Honeymoon Beach and Fort De Soto: Dog Beaches in Florida

We love our dog as most pet owners do. When we travel for long periods she can come with us because we pull a travel trailer. On the southwestern coast of Florida (but not as far south as Fort Meyers) we found two dog beaches that were just fabulous.

We went to Honeymoon Beach located in Dunedin, Florida a couple of times. Honeymoon Beach is part of Honeymoon State Park. The dog beach is part of the Park.

It is open from 8:00 a.m. until sundown every day of the year. There is a $5.00 fee to park. The one problem with Honeymoon Beach for dogs is the hike from the beach to the bathrooms!

The pet beach is on the southern tip of the island and on the nature trail. Pets must be on a 6 foot hand held leash at all times while in these areas. It isn't hard to find. When you pull into the huge parking lot the pet beach is on the left. You might be able to see a water hose to rinse off your dog before going home.

Please please pick up after their pets and properly dispose of their droppings. You'll find plastic bags everywhere so there is just no excuse for not picking up. The beach was very clean it is just on the walk down to the beach that we saw that people hadn't picked up after their dogs.

The beach at Fort de Soto State Park has been ranked by Stephen Leatherman known as Dr. Beach as America's number one beach. He was referring to the north part of the beach which is beautiful and where you can see magnificent sunsets. There are playgrounds and picnic tables here.

Fort de Soto is the largest park in the Pinellas County Park system with 5 islands and of course a fort which we saw and so much to do!

We took Hanna to the dog beach several times and we just loved it. This is an off leash beach so you can imagine the chaos that goes on. But if you love dogs this is a terrific place to take your best friend.

The Park is located at 3500 Pinellas Bayway South, Terra Verde, Florida. We ended up camping here for almost a week and it was wonderful because the Park is large and self contained. We road our bikes her and never left the Park. We found a little store that sells sandwiches and ice cream.

Back to my dog- we found a paw playground with huge fenced in areas for both large and small dogs, including dog showers. There were benches for the humans.

The dog beach is clearly marked and once we got there we found it an easy walk to the restrooms.

I hope more than one picture comes out!