Orlando to Anna Maria Island

Scale is the point of the place, and you feel it before you have parked. Anna Maria Island runs 7 miles from Bean Point in the north to Coquina Beach in the south, and nowhere on it is more than half a mile wide. A 40ft height limit has been in force for decades, so what you see against the sky is palm trees and clapboard cottages rather than the condominium walls that line most of this coast.

Three separate towns share those 7 miles and they do not feel alike. Anna Maria at the north end is the quietest and the prettiest, with the City Pier, Bean Point and streets of pastel cottages. Holmes Beach in the middle holds most of the shops, the supermarket and the widest sand. Bradenton Beach at the south end is the liveliest, with the historic bridge street, a fishing pier and the cheapest food.

Getting about without the car is genuinely possible here, which is rare enough in Florida to be worth the trip on its own. A free trolley runs the length of the island every 20 minutes from early morning until late evening and stops anywhere you flag it down. Families staying two nights routinely park on arrival and never touch the keys again.

Drive time from Orlando is about 2 hours 30 for 135 miles, with no tolls on the direct route. That makes it a viable long day trip and a much better overnight. The last 20 minutes, over the Palma Sola causeway with water on both sides, is the stretch that tells everyone in the car that the holiday has changed gear.

Say plainly what the island does not have and nobody arrives disappointed. There are no high rise hotels, no waterparks, no big resort complexes and very little in the way of nightlife. Anna Maria trades on a slower version of Florida, and families expecting a resort strip like Fort Myers Beach or Clearwater sometimes look puzzled for an hour before they settle into it.

March is the month to avoid unless you have no choice. American spring break fills this island completely, parking becomes impossible by nine in the morning, and the bridge onto the island backs up at both ends of the day. Rates peak in the same weeks.

Late April to early June is the best window by some distance. The water has warmed past 25 degrees, the spring break crowds have gone, the summer storms have not started and the evenings are long. Hotel rates fall noticeably from the second week of April.

Summer here is hot and wet and quiet, which suits some families very well indeed. Afternoon thunderstorms are near daily from mid June to mid September, the Gulf sits near 30 degrees, and prices are at their lowest of the year. Storms usually clear within an hour, and the sunsets that follow them are the best you will see here.

Autumn is the gamble. October and November bring beautiful weather, empty beaches and low prices, and they also sit at the tail of hurricane season. Insurance that covers weather disruption is worth having for a trip planned in those months.

Sunset is a fixed appointment on this island, and the whole west side turns out for it. Bean Point at the north tip looks out over the mouth of Tampa Bay towards Egmont Key, and that is the view people are still describing when they get home. Arrive 40 minutes early in season if you want to park anywhere near it.

Ellenton sits at the I-75 exit ten minutes before the causeway and holds a large outlet centre. It is the obvious stop coming in or going home, and prices on American brands are low enough that plenty of families put a couple of hours there into the plan deliberately.

Bradenton, on the mainland between the interstate and the island, gives you a riverfront walk, a maritime museum with a planetarium, and the De Soto National Memorial marking the 1539 Spanish landing. Half a day if it rains, an hour if it does not.

Longboat Key runs south across a short bridge and is the wealthy, private, very quiet neighbour. Worth the drive for the contrast alone, though there is almost nowhere to stop and very little public beach access.

Sarasota lies 30 minutes south and is the cultural stop of this coast. The Ringling estate holds an art museum, the circus museum and a Venetian gothic mansion on 66 waterfront acres, and it comfortably fills a day. Siesta Key beach, with its famous powder sand, is ten minutes beyond it.

St Petersburg is 45 minutes north over the Skyway bridge and holds the Dali Museum, the largest collection of his work outside Europe. Crossing that bridge, 430ft above the mouth of Tampa Bay, is one of the great drives in Florida and reason enough on its own.

Myakka River State Park inland towards Sarasota is the wildlife half of this region. Airboat tours, a canopy walkway 25ft up in the oaks, and alligators in numbers along the river. About 50 minutes from the island, and best in the dry winter months.

Parking is this island's one weak point, and the trolley is the answer to it. Free spaces exist at Coquina Beach, Manatee Public Beach and a scattering of small lots, and every one of them fills early in season. Residential streets are heavily signed and the island tows, so read the signs rather than following the car in front of you.

Accommodation here is holiday cottages and small inns rather than hotels, which changes how you book. Many properties let by the week in high season, minimum stays of three to seven nights are common between January and April, and cleaning fees sit outside the nightly rate. Two night stays are far easier to find outside those months.

Restaurants are small and do not swallow large parties easily. Waits of 45 minutes are normal at the popular places on a winter evening, few take bookings, and several close early by British standards. Eating at six rather than eight solves nearly all of it.

Shopping means one supermarket in Holmes Beach and a few convenience shops, all at island prices. Anyone staying in a cottage with a kitchen should do the proper shop at the Publix in Bradenton on the way over, ten minutes before the bridge.

Sea conditions are gentle here compared with the open Gulf beaches further south, which is exactly why the island suits small children. Lifeguards cover Manatee and Coquina beaches only, and the passes at either end of the island run currents strong enough to catch people out. Swim between the flags.

Costs for a day trip are genuinely low. Arrive early enough and there is no parking charge, the trolley is free, and lunch for four on Bridge Street runs to about 60 dollars. Fuel for the round trip is roughly 30 dollars in a mid size car, and there are no tolls at all on the direct route.