Anna Maria Island Florida Best Tips For Planning A Beach Vacation

Anna Maria Island, Fla., resting on the lower lip of Tampa Bay, is a popular beach escape for many thousands of visitors each year. The seven-mile island is famous for its powdery white sands and world-renowned sunsets.

If you are planning a vacation to Anna Maria Island, consider these tips to make your trip as smooth and comfortable as possible:

Book Your Hotel Early: Anna Maria Island's charm is centered around the "Old-Florida" lifestyle. That means no big resorts! There are more than four dozen hotel options on the island, but most are small and only have 20 rental units or less. Also, there are tens of thousands of island regulars who book annual vacations to AMI. This all adds up to hotels selling out months, sometimes more than a year in advance. Weekends and holidays are booked especially far in advance. You'll have the best opportunity to get your preferred hotel if you book at least six months prior to your stay.

Try To Come in The Fall: Why limit yourself to a summer vacation? AMI has approximately 350 days of sunshine per year. It's beautiful year round. However, travel to the island takes a substantial drop in the fall. After Labor Day, the kids are back in school, work is reaching the final quarter and Anna Maria Island goes from nearly full to nearly empty. For those who can come in the fall, they'll get to take advantage of better hotel rates, nearly vacant beaches and the most comfortable weather of the year.

Fly Into Sarasota: Most AMI vacationers flying into Florida choose to come into the Tampa Bay Airport (TPA) and drive a little more than an hour to reach the island. However if you are flying to the island, look at the possibility of landing at the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport (SRQ). The drive to the island from SRQ only takes 15 minutes. On your way home, you'll find SRQ incredibly quick and easy to get into and it has very short lines (if any) for security screening.

Buy Groceries Before Check-In: If you find there is heavy traffic as you come onto Anna Maria Island, you can save yourself a major headache by getting any necessary groceries before you check into your hotel. The island is usually very easy to navigate with traffic moving steadily. However at certain times (such as mid-day check in), traffic can get stalled. Publix Grocery Store is one of the first businesses you're likely to see on the island, it is located just over the Anna Maria Island Bridge on US HWY 64. Just stop in to grab your groceries when you first get on the island and you could be saving yourself half an hour of traffic later.

Download the Stay Anna Maria Island App: It's impossible to predict what will come up while you're on the island. But you can be prepared for just about anything if you download the StayAMI app (Android users) on your smart phone, or bookmark the StayAMI.mobi mobile website. It has emergency information, as well as info on restaurants, beaches, shops, accommodations and lots more.