Happy days: getting to know St. Pete-Clearwater, beyond its incredible beaches

St. Pete-Clearwater in Florida is all about beaches, or is it? Aaron Millar spends a few happy days discovering celebrity dolphins, quaint ‘Scottish’ towns and wildly good food too.

Gillian and Elise, Clearwater Beach ©Aaron Millar

There’s a moment when you know the holiday has begun. After all the airports, and car hire, and faff and fuss, there’s a point at which you realise there’s nothing left to do but have fun.

For me, that moment happened the first time I dug my toes into the pure white sand of Clearwater Beach. It was sunset. The horizon was glowing fire orange, fading to shades of turquoise and deep blue above. My son, Cameron, 16, was juggling a football; my 12-year-old daughter, Elise, was doing cartwheels and jumping waves as they rolled onto the shore.

Elise, St. Pete-Clearwater ©Aaron Millar

Happy comes naturally in St. Pete-Clearwater

“You’ve got good energy!” I shouted. Her happiness was infectious, like the wind and sea had lifted her the moment we stepped on the sand.

“How could I not,” she replied. “I’m on the beach with my family.” If that one moment watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico, digging our toes into the sand, was all we got, it would have been worth the trip. But we hadn’t even started.

North Shore Park Beach, St. Pete-Clearwater

Prepare to be seduced by some of the best beaches in the country

Clearwater Beach, where we were staying, is part of the broader St. Pete-Clearwater region. If you look on a map, there’s a tiny, crooked finger of a peninsula about 30-miles from Tampa, across Tampa Bay. The town of Clearwater sits on the northwestern part of that finger, right on the knuckle, and St. Petersburg (St. Pete to locals) is on the southern tip.

The entire region is renowned for its beaches. Circling that finger are roughly thirty-five miles of pure white sand lapped by emerald green waters. The region has won numerous awards over the years and is considered to have some of the best beaches in the country.

That’s good news for families. As we all know when it comes to entertaining kids, sea and sandcastles do most of the work. But while St. Pete-Clearwater has that in abundance, there’s enough else, as we were about to discover, to warrant a much longer stay.

Cameron capturing the sunset, Clearwater Beach

St. Pete-Clearwater is made for twin-centre Florida holidays

It’s also, at just a couple hours’ drive away, a great place to mix with an Orlando theme park break. Wave to the mouse, say hi to Harry Potter, then cross from the east coast to the west, and swap endless queues for endless sunsets. You’ll also get around 200 bottlenose dolphins thrown in for good measure, most of them living year-round in the nearby marina and bay.

We took a boat tour and saw dozens in a feeding frenzy, jumping out of the water and diving down again like a wave. If you’re lucky, one or two might even surf the wake of your boat as you head back home.

Elise, Clearwater Marine Aquarium ©Aaron Millar

Spend a day communing with dolphins at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

It was exhilarating, but those guys were just ordinary cetaceans. In the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, just a stone’s throw from the beach, they have dolphin celebrities.

20 years ago, in 2005, a baby dolphin named Winter was spotted by a fisherman caught in a crab line and near death. She was rescued and brought to the aquarium for rehabilitation.

Unfortunately, her tail was severely damaged and fell off soon after she arrived. Clearwater Aquarium, along with local partners, built her the world’s first prosthetic dolphin tail, and her story went on to inspire thousands of visitors, especially child amputees who would come to watch her swim. Hollywood heard about it and made a movie – Dolphin Tale – and guess who was cast in the starring role? That’s right, Winter the dolphin, of course.

Dolphin playtime, Clearwater Marine Aquarium ©Aaron Millar

All dolphins make totally unique sounds, took us by surprise too!

Unfortunately, she passed away a few years ago but her legacy of care remains. “We are an animal hospital first and foremost,” Marsha Strickhouser, the Director of Media Relations, explained. “Our entire remit is rescue, rehabilitate and release. The only animals that live here are the ones who are too badly injured to return to the wild.”

We saw otters, sea turtles, pelicans, a tiny fish called ‘Dot’, who was a huge hit, but naturally the most popular were Winter’s friends, Hope (who ended up starring in Dolphin Tale 2), and a particularly cheeky dolphin named Nicholas.

All dolphins have unique vocalizations; many sound dramatically different from one another. Winter sounded like “Tweety Bird” apparently. And Elise said Nicholas “Sounds like a clown squeezing its nose.” Surely, Hollywood will come calling for him next?

MORE FLORIDA HOLIDAYS YOU MIGHT LIKE

How Northwest Florida Beaches will turn you into a fun parent again

How to plan the easiest ever multi-gen family holiday in Florida

Amazing Florida family holidays for everyone, with the top Orlando experiences included

Florida without limits: guide to accessible family holidays in The Sunshine State

Old Bay Café, Dunedin Marina

Dunedin: a little slice of Scotland at home in St. Pete-Clearwater

The following day, we decided to explore further afield. Dunedin, just 20 minutes north, is a cute artsy town with Scottish roots, and while St. Pete and Clearwater are bigger cities, Dunedin has more of a hometown feel.

We took a walk through its farmer’s market, explored the many arts and crafts stores (come here for souvenirs, the glass art is stunning), and grabbed lunch at Pisces Sushi & Global Bistro (try the alligator meat Mardi Gras special, ‘Swamp Thing’, if you dare).

Dogedin mural, Dunedin, St. Pete-Clearwater

Sadly, we only had a day in Dunedin, but wish we’d had more. One to explore the town. A second day to visit Honeymoon Island State Park – renowned for shelling, snorkelling and four-miles of sun drenched white sand. And a final day to visit Caladesi Island. Only accessible by ferry, Caladesi is where to find nature trails, a three-mile kayak route through mangroves, and that castaway feeling of being on a truly pristine beach far away from the crowds.

The Hiatus Clearwater Beach

We recommend a hotel with a rooftop and sunsets, on Clearwater Beach

The food throughout our trip, as you’d expect when eating within eye sight of the sea, was fresh and delicious. Try Crabby’s on the beach for fried grouper sandwiches, and lunchtime cocktails. Beachcomber is the place for desert: picture a giant chocolate marshmallow crossed with a volcano. And our favourite? The rooftop Ocean Seven restaurant at our hotel, The Hiatus Clearwater Beach – best tuna steak I’ve ever had – and even better was the happy hour on its outdoor terrace: champagne and sunsets overlooking the sea (you might want to get a babysitter).

Dali Museum, St. Pete, Florida

Dali dazzles and intrigues in Downtown St. Pete

On our last day we headed 40 minutes south to downtown St. Pete, and the most surprising highlight of our St. Pete-Clearwater trip. Located in the heart of the waterfront district, the Dali Museum houses the largest collection of the artist’s works outside of Spain; more than 2,000 pieces in total, showcasing the evolution of his art from sketches as a 14-year-old boy all the way through to the end of his life.

I wasn’t sure how the kids would respond, but something in the dreamlike imagination of Dali’s surrealism captured them immediately. “They’re questioning things,” Beth Bell, the museum’s Chief Marketing Office said. “And that’s what Dali’s artwork asks us to do. He shows you one thing, and then you look at it a second time, and see something else.”

Hear the full story of Aaron’s trip to St. Pete-Clearwater on the Family Traveller Podcast

Dali 360, Dali Museum, St. Pete

“St. Pete is a flamboyant diva dressed in the sun’s most blazing gown”

Dali was known for his liberated style, and through new technology the museum has pushed the boundaries even further. When a selection of his ‘masterworks’ – the largest, and most famous, of his paintings – are viewed through a phone Augmented Reality animates different elements, peeling them back layer-bylayer to reveal their hidden depths: the woman staring out the window dives into pool; a ship sails into the foreground; geometric shapes emerge from unseen patterns. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen and had all of us – especially the kids – totally transfixed.

Further into the museum there were virtual reality headsets – Cameron and I actually went inside his 1934 work ‘Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet’s ‘Angelus’ (the one with the Elephants on giant stilts) and walked around.

Later, we found a lobster telephone in the hallway, a recurring symbol in his work, where you could ask questions of the man himself, and through AI he would answer.

“What do you think of St Pete?” I asked. “…ahh she is a flamboyant diva dressed in the sun’s most blazing gown,” he replied. “Parading the infinite stretch of her sandy shores with the grace of a surrealist clock melting under the touch of time and tide.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Going with the mood, Dali Museum ©Aaron Millar

Immerse yourself completely in The Dali Dome

The highlight, though, was Dali Alive 360, an immersive multi-sensory experience where visitors enter ‘The Dali Dome’ and are surrounded by 360-degree projections of his work, telling the story of his life, all set to music and sound design. There were chairs, but Gillian and Elise immediately lay down on the floor so they could see the entire screen of the dome at once. Within a few minutes, the whole room followed suit.

St. Pete Pier, St. Pete-Clearwater, Florida

Make a pilgrimage to St. Pete Pier, it’s ‘the’ place to be in St. Pete-Clearwater

But this was only one part of the buzzing St. Pete arts district. Within a few miles, there are more than a dozen other museums – including Great Explorations Children’s Museum, for little ones, and FloridaRAMA: an immersive art exhibition older kids will love. Nearby are mural tours, and street art, as well as music, and outdoor events.

And, at the centre of it all, jutting 3,000-feet out to sea, is the St. Pete Pier. Palm trees and parks adorn the boardwalk. There’s a family garden, and picnic area, a marketplace for local vendors and artists, six restaurants, including the legendary Doc Ford’s, views across Tampa Bay and, if you walk to the end and look down, you often see dolphins. Our trip began with our toes in the sand, and that’s how it ended too. Back at Clearwater Beach, later that afternoon.

Clearwater Beach, St. Pete-Clearwater

How could you not be happy in St. Pete-Clearwater

That’s the thing about St. Pete-Clearwater, I realised. You might come for the beaches, but in between those grains of sand are treasures you didn’t even know existed; and in the end those were the moments we remembered most.

Gillian squeezed my hand and smiled. “Are you happy,” she said.

“How could I not be?” I replied. “I’m on the beach with my family.”

MORE BEACH IDEAS YOU MIGHT LIKE

10 of the most beautiful family beaches in France for summer holidays

Plan your next family holiday in Cyprus with our good beach guide

How to pick your perfect family beach resort in Rhodes this year

Where to find beaches in Greece worth planning your family holidays around