CLEARWATER · FLORIDA · THE CITY GUIDE
Clearwater sells itself on sand, and the state’s own 2024 facility inventory shows how unevenly that sand is served. Three state-park islands sit within sight of the city. Honeymoon Island holds 4 miles of beach and 2,021 parking spaces, the largest parking count of any Florida state park in that report. Caladesi Island holds 3 miles of beach and, by the same count, not one parking space. Anclote Key adds 6.7 miles, also with no lot. Two of the three are reached by ferry or by your own boat.
That asymmetry sorts a Clearwater week better than any neighborhood map. A car reaches Honeymoon Island’s lot, its 3.4 miles of hiking trail and its 1,671 feet of boardwalk, and it reaches a hotel bed on the mainland. It reaches neither of the quiet beaches. Book the nights early, since Pinellas County adds a 6.0% transient rental tax to every one of them, then decide which mornings belong to a boat.
THE CITY AT A GLANCE · CLEARWATER
Drive to Honeymoon Island, take a boat to the other two, and add 12% to every nightly rate you were quoted before you compare hotels.
THREE STATE-PARK ISLANDS · TWO WITH NO PARKING AT ALL · 12% ON EVERY NIGHT
Go for: 13.7 miles of state-park beach across three islands, one designated swimming area on Honeymoon, and a small-hub airport that boarded 1,228,048 passengers in calendar year 2024.
Think twice before: promising anyone a Caladesi or Anclote day without a boat sorted: the state counts no parking space at either island.
Parks: Florida DEP 2024 inventory · Airport: FAA CY2024 · Tax: Florida DOR form DR-15TDT · full sources below
On this page
- Things to do in ClearwaterThree island parks, 13.7 miles of beach
- Which airport to fly intoPIE, a small hub by FAA count
- What a hotel night costs6.0% county tax, 6% state, plus resort fees
- Best time to visit ClearwaterThe gauge at PIE and the Saturday lot
- Where to sleep across FloridaThe statewide lodging guide
- Florida month by monthThe 12-month state verdict
The 2024 inventory also counts the small things that shape a day: one designated swimming area on Honeymoon Island, 1,671 feet of boardwalk there and 1,408 feet on Anclote Key, and a single canoe, kayak and tube launch on Caladesi for anyone arriving under their own power.
What is there to do in Clearwater?
Start with the island you can drive to. Honeymoon Island State Park holds 4 miles of beach, 3.4 miles of hiking trail, 1,671 feet of boardwalk and one designated swimming area, and the state counted 2,021 parking spaces there in its 2024 inventory, the largest parking count of any state park in that report. The car is the reason this beach absorbs a Saturday that the other two cannot.
Neither of the other two has a road to it. Caladesi Island State Park counts 3 miles of beach, 2.5 miles of hiking trail and one canoe, kayak and tube launch, with no parking space at all in the state’s count: you arrive by ferry or on your own hull. Anclote Key Preserve State Park adds 6.7 miles of beach and 1,408 feet of boardwalk on the same terms. Opening hours and any entrance fee we could not read, so confirm both with the park before you commit a morning.
Which airport do you fly into for Clearwater?
| The question | What the source gives | Dated |
|---|---|---|
| Which airport carries the name | St. Pete-Clearwater International (PIE) | FAA, calendar year 2024 |
| Passengers boarded | 1,228,048 | FAA, calendar year 2024 |
| FAA hub class | Small hub | FAA, calendar year 2024 |
| Bus or shuttle fare from the terminal | Not obtained: psta.net did not respond to us | Read attempt, Sep 11, 2026 |
| Tampa International’s own figures | Not obtained: the site returned a 403 | Read attempt, Sep 11, 2026 |
| Weather gauge at the airport | NOAA station USW00012873, bay side | Normals 1991-2020 |
The airport with Clearwater in its name is St. Pete-Clearwater International (PIE), where the FAA counted 1,228,048 passengers boarded in calendar year 2024, a total the agency classes as a small hub. Tampa International sits across the bay and serves the same beaches. Its site returned a 403 to us on September 11, 2026, so no figure for it is printed here.
Getting from the terminal to a Clearwater bed is where our reading stopped. PSTA’s pages did not respond on that same date, which leaves us with no fare, no frequency, no service hours and no drop-off point to hand you. Nothing is invented in their place. Ask at the ground transportation desk before you leave baggage claim, and price the rental counters at the same time.
Weigh the flights with our statewide notes on flying into Florida and on getting around the state. The local test is simple enough: if Caladesi or Anclote is on your list, the rental car takes you to the boat and no further, because the state counts no parking at either island.
What does a hotel night cost in Clearwater?
Pinellas County levies a 6.0% transient rental tax on every night booked, collected alongside the 6% state sales tax. Call it 12% on whatever nightly rate you were quoted, applied before any resort fee, and remember that the resort fee is set by the property itself and is not a tax. We publish no nightly averages here and crown no cheapest month: the rate sheets we could read were the tax forms, not the hotels. The tiers in what a Florida trip costs are the closest honest guide we have.
Clearwater month by month. Each month has its own page with the station normals, the sea temperature, the daylight and how busy the month runs: January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · September · October · November · December.
When to go. The month-by-month case for Clearwater — what the normals say, when the sea is warm enough to swim and which weeks fill up — sits on the best time to visit Clearwater.
Choosing between them. Clearwater or Siesta Key Beach sets the two side by side on the points that decide it — the season, the cost of getting there and what each one closes off.
When is the best time to visit Clearwater?
Sources & data for this guide
- Park counts: parking, beach miles, trail, boardwalk, launch · Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 annual report · checked Sep 11, 2026
- PIE passenger boardings and hub class · Federal Aviation Administration, passenger boardings CY2024 · checked Sep 11, 2026
- Transient rental tax rate for Pinellas County · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT, revision 03/25 · checked Sep 11, 2026
- Climate station identity · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00012873 · checked Sep 11, 2026
- Editorial admission: we hold no bus, train or ferry fare for Clearwater, and no park entrance fee or opening hour. psta.net did not respond and tampaairport.com returned a 403 on Sep 11, 2026 · no amount is invented in their place.
Every climate figure here comes from one thermometer rather than a grid cell: NOAA station USW00012873, filed under the name ST PETERSBURG INTL AP in the 1991-2020 monthly normals. The gauge sits at PIE, between St. Petersburg and Clearwater, on the bay side rather than the Gulf.
That placement has a direction to it. Clearwater Beach is moderated by a sea breeze the airport does not feel, so the gap between the two lands on the afternoon maximum and barely touches the overnight low. Read a summer high off the airport and it runs warm for the sand. Read the low and you can pack by it.
The second clock is the lot. Even 2,021 spaces, the largest count in the state’s 2024 inventory, is a finite number on a clear Saturday, while Caladesi’s 3 miles and Anclote’s 6.7 have no lot at all to fill. Timing matters differently on each: for the drivable island the constraint is the hour you arrive, for the other two it is the boat.
Two things we could not put a time on: park opening hours and any entrance fee. Their pages would not give them up to us on September 11, 2026, so call the park before you build a sunrise around it. For the wider seasons, the 12-month Florida verdict carries the dry and wet halves of the year, and the state orientation sets these Gulf beaches beside the six other Floridas. Keep one count in mind while you plan: 13.7 miles of state-park beach across the three islands, and 2,021 spaces serving only the 4 miles you can drive to.