Due to my daughter’s schedule we need to take our vacation in early May. She wants to go to a beach and relax. My son who will also be joining us wants to relax, but also likes to do things. He’s like me, I can only relax for so long without getting jumpy. Since we are going early in the year, I suggested an all inclusive, but she wants to stay in the US, which is probably best since my husband doesn’t like all inclusives.
Now that our issues are on the table, I’m thinking Florida so that the water will be warm, or even San Diego. Of course, I have no idea where in Florida and I’m not sure that San Diego is really a beach place, although there would be many things to do. We’ve been to Florida, but only to go to Disney, which we are not doing this time. I’ve heard great things about the beach in Destin, but I don’t know anything about the surrounding area.
My “kids” are both in their early 20s and I am thrilled that they still want to take vacation with us so I want it to be nice. I’ll start my research, but would love your suggestions.
We’ve traveled a bit in FL (and elsewhere) and personally prefer the beaches of Pinellas County - Gulf Coast - near Tampa if you are flying or St Pete has a small airport. For other things to do around there, there’s Busch Gardens in Tampa, Ft Desoto at the bottom of the county (it has a really neat unspoiled beach itself as well as the Fort and some piers), some museums, some “natural” parks (like Boyd Hill), a dog track, an aquarium (in Tampa), and is relatively near some springs for manatee viewing, etc, though those are a little further to get to. One can also rent paddleboards, wind surfers, kayaks, and more - typical beach things.
In general, the beaches are that awesome picture perfect white sand, wide, plenty of shells for collectors, nice and flat for good beach walking, and water with a bit of wildlife from birds to dolphins.
Another favorite place is Kauai - gorgeous with tons of beaches all around the island, nice snorkeling (which FL doesn’t really have by comparison) and mountain hikes including Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific). It’s rural, so not so much in city life around. If you prefer that, then consider Oahu, but places like Kailua Beach there are better (to us) than Waikiki - you would want Waikiki if you prefer being surrounded by thousands of your closest friends in your travels. Oahu also has Pearl Harbor to visit and museums, etc.
Siesta Key in Sarasota is Awesome! The beach is fantastic. St. Armand’s Circle in Sarasota and downtown Sarasota are great places to shop and dine. As far as a beach vacation, with places to go, you can’t beat it. Can’t say enough about it.
As far as lots of interesting things to do for both age groups, you can’t beat San Diego. We stayed on Pacific Beach, Tower23 Hotel. A very nice vibe, young and I can’t wait to take my 20 something kids. 15 minutes away is La Jolla, great shops and dining. 15 minutes is downtown San Diego…you will have so many things to sightsee there. The thing is, I think it will be much chillier in early May than Sarasota.
After writing that out, I say Sarasota for May and plan on going to San Diego some time in August or September.
I am considering a beach vacation in Florida also in May. Was thinking of doing a few nights in South Beach and a few nights on the gulf coast. What do people know/think of Marco Island, Naples, or Sanibel?
Southeast FL will tend to be more east coast, New York roots. Gulf side will tend to be more Midwest roots. We did an Orlando to Tampa/Clearwater beach vacation once. Burned ourselves out in Orlando and spend a few days relaxing at the beach. It’s only like 1.5-2 hours drive.
There are activities on both costs. Obviously lots of fishing, boating and such. Keys would be more laid back than the cities. South beach/Miami would be “party central.”
Waves or no waves?
Warmer, clearer, calm water of the gulf or more wavy, fun surf action on Atlantic side?
Siesta Key is a top world beach on gulf side. Number of things around like Mote Marine, Florida Aquarium, some nice bars, Ringling Museum. Not far from Tampa if you want to head to Busch Gardens.
Sanibel is very pretty and laid back. Some good restaurants and fun to relax.
Cocoa Beach is beautiful on the Atlantic side. Wide beaches to walk and play on. Good spot to try surfing, wind surfing or just lay on the beach. Visit the Space Center.
Marco Island is great for fishing. Not so much beach. No idea how it is after the hurricane.
A short drive from Miami is the first of the FL Keys, Key Largo. Many nice resorts. Onlyn2 hour drive to Key West.
If you share more of your interests, I can offer more specifics. GoUF covered the west coast, I’m more familiar with the east side and I can’t count how many times I’ve been to the Keys.
Currently in Siesta Key. LOVE LOVE the beach. Lots going around here and as someone said Sarasota is a big enough city for different things going on. Traffic is crazy crazy busy.
in the Panhandle we are big fans of Fort Walton Beach. It is just west of Destin about five miles after you go over the bridge. The beach is awesome. We like that it’s a bit quieter than Destin but since we always have our car we easily drive to Destin for the activities and restaurants.
We have been to south beach before - the thought is to go to the gulf coast for the first time (especially since we keep hearing so much about the Naples area.) We expect a lot of action in Miami so we expect to be someplace calmer on the west coast. We don’t fish or boat, we are not surfers, we are sit on the beach or by the pool for a few hours, eat someplace nice and do a little local craft shopping and sightseeing kind of people - we love museums, gardens, historic homes.
@kiddie My Ds used Trip Advisor to narrow down the things they wanted to do while in Naples. There’s a good variety of options for just about everyone. The Revs Institute, the Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, the Children’s Museum all came highly recommended to them by friends. With young kids along, mornings are for the beach and pool, then out of the sun for the afternoon. Yesterday afternoon was a shopping trip and they enjoyed the Waterside Shops and Fifth Avenue South. Today, some are golfing and the others are going to the Botanical Gardens.
If you can expand your definition of the “US” some – not unreasonably – there are some great beaches and non-beach activities, as well as good food, etc., in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. And they would really appreciate your custom after the hits they’ve taken recently.
Don’t come to San Diego. Not only will the water be way too cold but it will very likely be overcast nearly every day. San Diego beaches are sunny in the summer, fall, and most of the winter, but the May Gray and June Gloom hits in the spring. Every year there are lots of disappointed tourists on the San Diego beaches who came in May or June expecting to frolic in the sun and instead got dull gray overcast.
I have a photo of my sons running into the ocean in San Diego at the beginning of January one year. I did notice that they were the only ones in the water!