By day three you usually have the sand figured out: towel down somewhere near Pier 60, swim, burn, repeat. The things to do in Clearwater Beach start when you get bored of that, and nearly all of them sit within a mile of the pier: dolphin boats out of the city marina, parasail rides over the Gulf, a pirate ship with free beer for the grown-ups, golf carts you can rent by the hour, and a mini golf course that is mostly staircases.
This guide sticks to the island itself, from the roundabout where the Memorial Causeway lands down to South Gulfview Blvd, with the prices each operator publishes and the small booking tips that save you a wasted morning. The sand itself, from the north beach to the Sand Key bridge, with its parking lots and lunch spots, is a separate day's planning. Distances below are straight-line miles from Pier 60, so real walking routes run a little longer.
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One place to know before anything else: Clearwater Beach Marina, the city marina at 25 Causeway Blvd, right where the causeway meets the island. Nearly every boat in this guide leaves from its slips. The city's marina lot charges $3.50 an hour, open 6am to 11pm, and the 2026 city map marks it for marina activities only, with a half-hour limit or a permit; a daily code from your boat operator or a marina restaurant drops the rate to $1 an hour, so check the kiosk for the time limit. Ask for it when you check in, because the meter will not.
Ride a dolphin boat
For a first dolphin trip, book Little Toot Dolphin Adventure: it is cheap, it runs all day from the marina, and it guarantees a sighting or your next trip is free. Among Clearwater Beach dolphin tours it also has the numbers to back that up: a 4.9 rating across more than 2,700 Google reviews.
Tours last 60 to 90 minutes. The original Little Toot has been working the harbor for more than 27 years, and Little Toot II, the larger boat, joined it in 2019. Both have netting along the sides instead of solid walls, so small kids can see out, and a big canopy for shade. The trick reviewers keep describing is the crew turning hard to throw a wake, then dolphins surfing and jumping in it a few feet off the stern. The guarantee is real, too: if no dolphins show, your next trip is free if you take it within a year of the first. One family saw nothing on a sunset ride, came back on the free trip, and got a whole pod jumping in the wake.
If you want speed, the Sea Screamer, a 73-foot Deep-V speedboat tied up in the same marina, is the other choice. It is a one-hour narrated run past waterfront homes at more than 20 knots, departing 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm, with adult tickets listed at $27 to $32 and kids 12 and under $20 to $25, tax included. Kids 4 and under ride free, one per paying adult. Reviewers wish it had more shade on deck, so wear a hat. Its website still carries a notice about hurricane damage to its slip and ticket booth, so call before you walk down.
Dolphins are just one slice of the boat tours leaving the marina each day, and the rest are worth a look before you pick.
Go parasailing or jet skiing
Pier 60 Parasail is the easy pick for Clearwater Beach parasailing: published prices, three heights to choose from, and a 4.9 rating across more than 1,200 Google reviews. You fly for about ten minutes, with up to 12 people sharing the boat.
Their office is at 455 E Shore Dr on the harbor side, about 0.3 miles north-northeast of Pier 60, and it runs 8am to 8pm. If you are light, the captain may pair you with another flier, and solo flights are decided on the day, so don't promise anyone a solo ride. Several reviewers mention dolphins following the boat out, and plenty say the photo and GoPro packages were worth it. Other companies fly from the harbor too, and comparing parasailing companies on Clearwater Beach before you book is worth ten minutes.
For jet skis, Beach Jet Ski Rentals at Slips 29 and 30 in the marina runs three set rides. Pick a one-hour freestyle ride, a 1.5-hour run up to Honeymoon Island, or a two-hour dolphin tour that heads into the open Gulf. Riders must be 6 or older and drivers at least 16. Anyone born after December 31, 1987 needs a Florida boater safety card and photo ID to drive, and you can take the test online before you arrive. Bring the certificate or a screenshot. One reviewer was told to show up 45 minutes early and then stood around for 30, so 20 minutes is plenty.
Sail on the pirate ship
If you have kids between about 3 and 12, Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise is the two hours of this trip they will talk about longest. The pirate cruise in Clearwater sails from the marina on the Pirate's Ransom, a ship built in 1993, and the crew runs the whole show while the parents sit down.
The program is water-gun battles, a treasure hunt, pirate stories, face painting, a cannon firing and a deck party with music, plus honorary pirate certificates at the end. Reviews are close to unanimous that the crew carries it: one grandparent expected to put up with it for the grandkids and ended up wanting to go again without them. The schedule shifts with the season: this fall it sails at 2pm and 6pm daily with a 10am trip on weekends, and in November the evening trip moves to 5pm. Park in the city marina lot, arrive an hour early, and know that anyone who turns up less than 20 minutes before departure can lose their spot. The 4.7 rating across more than 1,500 Google reviews holds up.
Visit the aquarium
The main indoor attraction near the beach is Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the rescue aquarium on Island Estates that was home to Winter from Dolphin Tale. It sits about 0.65 miles east of Pier 60, just off the Memorial Causeway, so it is a rainy-afternoon plan you can reach without driving back to the mainland.
It opens 10am to 5pm daily, with last entry 30 minutes before close, and the on-site garage is $15. Plan on about two hours, and arrive right at opening or after 3pm, when the lines are shorter. It holds a 4.2 rating across more than 20,000 Google reviews, which tells you it is good without being a big-city aquarium: the draw is the rescued dolphins, turtles and the Winter story. It also makes a good bridge to the things to do in Clearwater across the harbor, where the city's parks and downtown take over.
Stay for Sunsets at Pier 60
Every evening, weather permitting, Pier 60 Park at the foot of the causeway fills with craft vendors and street performers for Sunsets at Pier 60, and the whole thing is free. The festival runs from about two hours before sunset to two hours after, and it has been a fixture since 1995.
Pier 60 itself is a 1,080-foot fishing pier, first opened in 1962 and rebuilt in the early 1990s. Expect buskers, street performers, live music and a long row of artisans' tables, plus a crowd that gets thick in the half hour before the sun drops. The park around it has a playground, picnic pavilions and public restrooms a few steps off the sand, and reviewers mention a small fee to walk out to the end of the pier for the full view. The Pier 60 lot at 160 S Gulfview Blvd is $3.50 an hour with no time limit from 6am to 11pm, which makes it the easy choice for a sunset you plan to stay late for. Whether the sunset festival at Pier 60 is worth the crowd depends on your patience. On a clear night with kids in tow, it usually is.
Rent a golf cart or bike
Fun Ride Rentals is the easiest place to grab a golf cart by the hour, because it is a walk-up shop on S Gulfview Blvd that rents carts, two-seat ride carts and e-bikes on the spot. Clearwater Beach golf cart rentals are a popular way to skip the parking problem, and with a 4.8 rating across 640-plus Google reviews, Fun Ride is the safe bet.
The shop is about 0.26 miles south of Pier 60. One family paid $150 for a four-seat cart for two hours. Fun Ride does not provide insurance, fuel and tax are extra, helmets and locks are free, and bad weather gets you a rain check, not a refund. The little two-seaters are a riot to drive. One reviewer found theirs had no reverse, so pull in nose-out.
If you want a cart for a whole day or a week, the delivery companies make more sense. Adventures Beach Rentals, which drops six-seat electric carts at your hotel or condo, publishes its rates: $150 for two hours, $200 for four hours, and $275 for 24 hours, with five days at $700. Hourly bookings are by phone only. Drivers must be 21, licensed, and carry their own auto insurance.
Sandy Golf Cart Rentals, a small locally owned outfit based on Island Estates, also starts at $150 for two hours and delivers free across Clearwater Beach, Sand Key, Island Estates and Dunedin. Its six-seaters come with a fridge up front and a cooler in the back. Its rules spell out what applies to every cart on the island: these are low-speed vehicles for roads posted 35 mph or less, never on the sand, and you stay seated while it moves.
For a later pickup or drop-off, Clearwater Beach Scooter and Bike Rentals, in front of Shephard's Beach Resort on S Gulfview, rents bikes, scooters, coupes and carts and stays open until 8pm on weekends. It sits about 0.67 miles south of Pier 60. Watch for its overnight golf cart special, $240 for a four-seater or $260 for a six-seater, and $20 off a 9am cart booking.
Play mini golf
For Clearwater Beach mini golf, go to Captain Bligh's Landing, 18 pirate-themed holes on S Gulfview Blvd built around a big wooden ship. It is cheap, it is open late, and it is more of a workout than you expect.
Nearly every hole is up or down a flight of stairs, some without railings, through caves and dark passages, so it is a poor fit for strollers or bad knees. All holes are par 2, and there are benches between them for when it backs up. Reviewers are honest that some of the features could use a refresh, and the 4.3 rating across more than 900 Google reviews reflects that. Kids don't seem to mind. Go after dinner, when the day's heat has gone.
Paddle the harbor
For Clearwater Beach kayaking, Get Up And Go Kayaking runs the guided trip worth booking: clear-bottom kayaks across the harbor to a bird island you can only reach by boat. It holds a 5.0 rating across more than 260 Google reviews.
The guides talk about the birds and the local waterways as you go, and the stop is a sandbar on a small boat-only bird preserve island where you can step out and walk. Reviewers report dolphins passing the kayaks, and one guide stopped a tour to free a pelican caught in fishing line. The phone line is staffed 8am to 5pm for bookings.
If you would rather paddle somewhere calm without fighting the boat wakes, Paddle Out Adventures, which carries paddleboards and kayaks on a 30-foot catamaran from the main marina at 25 Causeway Blvd, is the calmer option: the boat carries you out to sheltered spots before anyone gets wet. Tours are $85 for two hours, $115 for three and $135 for four, plus a $5 fuel surcharge, and anything leaving within 24 hours has to be booked by phone. Reviewers recommend the three-hour trip, which reaches quiet state park water and a short paddle to a Gulf-side beach.
Fish off the pier or a party boat
The cheapest Clearwater Beach fishing is a day pass on Pier 60, and the easiest way out to deeper water is a half-day party boat from the marina. Both work for beginners.
Pier 60 reopened for fishing on September 1, 2025, after the 2024 hurricanes, with anglers allowed from the bait house out to the T at the end. You buy a daily fishing pass at the bait house, reported at $10 to $12 for adults since the 2025 reopening (Bay News 9 also listed $10 for seniors, $8 for kids 15 and under, rods at $12 a day and frozen bait at $6), so check the board. You do not need your own Florida fishing license on the pier. From Labor Day through late February the pier fishes 7am to 9pm, and from early March to Labor Day it runs until 10pm.
For a boat, Queen Fleet Deep Sea Fishing, the party boat company based at the marina, keeps it simple. Half-day trips run 8am to noon and 1:30pm to 5:30pm, and the all-day trip runs 8:30am to 4:30pm. Adults pay $72 for a half day and $102 for a full day, kids 12 and under $47 or $72, and a rod rents for $8 or $15; check the rates page before you book. Coffee is free, and breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs and burgers are for sale. Reviewers warn the check-in kiosk is tucked beside another operator's booth and easy to miss, and that the boat hands out a code that cuts your parking.
Anglers after snook or grouper on a boat of their own will want the private fishing charters running out of Clearwater, which cost more and go where the party boats do not.
Brewery with a view
The sunset beer above the crowds is at 3 Daughters Brewing, the third-floor taproom at 381 Mandalay Ave, almost across the street from Pier 60. Among the Clearwater Beach bars, its third-floor deck has the clearest look over the promenade to the pier and the sunset.
3 Daughters opened its original taproom in 2013 and this one, its second, in March 2022, with its own brewing system. It is open 11am to 10pm daily. Order the Beach Blonde Ale or the Brown Bomber, and know that canned ciders like the key lime are sold to take home, not to drink at the bar. The entrance is hard to find: take the elevator from the ground-floor shops or climb two flights of stairs. Live music runs on Fridays from about 6:30pm and on weekend afternoons from around 1pm, with Saturday evening sets too. After that, the night moves down to the beach bars closer to the sand.
Frequently asked questions
Published September 7, 2026
