Clearwater Beach 2016 Spring Break (Tampa, Dunedin: apartments, hotels, neighborhood)

[amman]

I want to travel to Clearwater Beach this spring to look for possible apartments and possible job interviews.

This will obviously entail driving around the Bay area...

I need as much peace and quiet as possible...How bad is Spring Break in Clearwater Beach and Tampa Bay?

Don't want to be surrounded by drunk, screaming college students when I'm trying to get things done.

My dates are flexible, say, mid-February to mid-March.

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by amman

How bad is Spring Break in Clearwater Beach and Tampa Bay?

Lots of traffic jams the entire Spring Break period by mid morning - especially SR 60 headed to the beach. Be prepared for that.

[jambo101]

IMO Clearwater Beach seems to be jam packed all the time and is quite a distance from Tampa ,(25 to 30 miles)
Better options would be somewhere south of Clearwater on Gulf blvd to as far as Madeira Beach, or somewhere north of Clearwater on Alt19 to as far as Tarpon Springs. Or if you want a place near the beach outside the general rush check out St Petes community of Gulfport=http://gulfportflorida.us/
With a general population of 5 million in the Tampa Bay area traffic is heavy no matter where you go.
Also to save you some driving around time, if beaches are important in your choice of location forget Tampa as theres no beaches,the best beaches are western St Pete on the Gulf.

[The Chap]

Not sure if you saw the "documentary" by Harmony Korine from a couple of years back, but yeah. Not sure we'll see Ash, Vanessa, and Selena this year though...

[engineman]

If you don't want to participate in Spring Break there are plenty of hotels off the beach that are probably cheaper.

[amman]

Thanks for the answers but I really need to know....when is the best time to come?

I guess March would be bad for me, as far as college "kids" coming to Tampa Bay.

Yes, I know your traffic is terrible, but I'm from Atlanta and it doesn't bother me too much.

[The Chap]

Originally Posted by amman

Thanks for the answers but I really need to know....when is the best time to come?

I guess March would be bad for me, as far as college "kids" coming to Tampa Bay.

Yes, I know your traffic is terrible, but I'm from Atlanta and it doesn't bother me too much.

Now.

If you want to avoid crowds, visit between now and February 20 or so. Any later than that and it will be Spring Break / baseball spring training.

[indytoflgirl]

And, I don't know if you mean Clearwater or Clearwater BEACH? Although the road leading to the beach will be packed, there are ways to get around Clearwater without getting on Highway 60. I live in Tampa and spring breakers are not as numerous here (no beaches). Best wishes! This site is great, lots of people willing to help!

[amman]

From what I hear, Clearwater Beach is not the Spring Break destination that it once was, but just wondered what the general consensus would be.

This will be my 3rd or 4th trip to Tampa, and it's time to settle.

There is no perfect place, but I like the Clearwater Beach and Dunedin areas.

Atlanta has lost its manners, I'm sorry to say. Speaking generally, I find Tampa people much nicer.

And no, not trying to start a debate here!

[GoodBeer]

Clearwater beach is insane around spring break. SR60 (Also known as Gulf-to-Bay) turns into a parking lot by 11am. People have figured out how to circumvent this and discovered all of the smaller feeder roads and neighborhood roads and utilize them to get around traffic - the problem with this is enough of them do this that it just spreads the gridlock out. The city is poorly designed to handle spring break traffic and it gets worse every year.