- Parking
- Paid lot
- Typical crowd
- Very busy
- Best for
- First-time visitors, Sunset events, Families, Watersports
- Facilities
- Restrooms, Showers, Lifeguards, Playground, Restaurants, Rentals
Clearwater Beach has taken the top spot in national beach rankings more than once, and the sand genuinely deserves it: fine, white, unusually wide, with shallow warm water for most of the year.
It is also the busiest beach in the county by a wide margin, sitting on a barrier island connected by one main causeway. The sand is the easy part. Access is the problem.
Pier 60 hosts a sunset celebration in good weather, with buskers, craft vendors and performers gathering in the two hours before sundown. It is genuinely enjoyable and genuinely crowded.
What makes it worth the trip
Pier 60
A fishing pier by day and a nightly festival at sunset, with a well regarded playground beside it.
The width of the sand
There is a lot of beach between the seawall and the water, which is why it absorbs a crowd better than the narrower beaches to the south.
Lifeguards
Staffed year round, which is not true of most beaches in the county.
Parking
Paid garages and metered surface lots, all of it app-based and none of it cheap. Park and ride and the Jolley Trolley exist precisely because driving onto the island at peak time is unpleasant.
Rates and hours change. Confirm the current cost with the city, the county or the state park before you go rather than trusting any published figure, including ours.
Crowds
Mid morning on a weekend in season is the worst case. Early morning and the shoulder seasons are a different beach entirely.
Rules
- Alcohol is prohibited on Clearwater Beach.
- Dogs are not allowed on the sand.
- Flags are posted daily and enforced. Red means stay out.
- Glass is banned on every beach in the county. Cans and plastic only.
- Sea turtle nesting runs 1 May to 31 October. Fill in holes, knock down sandcastles, take gear home at night and keep lights off the sand after dark.
- Shorebird nesting areas are roped off in spring and summer. The nests sit on open sand and are nearly invisible, so stay outside the posted zones.
- Beach warning flags are not advisory decoration. Double red means the water is closed. Purple means dangerous marine life, usually jellyfish or red tide.
- Most beach towns clear unattended chairs, tents and umbrellas overnight. Take it with you.
Getting there
West across the Clearwater Memorial Causeway. Consider parking on the mainland and taking the trolley in season.
Good for
Photo: Michel Rathwell from Cornwall, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Source