Things to Do in Clearwater When You're Off the Beach

Plenty of visitors see Clearwater as a strip of white sand with a pier at one end, and they are not wrong, but they are missing everything across the harbor. The things to do in Clearwater run well past the beach: a rescue aquarium on Island Estates, a 19-acre waterfront park downtown with a covered amphitheater, a concert hall designed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Phillies baseball every spring, and a string of city nature parks out east where the crowds thin to almost nothing.

This guide works from the water inland. It starts at the aquarium and the beach, heads out on the boats, crosses the harbor to downtown, then keeps going east toward Ruth Eckerd Hall, the ballpark and the parks along Old Tampa Bay. Distances are straight-line miles, because Clearwater traffic in March makes any honest drive time meaningless.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a nonprofit rescue, rehab and release aquarium on Island Estates, and it is the place Winter, the dolphin from Dolphin Tale, called home. It sits on the north side of the Memorial Causeway, about 0.65 miles east of Pier 60 in a straight line, so you pass it on the way to the beach whether you plan to stop or not.

Winter died in November 2021 at 16, but she is still the reason a lot of people walk through the door. The Tales of Winter the Dolphin exhibit tells her story from the 2005 rescue in Mosquito Lagoon, where she was found tangled in crab trap rope, to the prosthetic tails that kept her swimming, and several of those tails are on display. Dolphin Tale came out in 2011, and the sequel brought in Hope, a rescued dolphin who lived alongside Winter.

The live animals are the rest of the visit: rescued bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, river otters, harbor seals and California sea lions on Pinniped Pier, plus stingrays and a few birds. Head straight for the dolphin complex if you are short on time. It is the part people talk about afterward.

Be honest with yourself about what kind of aquarium this is. It rates 4.2 across more than 20,000 Google reviews, which is good rather than glowing, and the complaints are consistent: some of the upper tanks are hard to see into, and visitors who expect a big-city aquarium with walls of fish leave a little flat. Reviewers who go downstairs find the viewing windows much better, and the people who come away happiest are the ones who came for the rescue story. Ticket prices change by season and package, so check the aquarium's own site before you go rather than trusting a reseller's number. If you are also planning on Tampa attractions, the aquarium is part of the Tampa Bay CityPASS bundles, which can bring the per-ticket price down.

The beach and Pier 60

The beach is why people come, and it deserves a full day of its own. Clearwater Beach is a long, soft stretch of white sand on a barrier island, with the busy end around Pier 60 and the roundabout and a noticeably calmer north beach once you walk past the hotels on Mandalay Ave.

Pier 60 Park is the green space at the foot of the pier, with palm trees, picnic pavilions and a playground, open 7am to 9pm. The pier itself runs 1,080 feet into the Gulf and is open 7am to 10pm in spring and summer, 7am to 9pm the rest of the year. The first version opened in June 1962, and the one you walk on today was rebuilt in the early 1990s to a design picked through a public contest. Walking out past the bait house was free while the gate was rebuilt and the city has said it will charge $3 a person, so check the bait house board; you do not need your own fishing license there because the pier covers it.

Come back at night for Sunsets at Pier 60, the free nightly festival of street performers, artisans and buskers that runs from two hours before sunset to two hours after, weather permitting. It started in 1995, modeled on the sunset celebrations at Mallory Square in Key West, and it is a free evening out that suits families.

Walk south down S Gulfview Blvd from the pier and you reach Captain Bligh’s Landing, a pirate-themed mini golf course at 630 S Gulfview; Google lists it open 10am to 10pm daily, though some listings show a 9pm close. Every hole is par 2, there are a lot of stairs and a few narrow dark passages, and one reviewer paid $13 a person, which is about as cheap as an hour gets on this stretch.

Parking is the tax you pay for all of this. City lots on the beach run $3.50 an hour and on-street meters $4 an hour since the October 2025 rate change, and private lots charge whatever the day will bear. One visitor reported paying $50 for a full day at the marina on a Friday in March. On busy spring break days, the Clearwater Ferry from downtown skips the parking hunt, though it runs only Thursday through Sunday.

The short list of things to do on the beach goes well past lying on a towel, from the pier at sunset to the beach trolley and rental bikes, and it is worth reading before you pick a hotel end.

Out on the water

Almost every boat trip in Clearwater, from dolphin boats and pirate cruises to parasailing and fishing charters, leaves from the Clearwater Beach Marina at the foot of the Memorial Causeway. It sits about 0.1 miles east of Pier 60, so you can walk between the two in a few minutes.

The dolphin and pirate boats are the easy win with kids. Dolphin tours on boats like Little Toot II head out from the marina, and reviewers describe dolphins riding the wake on the way back in. Book the late afternoon departure in summer and you get cooler air and better light.

The fishing charters at the marina range from shared boats where you pay by the head to private trips further out into the Gulf. Shared boats suit a first go with kids; a private trip suits anyone who wants to pick the target fish and the pace.

Parasailing off Clearwater Beach is the trip that photographs well and asks nothing of you but a signature. Several operators run flights from the marina, and the ride depends on the wind, so book a morning slot with a little slack in your plans.

The marina also has a bait house, a mini-mart and a handful of restaurants, so it works as a staging spot when you are not boarding anything.

Downtown and Coachman Park

Downtown Clearwater sits across the harbor from the beach, about 1.8 miles east-southeast of Pier 60, and it is anchored by Coachman Park and The BayCare Sound with Cleveland Street running behind them. If the beach is where you spend the day, downtown is where you spend the evening.

The lawn is the local move. Reviewers who sat in the covered rows in summer say it got hot, while the grass catches the breeze off the harbor and costs less. Food trucks handle dinner, the restrooms are clean by every account, and there are free garages within walking distance after 6pm on show nights. For large BayCare Sound events the city sets a flat $5 parking rate starting two hours before the show.

Coachman Park is worth a visit even on a night with no concert. The 19-acre park reopened after an $84 million rebuild and now has a four-acre lawn called The Green, a pirate-themed playground, and a year-round splash pad with 68 nozzles. The park is open 5am to midnight, while the splash pad, playground and restrooms run 9am to 9pm.

There is also free sunset yoga and a monthly market on the lawn. The park hosts the big festival weekends too: Clearwater Jazz Holiday has been running for more than four decades, and in May 2026 the Country Thunder festival drew more than 30,000 people to the lawn. Check the city's Coachman Park event parking page before you drive in on a festival weekend.

The Clearwater Ferry leaves from the downtown dock for the beach marina. The ferry runs every 30 minutes Thursday through Sunday, and the adult fare on the beach line rose to $6 in September 2026, which still beats beach parking. The Blue Line carries on to Dunedin for $9, and children 8 and under ride free on both.

Walk east up Cleveland Street and you reach the Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, about 0.2 miles from The BayCare Sound. It opened in March 1921, advertised at the time for its natural acoustics, was restored between 2012 and 2013, and reopened in 2014 as a 750-seat room for comedy, musicals, film nights and tribute concerts, also run by Ruth Eckerd Hall. Legroom is tight in the mezzanine, and reviewers say parking around it has become harder as the blocks nearby get redeveloped.

The street around it is where to eat before a show, and Clearwater restaurants on and off Cleveland Street range from cheap lunch counters to proper waterfront dinners.

The rest of downtown Clearwater is quieter than the beach in a way that suits a long lunch, a gallery or a walk along the bluff, and it repays an afternoon on its own.

Live shows at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Ruth Eckerd Hall is the big performing arts hall at 1111 McMullen Booth Rd in east Clearwater, about 6 miles east of Coachman Park, and there is a show on stage nearly every week. It is where the touring acts that are too big for the Capitol Theatre but too small for an arena end up. A 2003 to 2004 renovation refreshed the room and brought in the patina-colored seats you sit in today.

The Local Eyes events calendar logged 28 shows at the hall over a recent 90-day stretch. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights carry the load, with curtains usually at 7pm, 7:30pm or 8pm, and there are occasional Saturday 3pm matinees, Sunday evening shows and the odd Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night. The mix is broad on purpose: tribute bands, touring rock and folk acts, stand-up comedy, touring plays, ballet and film-with-live-orchestra nights. Check the hall's calendar for what is on during your trip. The bars are spread around the lobby, so the intermission line moves, and reviewers say the acoustics carry to the back rows without being too loud up front. Ruth Eckerd Hall, The BayCare Sound and the Capitol Theatre together put on close to 250 concerts a year, which works out to roughly five a week across the three.

For something much smaller, MUSIC4LIFE Living Arts Center on Rogers St, about 1 mile east-southeast of Coachman Park, is a listening room for original music from local and traveling songwriters. It had eight event listings in that same 90-day window, largely Thursday and Saturday shows at 7pm with the occasional Sunday afternoon social, and reviewers mention an open mic on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Every seat is close, the artists talk to the room afterward, and parking is limited, so arrive early.

Phillies spring training

Clearwater spring training means the Philadelphia Phillies at BayCare Ballpark every February and March, and the Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies' Class A affiliate, take over the same stadium from April through the end of summer. The ballpark is at 601 Old Coachman Rd, about 4.3 miles east of Coachman Park.

Buy spring tickets early, especially for weekend games. The berm is the cheap seat and the fun one with kids, but it has no shade at all. Reviewers say the sight lines are good everywhere, the beer selection is wide, and prices run lower than at bigger parks.

Threshers games are the low-key alternative. The 2027 season opens in early April and the last home series runs in late August, and one family reported $5 parking and gates opening at 5:30pm for a June night game. It is a cheap summer evening out, and nobody minds if you leave in the seventh.

Right next door, the Carpenter Complex is the Phillies' year-round training base, about 0.2 miles north of the ballpark. Its practice fields sit side by side, one reviewer describes watching four games at once, and fans also know it as the home of the Phillies Phantasy Camp. Out of season the lot doubles as trail parking for the Ream Wilson and Duke Energy trails, and the staff have not complained according to the riders who use it.

Nature parks

Clearwater parks are where the city gets quiet: Moccasin Lake for rescued birds of prey, Crest Lake for an easy lakeside loop, and Cooper's Bayou for paddling in the mangroves on Old Tampa Bay. All three are run by the city and none of them feels like a beach town.

The draw is the raptor sanctuary near the entrance, where injured birds that cannot be released live out their lives: hawks, owls, vultures, an osprey and bald eagles. Reviewers recommend leaving a donation, because the sanctuary runs on them. The park opened in 1982, and the sanctuary's residents have included Penelope the bald eagle and Lulu the great horned owl. Past the birds there are shaded oak trails and boardwalks down to the lake, a turtle pond, a butterfly garden, a bird blind and a small nature center. Pets are not allowed, apart from service animals, and fishing is off limits. The shade makes it one of the few places in Clearwater you can walk comfortably at midday in July.

Crest Lake Park on S Glenwood Ave, about 1.8 miles east of Coachman Park, is the city's neighborhood park done well. A paved loop circles the lake past a fountain and an open boardwalk, there are turtles and waterfowl everywhere, and the 3-acre dog park has separate areas for big and small dogs. The park is open 6am to 9pm, the restrooms are air-conditioned, and reviewers note the splash pad is sometimes out of action in summer.

Cooper’s Bayou Park on N Bayshore Blvd sits right on Old Tampa Bay, about half a mile east-southeast of Ruth Eckerd Hall. It is a small park with a pond loop, a fitness course and a launch for kayaks and canoes, and paddlers head out through a mangrove tunnel where stingrays and wading birds are common. It is open 7am to 7pm. One regular warns that a five-foot alligator likes to cross the trail at dawn and dusk, so keep small dogs close.

Golf

Clearwater golf comes down to four regulation courses inside the city, each with a different personality, plus a pirate mini golf course on the beach. None of them is a resort course, which is the point: green fees stay sane and you can usually get out the same week.

Clearwater Country Club on N Betty Ln is the history lesson. Its first nine holes opened in January 1921 to a design by Herbert Strong, the CSX railroad runs through the middle of the course, and Babe Ruth played it in 1929. Stevenson Creek comes into play on several holes, and in 1932 a wayward shot into the creek ended with staff spearing a 110-pound tarpon. It plays par 72 off three sets of tees. Check the club's site for current public tee times.

The Landings on Airport Dr is the quick round. It is a tree-lined 18 with a driving range and a casual bar, packed in next to a small airport runway, and reviewers say an 11am tee time can have you finished by 2pm. It plays short, with plenty of par 3s.

Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club on McMullen Booth Rd is the tricky one: a par-69 Denis Griffiths layout with more than 70 sand traps, water on 12 holes and two-tiered greens. It is open to the public, tee times open seven days ahead, and part of every fee supports the Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy and First Tee Clearwater. Weekend pace can be slow.

Cove Cay Golf Club on Cove Cay Dr, about 5.3 miles east-southeast of Coachman Park, is the scenic one, an 18-hole target course along Old Tampa Bay with four sets of tees. It is cashless, so bring a card, and there is no snack cart, so pack water.

Rainy-day picks

Things to do in Clearwater when it rains start with the escape rooms, then the historical museum downtown and the ice rink at Countryside Mall. Summer storms usually roll through in the afternoon, so book the indoor plan for 2pm and keep the morning for the beach.

The set design is the reason to go. Reviewers who have done more than a hundred rooms put it near the top of their lists, and one mentions a live actor in the scarier version of the magician room, which is why families tend to book the gentler run.

Game Over Escape Rooms on Gulf to Bay Blvd is the other strong option, with themed rooms including Alice in Wonderland, Murder on the Orient Express and Temple of the Skull. Every booking is private, and the late slots run until 11:45pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Up north on US-19, Escape Thrill does a Wild West room, a laser-heavy Diamond Heist and a toy room one family booked for a party of 9 to 13 year olds; it opens at 3pm on weekdays.

The Clearwater Historical Society Museum at 610 S Fort Harrison Ave, about half a mile south of Coachman Park, fills a 1906 schoolhouse with the city's past: early settlers, founding families, a Coast Guard display and a room of restaurants that are long gone, including the Kapok Tree Inn and Dairy Kurl. It is open 10am to 2pm Wednesday through Saturday, so plan around that narrow window. The building itself is part of the exhibit: the old cafeteria and library are now event spaces.

Countryside Mall on US-19, about 5.5 miles northeast of Coachman Park, is the full rainy-day fallback with more than 100 stores, an ice-skating rink, a movie theater and a family entertainment center with bowling and an arcade. It is open 10am to 8pm Monday to Thursday, until 9pm Friday and Saturday, and 11am to 7pm Sunday.

Day trip to Honeymoon and Caladesi islands

Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island are two state-park barrier islands north of Clearwater Beach, reached through Dunedin on the Dunedin Causeway. Caladesi lies about 3.3 miles north of Pier 60 and Honeymoon about 6 miles north in a straight line, but you get to Caladesi through Honeymoon, by ferry.

Honeymoon Island State Park is the one you can drive onto, a long shelling beach with a paved bike path along the park road. Entry is $8 per vehicle with two to eight people, $4 for a single-occupant car, and $2 for pedestrians and cyclists. Honeymoon is popular and the line at the gate builds on weekend mornings, so get there early. The 10 mph speed limit on the park road is strictly enforced, according to one reviewer, and the paved path makes it an easy island to cover by bike.

The Caladesi Island Ferry leaves from a dock inside Honeymoon Island State Park, and the crossing takes about 20 minutes each way. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children 6 to 12 and free for 5 and under, on top of the Honeymoon entry fee, and pets are not allowed on board. The ferry site does not post a timetable on its home page, so check its schedules page for the day; one reviewer there in August 2026 found boats running about every half hour.

Caladesi Island State Park is the payoff: a quiet beach of powdery sand with good shelling and a small cafe by the dock. The park is open 8am to sundown, and ferry passengers get a four-hour stay, which is plenty for a swim, a walk and lunch. The ferry operator describes three miles of beach, so walking away from the dock is the easy way to get a stretch to yourself. Chairs and umbrellas can be rented near the dock, but pack your own shade if you want to wander.

The weather decides how this day goes. Summer afternoons often bring thunderstorms, so take a morning boat and plan to be back on Honeymoon by early afternoon from June through September.