Anna Maria Island, Gulf Coast

Travel distance/time from Florida Delight (105 miles: 1 hour 58 minutes)

Anna Maria Island is a 7 mile stretch of white sandy shores and crystal clear water and is a vacation favourite among local, national and international travellers with its pristine beaches along with award-winning restaurants and specialty shops.

A great favourite with diners is the Sandbar Restaurant where you can enjoy good food with the sea just yards from your table and with your table and toes in the sand! A perfect spot to unwind and take in perfect views of the sea and the sunset.

At the southern end of the island there is Coquina Beach which has great easy access to the public and has wide expanses of white sandy beach whilst Longboats Pass is a popular place for watching all manner of sailboats.

In the north is Bean Point, known as the local's favourite beach. It is tucked away and something of a hidden gem but one worth discovering with its sand dunes and white sands.

The town of Anna Maria is located in the north of the island and has a great range of beach cafes, inns, eateries and funky shops. 

 Being less than 2 hours' drive from our villa, Florida Delight, a trip to Anna Maria Island is a place to add to your holiday itinerary so that you can make the most of the attractions of Orlando and the restfulness that the coast has to offer too.   

We had a drive up to Anna Maria Island yesterday as we are having a few days down in Sarasota before heading up to our villa tomorrow. Have to say we loved it there. From our hotel in Sarasota the drive was 45 minutes to a cafe at the end of the island. We had breakfast at a wonderfully eclectic cafe cum gift shop called Ginny and Jane E's . It was a really popular place for breakfast but we got a seat straightaway, Loads of choice to eat and we went for the Ginny Special followed by the most delicious and huge cinnamon bun we have ever tasted. Would definitely have breakfast here again if we come back to Anna Maria.

We then crossed the road from the cafe and walked about 2 minutes to access an amazing white sandy beach. Very quiet and we walked along the shore about a mile to an old pier from which we sat and watched some dolphin. From there we carried on walking to Bean Point which has various small shops and cafes. All really nice and the houses on the island are beautiful too. Finally we got into our car and drove round to have a look at the marina with its multi million pound boats. One can always dream!