Clearwater Beach
Pinellas County. The city's main beach, guarded seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with towers staffed according to season and weather. Pier 60 runs out from the middle of it.
Open the guide →Ask 1stFlorida
How do I check for red tide at Florida beaches?
Red tide is a bloom of a microscopic alga, Karenia brevis, and it turns up in the Gulf almost every year, usually in late summer or early fall.
It is most common off the central and southwest coast, between Clearwater and Sanibel Island, though it can appear anywhere along the Gulf. When waves break the cells open, the toxins get into the air and can irritate your breathing on the beach. You do not have to guess. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission keeps a map of its last eight days of water samples, updated every day at 5 p.m., posts a full status report on Friday afternoons, and runs a recorded red tide line at 866-300-9399 that you can call at any hour. It will also email you when the status changes. Look before you load the car.
The places named in this answer.
Anna Maria City Beach
Manatee County. The City of Anna Maria writes the rules for its own stretch of sand and they are strict. No pets of any species, no alcohol, no glass of any kind, and no grills or fires, although grills are allowed at Bay Front Park on North Bay Drive.
Open the guide →Lido Beach
Sarasota County. 400 Benjamin Franklin Drive on Lido Key, open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. A lifeguard, a swimming pool, a concession and restaurant, picnic shelters and restrooms. Ownership here is split: the City of Sarasota owns the park and runs the buildings, the pool and the parking, and Sarasota County manages the open beach and the dune.
Open the guide →Siesta Beach
Sarasota County. 948 Beach Road on Siesta Key, and the sand is why people come: TripAdvisor named it the number one beach in the United States. Lifeguards. Restrooms, picnic shelters, and a historic pavilion with raised seating looking over the water.
Open the guide →Fort Myers Beach
Lee County. The Gulf shore of Estero Island. Seven walk-on accesses, numbered 37 to 43, sit along Estero Boulevard north of the Matanzas Bridge between Lynn Hall Memorial Park and Bowditch Point.
Open the guide →Sanibel Island
Lee County. Sanibel lies east and west where almost every other barrier island on this coast lies north and south, and it sits on a shallow plateau reaching out into the Gulf.
Open the guide →Where this comes from.
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Red tide current status ↗ Read September 23, 2026
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, About red tides in Florida ↗ Read September 23, 2026
More questions like this.
Where can you ride horses on the beach in Florida?
Only a few stretches of the Florida coast allow horses, and at most of them you ride with a guide.
Which Florida beaches have the whitest sand?
The white sand is on the northwest Gulf coast, in Walton, Okaloosa, Bay, Santa Rosa, Escambia and Gulf counties.
Which Florida beach has the softest sand?
Siesta Beach on Siesta Key in Sarasota County is the one people name.
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