I had the pleasure of being invited to a wedding on the beautiful Anna Maria Island. The island is located just 40 miles south of Tampa and 7 miles west of Bradenton. The island can be accessed by: SR 684 over the Cortez Bridge, over the Manatee Avenue Bridge and from Longboat Key. Anna Maria Island is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico on the west, Tampa Bay on the east and Sarasota Bay to the south. Let me tell you that being surrounded by water on all sides is an amazing thing. You can access the island by two local airports. We choose to fly to the closer of the two. We flew into Sarasota on Delta airlines. The other airport you can access is Tampa Bay. The only difference is Tampa Bay is about a 45 minute drive away, where as Sarasota is much closer.

We arrived on a Friday and checked into our resort. We booked a one bedroom room at the Tortuga Inn. An older Beach Resort located directly across the street from the beach. Tortuga and many of the other resorts offered their own personal lounging areas for hotel guests. These areas included complimentary beach towels, beach umbrellas and chaise lounge chairs. We booked the least expensive room at this resort which was adjoined to another room. We had to enter the room by sliding glass door, which was rather strange. In our room we did not have air conditioning set up. It was kept cool with a cooling tower, however it did seem to get the job done. We could not locate the remote control for the television and the maid entered our room one morning unannounced. I would not recommend this resort to anyone traveling to Anna Maria. Given we paid the lowest rate friends of ours who traveled with us booked an entire unit for less than our cost.

On our second day we traveled further North to the edge of the Island and found many beautiful beaches with the clearest water I have ever seen. I floated in the gorgeous water and even saw several dolphins only a few hundred feet away. Later that day I attended my friends wedding on Bradenton Beach. It was stunning. I have never been to a beach wedding and it was a very unique and memorable experience. On our last day we drove to Siesta Key, a beach to the South of Anna Maria and enjoyed a great day in the sun before heading home.

I would highly recommend this location for any honeymooners. It is very secluded and beautiful. On top of all that it is inexpensive. The dining in the area was very reasonable, lodging can be found at great rates and if you book your airfare at the right time you can get a low fare. The down side is that there is not a lot of local shopping available. If you are not a beach lover this may not be a great destination for you, as pretty much everything is beach oriented. Check out Florida’s best kept secret and see the crystal clear waters of Anna Maria Island, FL. It may just be the best beach on US territory.

My final review would conclude:

Tortuga Inn – run down resort that is way overpriced; look around before staying here
Bradenton Beach – perfect spot for a beach wedding
Anna Maria Island - white sandy beaches; great destination for dolphin and whale watching
Delta Airlines – transports you right to Sarasota only 15 minutes from all beaches
Shopping – not much available locally; expect to drive to stores on outlying areas
Weather – temperatures in the upper 70’s and perfectly sunny