The Best Thing About Florida Vacations

Hi! We had such a great family holiday experience this past winter, I wanted to put together some of the details about why we went to Florida and how we made this vacation work for our family. I am excited to share some more pictures from our trip, along with reasons why we loved staying in Florida and have decided to go back.

Coastline Beaches: We are always looking forward to the next chance to visit the beach. We were lucky enough to stay right across the street from the Indian Rocks Beach with new sandy beaches and clear ocean blue water. We also enjoyed North Reddington Beach, Madeira Beach, Clearwater Beach, St Petersburg Beach, and Siesta Beach by travelling down the coast whenever we got the chance. The great part about Florida is that you can tour from coast to coast and see so many beautiful beaches.  

Plan a Holiday That Suits Your Budget:  The Hiatus Clearwater Beach by Hilton is a new hotel located on the stretch of soft, white sand beside Pier 60 and we cannot wait to check it out on our upcoming holiday. Customize your trip by researching everything the state of Florida has to offer and what you are most interested in seeing. Disney, Busch Gardens, The Florida Aquarium are incredible for day trips that you can tailor to any age. However, if you’re just interested in enjoying the sunshine state for its warm weather and beaches on a budget, you can look into Home Exchange or VRBO options. 

 Fly vs Driving to Florida: Living in Canada gives us the advantage to drive to the state of Florida. We have done the trip a few times and decided to try it with our two little ones to be able to take all our larger baby items. However, our toddler says he is never doing that drive again so I would love to hear how other families have experienced flying, car rental and travelling with baby essentials.  

Stay Near the Action: For most of our holiday, we stayed on the intracoastal Indian Shores waterway at Barefoot Beach Resort across the street from the beach. This location is beside our favourite restaurant Salt Rock Grill, one mile from the Suncoast Seabird Sancturary and eleven miles from Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  We were able to walk, take the beach trolley or take a short drive to explore so many amazing attractions that the Gulf Coast has to offer. 

All ages: One of the reasons I loved the idea of planning our trip to Florida is because it really caters to kids of all ages. There are so many unique outdoor activities to experience that can be budget friendly or completely free. We found many places where Cruze could get a small souvenir to remember our time. Even if he was too young to remember everything about this holiday, I love that he gets to keep special little items that remind him of the fun memories we made.  

Have you ever been to Florida? What did you think if so and let me know if I missed your favourite parts in the comments. Can’t wait to go back!