Attractions Near Tarpon Park

You can spend time in Tarpon Springs and shop, and eat great Greek food and pastries at the historic Sponge Docks but there is also plenty of other awesome dining in Tarpon Springs as well as the neaby quaint town of Dunedin. Our current favorite eatery in Tarpon is Currents located right at 200 East Tarpon Avenue; it’s gotten rave reviews from the locals and restaurant critics and we love their menu and wine selection. Here is our list of restaurants that we have been to and can recommend–feel free to send us your own recommendations or update ours if you feel the place is no longer up to our review! There are also a number of area art festivals throughout the season all along Florida’s Gulf Coast especially in nearby Dunedin and Tampa and we always try to find an interesting place to eat after one of these shows or weekend festivals.

But the truly awesome thing about our region is the easy access to really special Parks and recreational areas. Within a roughly 8 mile radius of Tarpon Springs there are beaches and wildlife areas like Honeymoon and Caladesi Island that are consistantly voted as being the best in the country! The first activity we recommend when you arrive is a quick nature tour by boat on SunLine Cruises. The ticket price is well worth it as these folks do a comprehensive well-organized tour, know the waters and the wildlife in the area and their pontoon boats are stable and comfortable. Any of their tours are worthwhile but be advised that the daytime tours often have school children on board. If that is not your cup of tea then take their Anclote Key Tour or the Sunset Cruise.

Now, even though we have so many great Parks, our own Chesapeake Point Park is in our opinion the West Coast’s best kept secret. We are a bird sanctuary and each year have nesting great blue herons and osprey. At dusk, you can see hundreds of birds fly in to roost for the night on the surrounding mangrove islands. We never get tired of watching this nightly event. Almost everyday we can see dolphin feeding along the seawall and manatee swimming during the Winter season especially on the “sunrise” side of the Park. At high tide we see many different species of fish going about their business in the waters around the Park. As a result, most of our guests seem to prefer setting up their lounge chairs at the edge of the seawall and spending the day sunbathing, reading, fishing and relaxing! The fishing is great in our Park and previous guests have enjoyed fishing daily off of the seawall. If you are handy with a cast net, tasty mullet are an easy catch. I have seen one of our residents routinely catching mullet off of the seawall at high tide which he says he smokes in a simple smoker he purchased around the corner at the hardware store. Dolphins also regularly fish around Chesapeake Point and we have seen them playfully swimming upside down at high speed just under the water’s surface along the seawall and then watched them chase mullet towards the seawall and catch and eat them! I shot this quick movie this year that shows a dolphin grabbing a mullet along our seawall. Here is also a quick slideshow of some of the photos we have taken along the Gulf Coast.

Outside of Chesapeake Point there are lots of places to choose from for any type of outdoor activity. Not much more than a mile away from Chesapeake Point is the entrance to Fred Howard Park where watersports are the dominate activity there and you can enjoy fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, windsurfing, and swimming. Close by is Sunset Beach and it is appropriately named for there is always a full parking lot at the end of the day to watch the consistantely gorgeous sunsets on the beach. Also close by is the Anclote River Park with a huge number of boat ramps, designated swimming area, plenty of picnic areas and facilites. We really like just sitting on the beach and watching the boats head out the channel to the Gulf of Mexico.

Several of our family members have had exciting manatee encounters while out kayaking in the waters of Craig Park located in the center of Tarpon Springs. Craig Park, the undisputed heart of Tarpon Springs, is a fantastic place to walk along the promenade which surrounds it and to go fishing. Just a few weeks ago in the middle of the day, we watched dolphins feeding there against the seawall swimming at high speed and creating an 2 foot wave running behind them in the process. It was quite spectacular. And, during the Winter, Manatee are always bobbing around in the center of Craig Park’s waters. If you wish to get out on the water yourself then we recommend our local kayak guides at Simply Kayaking. Their trips are safe and as low-impact as you need. Once familiar with the area waters you might also rent pontoon boats at Captain Jacks.

Our favorite Park by far is Honeymoon Island which is a beautiful place about a eight mile drive down Alternate Route 19 and across the causeway. A season pass is quite reasonable at $75.00 (or you can opt to pay the $5 entry fee each time you go) and the shell collecting there is outstanding. It is never crowded and you can walk for hours on the beach. There is seemingly endless parking and ample restroom facilities. We always pack our lunches because, though there is a large snack bar there, we find their prices a bit high. We actually spend more time at Honeymoon Island than at Howard Park because there are fewer people there and it is such a huge well maintained Park. There are people from all over the world there as well as locals who regularly drive up from Tampa to avoid the crowded Clearwater area beaches.

We also highly recommend taking the ferry from Honeymoon Island over to Caladesi Island which was just voted the #1 beach in the country. There is plenty of hiking at Caladesi and opportunites to view wildlife but most folks go there to enjoy its uncrowded white sand beach and enjoy the peace and quiet the natural surroundings offer. The ferry is somewhat pricey so we do not do this as often as I would like. We will be exploring walking there from North Clearwater Beach which I am told is about a 3 mile walk and will report back here on the level of difficulty and how far it truly is to walk into Caladesi Island.

If you prefer fresh water there is always Tarpon Lake with its Parks bordering both sides. It is one of Florida’s top bass fishing lakes and has an excellent boat launch and picnic areas. There are also deep-sea fishing charters available that leave out of Tarpon and areas close by as well as several golf resorts if that is what you enjoy.

We also heartily recommend the 2 hour drive to Venice Beach and Caspersen Park. We were just there in late September and found 60 fossilized shark’s teeth right in the sand in about an hour and a half. Most of the park has been left in its natural state and you can see all kinds of wildlife including some large gopher turtles that call it home. We brought our own bottled water with us for the day since we wanted to walk a good ways down the beach and there are no concession stands. We later walked back up the beach and drove the mile back down the road to Sharkey’s Restaurant (a Venice institution) and had lunch on the beach and right in front of the Venice Pier. We did this as a daytrip to avoid hotel costs so be advised that it makes for a long day.

One of our other favorite parks is Ft DeSoto which in year’s past has also had the honor of being voted America’s best beach. The blue water there will take your breath away. And, though the Park gets a lot of visitors in the season, for some reason it never seems crowded. The drive is a bit over an hour but well worth it in our opinion. Highly recommended!

Most of the places I mention above are our favorites because the natural beauty has been retained but if you are interested in the nightlife or shopping or beaches that are more for people watching than wildlife watching and relaxing then head South to Tampa and the Clearwater beaches. Tampa is an easy 30-45 minute drive from Tarpon Springs where you can visit the Historic Ybor City famous for its small cigar shops, restaurants, and clubs. There is the Tampa Aquarium, plenty of big sporting events and the International Mall near the Tampa International Airport. We still enjoy going to Clearwater Beach even though it is crowded since it is a stunning white sand beach and restaurants are within walking distance from the beach. Just be absolutely sure to get there early or you will not find parking and plan to spend the day and enjoy dinner at one of the many good eateries in town. If you go to any of these places around Tampa or South of Tampa, do your best to travel during the non-rush hours if traveling during the work week.

Tarpon Springs (and the West Coast in general) is also a great place to spend the Winter because you are also within a 2 hour drive of some of the coolest amusement parks in the world like Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and Busch Gardens. Since any of these parks involve longer than a day trip to really enjoy what each attraction has to offer, we have found that the drive is quite reasonable considering you will be spending several days there.