St. Pete's Beach

Staying at the Tradewinds Grand Island Resort is really the highlight of our trip to St. Pete's Beach. There are many fine restaurants to try out also. I heard a local waitress at our hotel highly recommend 2 restaurants. One was Salt Point and the other was the Redwoods...both are in St. Pete's Beach.

Quick Tips:

We used our *Entertainment Book for 1/2 off an ocean front suite. The resort includes in your room price (actually a daily fee in addition to the room) full use of all the perks that used to cost extra. I think it's a great idea. The extra perks are cabana use, aquacycle use, fitness center use, etc.

Best Way To Get Around:

We rented a car for our trip. The Tradewinds is on the main drag however on Gulf Blvd. You could walk to many places from there but a car is preferable.

First, off, this is a really nice resort. We rented the ocean front 1 bedroom suite and actually paid $165 per night plus tax (Entertainment 1/2 off rate) and $12 resort fee. The lower price shown above is for a regular room, ocean front. There are lesser prices for lesser views. The hotel is very well maintained. The staff wear safari style outfits and there is an abundance of staff. We had ants on a kitchen counter and called on the phone and within 2 minutes there was a maintenance man handling the problem. All of the staff is friendly. The rooms are nice and ours had 2 TVs with the Disney and Nickelodeon channels (a must for our kids). One of our tv''s wasn''t getting the Disney channel. We called the front desk and 5 minutes later another maintenance man was working on that. The staff at this hotel is extremely helpful and friendly. It''s refreshing in this day and age! There is a great weekend brunch available at Bermuda''s, one of their restaurants. There is a piano bar called Reflections on site and a nice dinner restaurant called Palm Court. The aquacycles are so much fun. They''re free with the room. There are at least 2 or 3 pools and a couple of jacuzzis on site. There are free paddleboat rentals and you can cruise along the waterways that surround this beautiful resort. There''s also a kids'' club that have free activities for the little ones. The cabanas are very convenient and are free with the room. The resort is rated 4 stars by AAA and I stand behind it. We went 2 times in 3 years, just returning last month (10/00).

This is a fun gazebo style bar and restaurant that has about seating for 30 or so all around a u-shaped bar. You can get breakfast, lunch and dinner in this casual atmosphere. There is sometimes live music happening here too. We all had hamburgers which were very good.

This is a very casual restaurant right on the beach that specializes in seafood. We were there in '97 and again in October '00. We were disappointed in our October meal. The waitress talked us into "Florida Lobster" and by the time she served it, I had read over the menu thoroughly and realized that we ordered crawdads. It kind of grossed me out. It was okay tasting as long as I didn't think about it but I definitely would have ordered something different. I remember liking it more in '97 when I had crab.

*This is a fun sports bar atmosphere. Phil has a great personality. We knew him in Michigan before he moved to Florida and started this place. It appears to be quite popular among the locals. When we went in October, Phil was away on vacation. The food was good as far as sports bars go. I ordered fried chicken and got a ton of it for $8.99. My daughter ordered a meatball sandwich and got a huge serving too. My husband and son got the scampi and it was okay. Not as good as they've had other places. It's quite a relaxed atmosphere where all the folks are friendly and the food is good and you get a lot for the money!

The Beach Zone is a large souvenir store right across the street from the Tradewinds Grand Island Resort. It's a very neat souvenir store with many quality items as well as the typical inexpensive cheapie things. I was amazed at the amount of swimsuits and clothes they offered there. It's a fun place for the whole family to shop and has a huge array of items to purchase. The staff is friendly and the store is well organized...not junky. My son bought his puka shell necklace there for $5.00. Universal Studios had them for $10.