Clearwater Florida

October 06, 2017

Clearwater Florida

One of American's number one beaches! It is our family favorite beach to date!

We will have a few posts about this adventure, including the hotel we stayed at and why, the places we ate, the excursion we went on and the beach/area of Clearwater Beach.

Let's start with the hotel. We stayed at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Hotel and Spa

Clearwater Beach Hilton Hotel & Spa

The hotel has been newly renovated and sits right on the beach, with private beach access and just down the street from pier 60. This is the main reason we stayed at this hotel. We were looking for beach access as our number one priority. We truly fancy Marriott hotels, more about that in another post, but this time Hilton had the best beach access and location for our travels.

When you walked downstairs the hotel you come to either the pool on the left or the beach in front of you. The view of the beach is just spectacular, it's picture perfect. You see the bar with the "snow-cone" sand, (what the Knapp boys call the white sandy beaches)

The pool: There are two pools, the first is a zero entry that is only about 2 feet deep for the young kids, the second pool is about 5 feet deep with two sets of stairs entering. Along the whole edge the pool water comes right to the top, it's a really beautiful feature. There are plenty of lounge chairs around both pools. The larger pool also had a bar behind it. You have to exit the pool to get to it, but the staff is happy to delivery food and drinks. The pool has it's own menu: including food and drinks. The kids meals come in a sand pail the fries on the bottom. (Which the seagulls will come and snatch.) ... actually the seagulls snatched a whole chicken strip from my son's bucket one day while we were there.

The beach access is right our the pool area and offers guests beach towels and will exchange them for you at anytime. Which is great, for a family of five to not have to bring an wash towels on vacation. There is also a small little area to purchase sunblock, pool toys etc. A photographer is also at the beach access, which guests get a free photo shoot with each stay. We did have them take our pictures on our last day. The photos were super cute and it was quick, fun and easy. We received one free 8x10, but purchased the rest. They sent a link to download all the photos.... we are pretty old school and also asked for a cd, which they graciously tried to make for us.....which did not work when we got home. But the link worked great anyway.

Right outside the beach access gate, the beach bar has the most perfect atmosphere for hotel guest only. Chairs and tables were set up daily for us, along with a large chess board and other fun outdoor games. There was a small stage for a live band, which we never saw one while we visited. Food and drinks served there as well, the tax is higher because they are right on the beach. We were told it's about 18% on the beach vs. 8% at the hotel.

You can rent cabanas, chairs, umbrellas etc at the hotel shack on the beach. Ranging from $20 a day to $200, depending on what you got and for how long. We opted to go to Walgreen across the street and purchase two beach chairs at $20 each for the whole week. (which we have taken with us everywhere we go now)

The hotel did not have it's own restaurant, but it did have food at the pool, outdoor bar and indoor bar. As well as a great continental breakfast. There were two options for breakfast, either cold bar or the whole bar which included the warm made omelets.

The hotel also had a great spa, and many conference rooms, all of which we did not take part in..... we have three boys.... there is no time for a spa treatment at the beach.... that's for our Feb adventures. (That's when we go without kiddos to a fun place for our Birthdays!!!!!!)

The hotel rooms were great. beds were cozy, balconies all offered a great view, and the bathrooms were really nice with the full glass shower. Oddly that was one of the favorite things in the room. The glass shower door. You don't realize how nice it is, till you go somewhere without one.