Guide to Tradewinds Island Grand Resort in Florida

Our family loves Florida and we are usually trying to come up with any excuse to travel there. This year, we chose Tradewinds Island Grand Resort. This was our second time to the St. Pete Beach and Clearwater area and it once again did not disappoint. There are a few things I would do again and a few things I wouldn’t.

Tradewinds Island Grand Resort on St. Pete Beach

We decided to stay at the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort in St. Pete Beach simply because it’s a resort that caters to families. There is so much to do that if you didn’t want to, you could spend your entire time at the resort. Really the only drawback of staying here was that it was a little dated. They could use a little bit of refurbishing, but that being said, I’d still stay here again. Tradewinds rated a 4.4 in customer satisfaction on Google Reviews, so they are still making it happen for their guests.

Activities at the Tradewinds Island Grand:

Enjoy Two Resorts

You can enjoy Tradewind’s sister property, which is just a short walk down the beach called RumFish Beach Resort. They have a few different things to do like a touch tank for kids. Remember to look at the schedule because they are only open at various times.

You MUST eat at Rum Fish Grill. They have an aquarium, which gives it a fun vibe. It was featured on Animal Planet’s show Tanked, so that makes it even more fun. It’s very delicious. They have a surf board you can ride called Surf Wipe Out, but it looked really lame. It would probably be more fun for young kids.

This is where JetLev leaves from. This is a jet pack you strap on and can fly around. It looked so fun! You had to be 18 to ride, so my son didn’t get to try it, but wanted to. Next time! Learn more about the JetLev here.

Tradewinds Island Grand Restaurants and Bars

They have several restaurants & bars on site at the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort – 10 to be exact. I recommend Rum Fish for dinner and Gulfside Grill and Flying Bridge for lunch. Salty’s is a really fun spot for a drink and Sharktooth Tavern had a nice atmosphere with a fireplace going (it was cool out).

For breakfast every morning, we left the resort and took a short walk down to Skidder’s. It was a great breakfast and good prices. Don’t let the outside appearance deceive you. It’s one of those hidden gems. We ate here every morning. For other recommendations off the resort, see below.

Tradewinds Island Grand Resort Beach Activities

There is a floating ocean waterpark just steps from the hotel located on the beach. Several kids were going down the fun slides as well as some moms and dads. It looked super fun!

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There are several beach activities such as paddle boarding, kayaking, floating cabanas (although I don’t think I’d recommend this. We saw several people that floated away and had to basically be brought back by staff), wave runners, parasailing (always fun), snorkeling, and there is a shelling cruise we signed up for on the beach. This was a lot of fun and would definitely do it again. We saw dolphins and got a good look of the area from the water. We wanted to go diving, but we thought you went on a boat from the beach area. You don’t. You have to go to another area (Madeira Beach) and leave from there. We were ok with that though since I don’t think this area is really known for scuba.

In & Around the Pool

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• 5 swimming pools
• Two swans; Daisy and Lily. We loved watching and feeding them.
• Paddle boating. This was a lot of fun.
• Tennis Courts
• Shuffleboard and Ping Pong
• Movies at night by the pool. We would find a place with a blanket and curl up. So relaxing. You can swim and watch too!

Other Things to Do at Tradewinds Island Grand Resort

• Spa
• Kids Club – We didn’t use this, but it is available.
• S’mores making by the fire
• They have a narrated beach walk we took one morning. We met on the beach and a guide pointed out several types of sea shells, informed us about the area, and more. I enjoyed this and would recommend it. Afterward, we got a great cup of coffee at the sister property, Rum Fish Beach Resort.
• Shelling

Other Place to Eat on St. Pete Beach

You can walk up and down the beach both ways and check out other fun places to eat. We ate at Jimmy B’s in the Beachcomber hotel, located right on the beach one night. They had a live band and food was decent. It was more for the atmosphere than anything. I’m not sure I’d eat here with little kids. Our kids are older, so it was a lot of fun. It gets loud and very busy.

We also ate at Bongo’s on the beach at the Grand Plaza hotel. The food was decent, but again, the atmosphere was great.

We wanted to eat at Crabby Bill’s on the beach, but it was always closed when we were there. It was recommended to us.

Remember to eat breakfast at Skidder’s down the street!

Things We Did Outside of Tradewinds Island Grand Resort

John’s Pass

John’s Pass on Madeira Beach is a must do. There is a ton of action right here. The last time we stayed in Florida, we stayed in a hotel right across the street from John’s Pass.

At John’s Pass, you can shop, eat, and sign up for a ton of sightseeing adventures such as fishing, diving, dolphin sighting, and more. We did the dolphin cruise this year through Hubbard’s Marina and it did not disappoint. It was fun to see all the beautiful homes while we looked for the dolphins.

We always eat lunch somewhere on the boardwalk facing the water. You can sit out there for hours people watching and viewing the beautiful ocean. We’ve been here both trips, and I’ll go again next time.

We also did the Alligator Attraction, which is found on the second floor. It’s not a big attraction and it’s a little expensive for what it’s worth, however, I’d do it again. They are trying to help animals from what I understood, so think of it as a donation. We are a sucker for these types of things. If you are not into animals, this might not be for you. It does smell a little as well, which I’m sure can’t be helped. It’s an animal attraction after all. We paid a little more to “kiss the alligator.” The photo lasts a lifetime.

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We always watch this Pirate Ship come in and out of the docking area. We’ve never taken it, but it looks like a ton of fun!

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Clearwater Aquarium

The Clearwater Aquarium is the home of Winter, the popular dolphin from the movie Dolphin Tale. We’ve visited this aquarium on both trips. I have to say the first time was more exciting. However, I’m happy to donate to such a worthy cause such as this. They rescue and rehabilitate animals, which is always near and dear to our family. Last time we were here, we did the animal experience with the dolphins. It was great! They have several viewing areas, as well as some shows throughout the day, which are good. I suppose you could spend a whole day here, but a couple of hours, and we were moving on.

Pier 60

Clearwater is a fun area. From the aquarium, you can walk down to Pier 60, where you can find vendors, street performers, and a lot of action. It’s a fun place to go two hours before and two hours after sunset. You can walk up and down the streets here as well for some fun shopping from Billabong and more. We ate at a restaurant directly across the street from the Pier, which was very good called Crabby’s Dockside. Another good restaurant to go to is called Frenchy’s. It’s always recommended by everyone.

Fort De Soto State Park

Any time we travel, we always stop by national or state parks. Nature is born into our soul. Fort De Soto is a beautiful beach. The first time we went here, we had a car. This time we took an Uber. If you are going to take Uber, please make sure you know where you are going. We had walked like six miles and there was no sign of anything, so we found the highway. Luckily, the Uber guy found us. It would have been a long, hot walk back. I would suggest taking the ferry to Shell Key or Egmont Key from here. Both beautiful areas. To find out more about the park, click here.

Extras: The last time we stayed in this area, we drove up to Busch Gardens in Tampa. It’s a short drive and worth the visit. We fed giraffes and had a ton of fun. We have done quite a few theme parks this year and our trip was a short one, so we skipped it this time.

To see some of our travel essentials, click here.

If there is one thing I love, that’s family vacations. I love taking our kids with us and we always have a good time. The memories are precious to us especially now that they are getting older. They can’t go with us forever. I do not regret one vacation we’ve taken with them and feel so fortunate that we made this a part of our lives.