Clearwater Beach, FL & Honeymoon Island: Our 2023 Honeymoon Getaway
"Love Shines" mural by Ya La'ford - 330 Beach Dr. NE, St. Petersburg 33701
In honor of my two year wedding anniversary tomorrow, I have decided to share a recap of our honeymoon to Clearwater Beach, FL. This turned out to be one of our most favorite places that we’ve ever been, and we recommend it to anyone who will listen. So I thought putting all of our experiences and recommendations in one place would be helpful.
Our Wedding Day - photographed by Anna Sams Photography
Firstly, I cannot believe it has already been two years since Brian and I got married! It was the most beautiful day and it was the perfect symbol and celebration of our love. One day I will publish a full blog post about our wedding day so that I can relive the day again and again.
We planned our wedding in four months so that our anniversary would fall on our dating anniversary. And with that quick timeline, we weren’t sure if we would be able to go on a honeymoon immediately after our wedding. Thankfully, everything worked out for us to slip away to Florida for a few days and discover our new favorite beach.
Lodging:
What made us pick Clearwater Beach, FL?
Brian had been wanting to vacation in Florida ever since we started dating in 2020, but we just never had the time, money, or opportunity to go. So when I started researching beach towns on the coast, Clearwater seemed to check all of the boxes for us. As an added bonus, Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, FL was just a 20 minute ride away and that felt like a sign that this place would be perfect.
Staying in Clearwater Beach vs. Clearwater.
I researched hotels and Air BNB’s in both Clearwater, FL and Clearwater Beach, FL and compared amenities and prices for both. Understandably, the off-island lodging options were cheaper than on island, but there were several additional expense factors to consider:
Travel to the island is less than 10 minutes, but any time spent packing into the car and driving there and back is cutting into vacation time and can be an added element of stress if there is traffic.
Parking on the island can be hard to come by and can cause additional expenses that would add up quickly.
Uber to and from the island would also have been an added frustration, and once again an expense that would add up quickly.
When I considered these factors, and paired it with the desire to be just steps from the beach and anything else we could need, it made the most sense to stay on the island.
Where did we stay?
We chose an AirBNB on the north side of the island. The AirBNB was a second floor apartment with a balcony. It had two bedrooms and a small kitchenette (which I believe has since been upgraded to an actual kitchen).
What were our favorite parts about where we stayed?
Everything was walking distance! If we we decided we wanted to go to the beach, get something to eat, or simply walk around and explore we were steps away from everything. We have decided that this will be a requirement for every vacation that we take from now on, haha! It was so convenient and relaxing.
The cafe downstairs! Right below our AirBNB was a cafe called “Caffeinated Bakery” which was the perfect place for me to grab a cup of coffee in the morning. Their breakfast was also delicious, and the staff was super friendly!
Arrival Day:
We got to Clearwater pretty late in the day. The sun was setting as we crossed the Clearwater Memorial Causeway. We got to our AirBNB and unloaded our car and then set out to find some food. We had no idea that our lives were about to be changed by a little chain of restaurants called “Frenchy’s”. More on that in the next section.
After dinner at Frenchy’s Original Cafe, we walked down Mandalay Avenue and explored a few tourist shops that were open and then called it a night.
We were nervous about the weather when we arrived because it was cold and extremely windy, and we had for summer weather. Thankfully, it turned out to be warm and sunny for the rest of our stay and the nights were refreshingly cool. If you’re visiting Clearwater Beach in April, expect the water to be a bit on the colder side though.
On our walk back to the AirBNB for the night we passed Hogan’s Hangout. During our dinner at Frenchy’s we asked our waitress for recommendations of places to go or things to see in Clearwater. She recommended “Hogan’s” and told us it was “…owned by the son.” But we didn’t put 2 and 2 together on what she meant until we passed the crowd outside of Hogan’s and heard someone say “He’s actually in there! There’s Hulk Hogan.” We laughed at ourselves for not realizing that sooner. We didn’t actually visit Hogan’s while we were there, but I believe they were having a karaoke competition the night we walked by and it looked pretty exciting.
Frenchy’s Restaurants:
I found Frenchy’s through TikTok, where everyone was raving about their drink challenge and their grouper sandwiches. I am always a fan of selecting restaurants that are unique to the town I’m visiting, so I added Frenchy’s to our itinerary.
We were blown away by every single thing we ate and drank at each Frenchy’s location over the 4 days we were in Clearwater. So much so that we talk about it constantly and dream about going back.
If you take one thing from this blog post it needs to be this: GO TO FRENCHY’S!!!
Day Two:
On our first full day in Clearwater, we started our day off with a couples massage at Essentials Spa of Clearwater. We both rank this in our top 3 massages that we’ve ever had. It was an excellent experience and the staff were fantastic!
Since we drove in to Clearwater, we also decided to visit the Super Target that we passed on our arrival day because I had never been to one and I wanted to see what made it so super, haha! I don’t exactly remember what we bought, but I know it wasn’t too exciting. I think it was just some towels from our registry that were out of stock back home.
We came back to paradise on the island and went straight to lunch at Frenchy’s Salt Water Cafe. Shrimp bruschetta, fish tacos with fries, and a blueberry lemonade have been in my thoughts ever since.
After lunch, we strolled down Mandalay Avenue again, to see all of the open shops during the day. We also got ice cream from Ice & Cream Creamery, and then finally took a stroll to the beach to stick our toes in the water.
For dinner, we had reservations aboard the Star Lite Majesty Yacht Dinner Cruise. Neither of us had ever done anything like this before, and while it isn’t something I would recommend for every vacation, it was worth the splurge for a special occasion such as our honeymoon. After placing your order you are free to move around the boat and visit the top deck and watch the sunset over the water. The views and the experience were both incredible, and we were even lucky enough to see some dolphins on our cruise.
Day Three:
We set aside day three as our beach day, and decided to spend it on Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, FL. The history of Honeymoon Island is quite interesting as it was established as a honeymoon destination through a contest with Life Magazine in 1940. Now it is a state park, and has beautiful beaches, walking trails, and wild life. You can learn more about the history HERE or at the visitors center on the island.
The waters were crystal clear, but my favorite part of Honeymoon Island was listening to the sound of the sea shells jingling on the shore as the waves came in and out. I don’t think i’ve ever heard a more peaceful sound at the beach.
We spent a few hours on the beach that morning, but the water was a little colder than we would have liked, so we decided to head back to Clearwater Beach for lunch at (you guessed it) another Frenchy’s!
This time we visited Frenchy’s Rockaway Grille, which is right on the beach in Clearwater! We sat outside to enjoy the view, while also enjoying the grouper sandwich that they are so famously known for.
Just before sunset, we strolled down to Pier 60. Sunsets on the pier are a daily celebration with street performers and artisans lining the pier that leads to an uninhibited view of the sunset. We got the end of the pier and realized we needed cash to pass the turnstiles to enter the viewing area at the end of the bridge. We just viewed the sunset from further up the pier, but I have no doubt it would be a breath taking experience and we will be sure do be more prepared in the future.
We happened to be visiting Clearwater during the Pier 60 Sugar Sand festival, so we also enjoyed seeing some impressive sand castles as we left the pier and walked to dinner.
For dinner we visited our final Frenchy’s location: Frenchy’s South Beach Cafe. This was the farthest walk of our trip and still only took 18 minutes. Once again, it was a 10 out of 10 dinner but apparently I didn’t take any pictures of it.
Flamingos are a favorite of mine and have a cute part in Brian and I’s love story, so it made me smile to see a flamingo themed ice cream shop called “Beverly’s.” Of course we stopped for dessert.
It is also worth mentioning that we stopped into a massive surf shop called “Surf Style 105” and discovered that they had indoor surfing. Brian was totally excited to try it out, but it was closed for the night and we wouldn’t have time to do it the next day. It is definitely on our list to do next time we visit Clearwater.
Return Day:
We decided to savor every last second of our honeymoon and make a few more detours on our way home.
First, we visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. While the aquarium itself is fun to see, we also booked the behind the scenes tour of the rehabilitation facility and it was incredibly interesting. What’s so special about Clearwater Marine Aquarium, you may ask? CMA was the home to Winter the dolphin from the Dolphin Tale movie that was given a prosthetic fin after being rescued with an injured fin.
Next, we drove to St. Petersburg, FL for some mural viewing. As a former mural painter, I have a huge appreciation for some of the larger scale murals that are found in bigger cities and I always love finding them for photo ops! St. Pete is home to an annual mural festival, so there were plenty to see but we just drove to one: "Love Shines" mural by Ya La'ford - 330 Beach Dr. NE, St. Petersburg 33701
Brian is a huge fan of anything that has a motor and goes fast, and particularly loves go kart racing. We found Tampa Bay Grand Prix, and being a good wife, I decided to try out go karting with him. Let’s just say my attempt at racing was laughable, but Brian had fun and that’s all that matters.
Our last stop food stop was Torchy’s Tacos in St. Petersburg. Tacos are always a win in my book, but I especially liked these because of their unique flavor combinations. Brian loved it so much he bought a Torchy’s Tacos t-shirt and wears it all the time, even two years later. 😂
As you can tell, we had the most amazing time in Clearwater Beach, FL for our honeymoon! We are dreaming of a return trip at some point in the future (hopefully sooner rather than later).
If you’ve been to Clearwater I would love to know your thoughts or recommendations and if they match ours. If you haven’t been, I hope this post inspires you to book a trip and I hope something here sounds fun to you.
Thank you for reaching!
With love,
Sami 🩷
