It has lots of parking but it does fill up on weekends. There are picnic tables, grills, a walking trail and concessions.īayfront Park, 310 N. On Sundays, a craft market spreads out under the shade trees at Coquina Beach. Some say this is the least crowded beach. Manatee Public Beach, 4000 State Road 64 and Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, which has on-site food and beverages, picnic tables and beach gear for rent.Ĭortez Beach and Coquina Beach, located at the southern end of Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach. The main beaches, all with lifeguards and free parking are: Note: the Bean Point beach was seriously eroded by Hurricane Ian in September 2018 and walking around the tip of the island may include wading at high tide. We walked around Bean Point and paused to sit on a bench in the shade. The beach was filled with families building sand castles, people strolling or stretched out on lounge chairs. On Thanksgiving Day, we headed to the northern tip of the island and found a parking space on the street near a beach access point. My favorite place on Anna Maria Island is Bean Point, the beach at the northern tip of the island, where you can walk around the end of the island and gaze out at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay and wild Egmont Key, a state park and national wildlife refuge accessible only by boat at the mouth of Tampa Bay (and worth a visit!) You can find seashells here, as well as spot dolphin right off shore. The sand is powdery and blindingly white it squeaks when you walk on it. The Gulf-front beaches are about as outstanding as you can find in Florida. Anna Maria Island things to do: Pick a beach they’re all great Bean Point was seriously eroded by Hurricane Ian in September 2018. Anna Maria Island: Things to do include walking around Bean Point, where the beach narrows and the view is spectacular. The universal advice on finding parking on Anna Maria Island: Get there early. There is also some street parking, but never enough for demand. View the map and schedule of the Manatee Trolley on Anna Maria Island.Īll three public beaches have free parking, but Anna Maria Island fills up quickly on pretty weekend days, with traffic sometimes lined up on the waterfront Gulf Drive. every 20 minutes from the Anna Maria City Pier on the north to Coquina Beach on the south. Visitors staying on the island are encouraged to leave their car parked and take the free trolley which runs from 6 a.m. But that lack of parking is probably one reason for Anna Maria Island’s character. To the south, a bridge takes you to Longboat Key, and about 11 miles south, to Sarasota.Īnna Maria Island does lack one thing that we crave: parking. The island is connected to Bradenton on the mainland by two bridges. It’s all lovely, but the island gets maybe a bit more charming in the upper section that is Anna Maria Island. Anna Maria Island: The essentialsĪnna Maria Island is seven miles long and there are three communities on it: Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and at the northern tip, the municipality of Anna Maria Island. Anna Maria Island: Things to do include strolling the wide, white-sand beach full of seabirds. There are no high-rises, few chain restaurants, or other signs that paradise has been lost. (We found a similar vibe at Casey Key, 35 miles south, and Pass-A-Grille, about the same distance north.) It joins a small number of beach towns that are throwbacks to another era. On Anna Maria Island, “things to do” means walking the beach or watching wading birds and dolphins at the shore. It’s a surprise and a delight to find places like this still around – a low-rise beach town where a few quaint cottages survive in a largely residential community.
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