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Cool Staycation Tips

September 29th, 2009

Florida Vacation or Staycation?

My family and i are planning a vacation for this coming month and i want to go relax at a beach and maybe go shopping somewhere in Florida. I want to go to Clearwater or Tampa Florida. Which one is better (but cheaper)? Please help out and maybe post a website and other stuff like that.

I went to Orlando for theme parks vacation last summer and I enjoyed them. Sorry if you have no plans to theme parks; but just share with you my travel blog in case you have interest in that->
http://travelerfolio.com

the best place in Florida is NOT Disney… shocking enough the best place in Florida to have fun,shop and go to the beach is actually Busch Gardens ,in Tampa Bay. also the best beach is Cocina beach. this beach is so beautiful and you can swim with the dolphins if they are playing in the bay at the time you are there…also try Horse shoe beach for a bit of looking around..the bay is gorgous. try to rent a boat and go out in to the bay, there you can get up close and personal with the dolphins as well..
after you have finished there take the sky way bridge to ST peters berg .. beautiful there as well and loads of shopping…. also in tampa there is a place i went to with my mom and brothers and sisters . i cant remember what it was called but they did under water shows with mermaids.. i think it was called wickie watchie but please check it out and make sure.. it was great fun when i was little,,,
have fun and i hope i hit the nail on the head for 10 points

) cheers
mystic
its so much fun…. Busch Gardens is an amassing theme park and there is so much to do. you will want to take your family back there again and again… just go to Google and type in Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Amusment Parks and click on one of their sites…you will love it there its better than Disney.
i lived in Flordia for 13 years and went toBusch Gardens all the time with my kids and we decided to try Disney one year and went right back toBusch Gardens…

Clearwater, Tampa and st. Pete all run right into each other. – You can find a wide range of accomodations there is an association of smaller non-chain resorts that you might like.
There is plenty of shopping and good food (I like Frenchies in Clearwater Beach) and the Columbia Restaurant – there is the original one in Ybor City on the NE side of Tampa that is wonderful (they used to have flaminco dancers on Fri night.) If you are on the Gulf Causway there is a transit system that can get you around.
Take a day and drive about 30 min north and go to Tarpon Springs – down by the sponge docks – (if you go on a boat do the old orange one they do a sponge diving demo) Great food great shopping and a fun atmosphere.
Have fun – you’ll find a lot to do.
If you are not in a hotel right on the Gulf – there are several community beaches that are quite nice – all have showers and dressing rooms etc. Clearwater Beach Park itself is rather expensive to park – so go south a couple of parks and there are nice beaches there too.
I rather like st. Pete’s beach – Pas a grille (it’s way south past the Big Pink Don Ceasar hotel. (Hurricane REst is good too)
Or turn east at the Don Ceasar and follow the signs to Fort Desoto – old fort there – lots of more isolated beachs but bike rental etc available.

These stories was contributed by our users. If you know of a cool place somewhere near you let us know!