Tampa area beaches

[buzznwoodysmom]

We are going to be in WDW from March 3 - 12 and want to head to the beach on one of our days off from the parks. Since I imagine it'll be a bit cold for the water I am looking for a beach with great shelling. My kids love digging in the sand so shelling would be as fun for them as swimming. We'd also like to find a nice little place to have lunch. Can anyone recommend a good beach for shelling in the Tampa area? Or should we look some place else? And also any nice places for lunch that are right on the beach, or at least close to the beach, maybe a local little seafood place? Thanks!

[BigG007]

Treasure Island, we went for a walk along this beach.
My little ones loved it - VERY soft sand and nice and shelly by the water

[BellesRose]

Redington Beach is nice. There is a Double Tree there that has a restaurant called Mangos. I can message you the info if you are interested. It does not have that "little small local place" feel, so if that's what you are looking for, you may not like it. However, it does have very good food, and we've never had to wait!

I also agree that Treasure Island is nice. I don't know about restaurant suggestions...the one I had in mind closed. I do think Treasure Island is more family oriented than Redington. Plus, it's near Madeira Beach/John's Pass. John's Pass was so much fun for me as a kid, though they have recently remodeled so it's not the same.

There is a lot of construction going on right now on just about every beach. Expect traffic to be slower than usual.

Oh! If you get hot (And you will, unless we get a cold front, which is unlikely) you might want to stop for ice-cream. GO TO THE SHAKE SHOP! It's the best and cheapest I've found.

Feel free to message me for anything!

[Ramblingman]

It may or may not be too late, but if you are still looking for a good restaurant, try Crabby Bills. It's in Indian Rocks Beach just south of Clearwater. Good food and great atmosphere.

[magicalmom]

If you don't mind a nearly two hour drive (each way), go over to Venice (south of Tampa). Go to Casparsen's Beach, have lunch at Sharkey's on the Beach, and look for shark teeth. There are numerous hotel options in Venice.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We are back from our trip now and actually didn't take a day trip to the beach as planned. It can be hard to try to fit everything you want to do into a trip and still have some down time. Since we were staying at our favorite resort we decided to use that beach day to enjoy the resort.