Where to Stay in St. Pete Beach With Kids
When we were craving a little family Florida getaway, we came across a lot of options on where to stay in St. Pete Beach with kids.
Ultimately, we narrowed it down to TradeWinds Island Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida- and we fell in love!
Published | August 2024
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Tradewinds Resort. Thank you for gifting us a free stay in exchange for an honest review.
Hammocks everywhere!
When narrowing down where to Stay in St. Pete Beach With Kids, we had a few ideas of what to look for:
1. Kid-friendly amenities and activities
2. Water park or pool
3. Beach
Obviously the beach isn’t always necessary if there are other things to do, but it definitely helps us relax more and this was a vacation we needed too!
I had heard about this resort being great for families, so I did my research and realized it was a no-brainer.
In this review, I’ll cut down your research by summarizing all of best things about this family resort in St. Pete.
Oh and don’t get me wrong, this is a honest review and there are a few cons, which I’ll explain later.
A few things we looked into prior to our trip:
Is St. Pete’s Beach good for kids?
Yes, St. Pete Beach is further west (on the ocean) than the city of St. Petersburg. If you have time to explore the city (downtown and the pier) I recommend doing this as well, but the beach is just too beautiful to pass up.
Which is better for families Clearwater or St. Pete Beach?
Both clearwater and St. Pete Beach have crystal clear waters and powdery-white sand. These two areas within close proximity to each other are pretty much tied for family-friendliness.
But if you’re looking for the best getaway with kids near St. Pete and Clearwater, I recommend spending your vacation at the Tradewinds Island Resort, and exploring the city itself another time.
We stayed for two nights, but ideally, three nights would be perfect. There was just so much to do!
Where to Stay in St. Pete Beach With Kids-Tradewinds Review
TradeWinds Island Resort has two hotels, Rumfish Beach and Island Grand. When you book one, you have access to all of the amenities at the other. It’s a full paradise experience. While we stayed at the Island Grand, this post will go over the entire experience, since we explored amenities at both hotels.
Resort Amenities
The resort had tons of recreation for kids of all ages. We really didn’t have to leave the resort at all, so we didn’t! There are some things to explore around St. Pete, but in order to get the most out of this experience, we spent our entire trip on the 40 acres of beautiful beachfront property.
Paddle boats
The paddle boats are such a nice touch at the Island Grand resort. You can pedal around the scenic “river” on the resort property by just heading down to the ground floor.
3 story water-slide
This waterslide is located at Island Grand right as you enter the sand. It’s a huge inflatable slide that my son was so excited to keep going on!
Zip-lining
What a cool feature to have at a resort-especially overlooking the ocean.
Surf-simulator
This was so cool-it was an inflatable “wave” with two electric surfboards that moves as if you were surfing.
Floating water park
This was an ocean obstacle course-as in, you can bounce off inflatables into the ocean! We didn’t get a chance to do this because they were going to set it up the day we were leaving. I’m also not too fond on doing this with toddlers, ha! But, so cool to have as an option.
Pirate Island
This is a fun activity for kids right near the pool and paddle boats at Island Grand. Catch a pirate show and play in the sand box.
Classes/workshops
One highly desirable thing about the resort is having a calendar of events. When you book your stay and give your phone number, you receive texts from them with the schedule sent directly to you. This was super convenient for us because I didn’t have to worry about remembering anything.
They had a cigar-rolling workshop, sip and paint, DJ trivia, comedy club, movie night (and you can buy popcorn) and much more.
The kids club is also another perk! Kids make different arts and crafts in the craft room.
Nightly S’mores
S’mores were a huge hit every night for all of us because we got to hang out before bedtime at Rumfish on the sand and enjoy s’mores by the fire.
Watersports
There were a ton of options for being active on the water-kayaks, parasailing, banana boat rides, jet-skiing, paddle boarding and more.
Games
They also had games on land too-like pickle ball, shuffleboard, tennis, miniature golf, beach volleyball, a game-zone and axe throwing.
The Pools
Between the sister resorts, you have access to 5 pools! You’ll discover which one you like best. We appreciated having options because depending on which activity we were going to do, we used the pool closest to that spot.
They also had a wading pool for babies and toddlers at Island Grand (next to the kids club)
And, just in case there’s any inclement weather, there is a covered heated pool!
The Beach
The sunsets on the Florida’s west coast are gorgeous! This is enough reason alone to consider this family resort in St. Pete!
Both the Rumfish Grill and Grand Island resort share this beach and view, and you can access each resort by just walking a long the beach.
During the day, the sun is bright and beaming on the crystal clear water (yes you can see right through it.) and the sand is powdery-white and soft!
I loved feeling this because on the east coast, the sand can be shelly and grainy.
When the sun is going down for the night, it just creates this amazing landscape and sets the mood for a day well-spent.
Accomodations
There are 967 rooms between Rumfish and Grand Island. Something that we didn’t expect before booking the resort was an older building and rooms. While this threw us off as a first impression, it actually ended up giving us an old Florida charm feel.
Excitingly, the redevelopment of the beachfront resort was just approved and renovations will begin taking place in 2025 for a span of 20 years!
I looked up the plans, and the space is going to transform into a magical beachfront paradise.
We had a suite, which was spacious for our family of 4, and we were able to place the crib into the other side of the room without waking up our daughter with the tv or our son making noise.
They also provided the crib for us at no cost. Despite an older room, everything was clean and the resort staff gave us fantastic service!
Restaurants and Cafes
I definitely recommend trying to eat at Rumfish Grill at the Rumfish Beach Resort. This is the one where you can dine in the room with the huge aquarium.
We requested to sit right next to the aquarium, so the kids would stay seated and entertained. Here you can dress a little more fancy, but still beachy. The menu had a lot of elegant choices and the food was top notch.
filet mignon
lobster macaroni and cheese
crab tomato bisque
octopus
kids grouper fingers
We also enjoyed dining at the Palm Court Italian Grill in Island Grand Resort, for a delicious breakfast. They have a buffet or you can sit down for full-service. Kids 5 and younger eat free from the Buffett.
The other restaurant we ate at was the Flying Bridge, located right off the pool at Island Grand. This is more casual but super delicious. I recommend the mahi-mahi sandwich which was so fresh!
They also have another place to eat, called Gulfside Kitchen was is casual, Salty’s Tiki Bar for cocktails and bites, and a Pizza Hut. We especially loved that the Pizza Hut was connected to a fantastic ice-cream shop, Yoder’s Southern Creamery. We didn’t try one but I found out later that they make their own cones!
Overall, this resort is great for families and filled with activities! Hopefully it helps narrow down your choice of vacation spots!
Did you find this review useful? Let me know! and check out 7 Weekend Getaways in Florida with Kids
