Caladesi Island State Park, Florida, United States

5LessStuffMoreLife 5:00 PM Mar 30, 2021

Beautiful beach, go early
With the right kind of weather (80 degrees and mostly sunny), we had the perfect beach day on Caladesi. The sand is super soft, the water is clear and beautiful, and the crowd was family-friendly. There WAS a crowd, and you should know if you're going during spring break to get there early. We arrived at 10:30 and waited over an hour to buy our tickets and wait for the ferry. Our return trip was much smoother with no waiting. The website says there's great shelling, but be warned that the "great shelling" area is a 1.5 mile one way walk down the sand to the other end of the island. The website also says you'll see dolphins and manatees, we saw none and it seemed like it wasn't a typical thing to look for them. The ferry ride is fairly quick, and the captain and mate are friendly and efficient. There are beach chairs for rent right on the island and a cafe. We are from Michigan, and I would put this on par with one of the great Lake Michigan beaches we are used to visiting in the summer, but with softer sand.

4sarahkandchrisk 5:00 PM Feb 11, 2022

Some of our BEST vacation days! CALADESI/HONEYMOON
Do not miss this! It should be # 1. And my app is not allowing me to give 5 stars. So beautiful and peaceful- we went 2x to Caladesi Island and 2x to Honeymoon Island during our stay. Great, easy well maintained trails. Very flat. Not crowded either. The ferry ride is only 15 minutes over and back, and leaves on the hour to Caladesi and in the 1/2 hour to return to Honeymoon Island. Its $8 per car load to get into the state park and $16 RT per adult for the ferry. There is a concession stand on Caladesi which is handy, but pricey, and they have snacks, fried chicken, ice cream, beer etc. You could probably pack a small cooler to bring with you- we were hiking the nature trails and really didn’t feel like carrying a cooler around so we sucked it up and bought $5 Lays chips lol and $8 beers. Gorgeous beach but windy so bring a fleece if you’re normally chilly. We would recommend a stop in Dunedin on your way. They have umbrellas and chairs for rent as well. The ferry operators accept tips- make sure to have cash ?