sand beaches, Clearwater Beach or St Pete Beach ?

We%26#39;d love to be on a white sand beach on our next visit to Florida in August. Wondering between Clearwater Beach and St Pete Beach, which one has whiter sand so we can book hotels there ? Or are they about the same ? Thanks.

White sand beaches, Clearwater Beach or St Pete Beach ?

Honestly? Sand is sand, it%26#39;s all the same coastal area of Pinellas County. Given that, Clearwater Beach is known for it%26#39;s sand, it%26#39;s powdery-white and very soft. The only problem is many of the hotels in Clw are being torn down to make room for condos. There are still hotels to book, but the choices are becomming limited. Also with that is a host of construction around that area. If you can deal with that, then Clw beach should be fine. A bit south is Sand Key, and two hotels, the Sheraton Sand Key and the Marriott. The Sheraton is on the beach, has been under the same name for probably 30 or more years, and gets high reviews. It%26#39;s a bit separated from the Clw beach area, but a short trolley ride for a buck away. The Marriott is across the street, and sits on the bay, or intracoastal waterway. There%26#39;s a county park next door, which is also nice.

There%26#39;s nothing wrong with St Pete beach. Bigger choices of hotels (mom %26amp; pop, chain, resorts) and many more restaurants. Same sand too. And if the urge hits to visit Clw beach, can take that same trolley for a day%26#39;s ride north and visit. Will take a while to get there (probably 30 mins or more), but might be a relaxing way to spend a day, and you%26#39;ll see the entire gulf coast.

White sand beaches, Clearwater Beach or St Pete Beach ?

I think St Pete has more to offer than Clearwater in terms of restaurants, and hotels on the beach, and as the previous poster said, getting the beach trolley or driving up to Clearwater and stopping off along the way is a great way to spend a day.

If you want a quiet beach you could try Pass-a-Grille at the bottom end of St Pete Beach.

There are all sorts of boat trips you can do and lots of great places to visit in the area.

If you let us know your interests we can point you in the right direction.

If you have children, then Clearwater beach is the place to go. Clearwater beach is much more family friendly, in terms of things to do with the children. On pier 60 at sunset they have live music, street performers, local artists, and crafters that have tables setup all along the pier. They have face painters, henna tatoos, a huge playground and usually they have those giant inflated slides for the kids right next to the pier.

Also, here is a website that has more info on clearwater beach including photos.

http://www.clearwaterbeach.com/

Thank you much for all the replies. We plan to spend time at both Clearwater Beach and St Pete Beach.

Another question about the beaches. My kids heard about these live sand dollars that folks can pick up at the beaches of the Honeymoon and Caladesi and State Parks. Wondering if they can do so at the Fort De Soto State Park, and at what time of the day do these little things come up shore (like when the tidal wave is receding ?). Just one of those things the kids ';must'; bring back as souvenirs! Thanks.

You know, I haven%26#39;t seen too many of them on our beaches in quite a while. However, about 1 1/2 hours to the south at Ft Myers the beaches were literally alive with them. And you could find even more if you went out a few feet and plucked them out of the water.

I think they tend to show up after the tide has gone out, and we usually found them either early morning, or early evening as the sun was setting. Shame to say, but if you can%26#39;t find the living ones, you can always grab a zillion of them at any corner t-shirt shop.

Honeymoon Island/Caladesi is not too far from Clearwater beach, and a beautiful area to visit. So, if finding them is in your gameplan, then a trip there would not be wasted by any means. We also used to get great tasting scallops out that way too!! Honeymoon Island you can drive to, Caladesi you have to take a ferry over.

We just came back from a weekend at St Pete Beach. We stayed at the Alden Beach Resort. It was nice to be directly on the beach. While the sand may very well have been white, it was not powdery soft. It had lots of broken shells mixed in which made it tough to walk on. We%26#39;ve been to St Pete Beach more than once and find it to be quite family friendly- our boys are ages 12, 8 and 4.