Writing all about our recent Anna Maria Island trip, one of my favorite spots in Florida! It was our third time visiting AMI and even during Covid, it was so fun.
We stayed at Anna Maria Island Beach Resort this trip and our previous one (we stayed at a VRBO for the first trip) and I highly recommend the AMI Beach Resort! It’s right on the ocean and we were able to catch the most epic sunsets each night. The fire pit and pool are also amazing. The rooms have a nice kitchen area as well, so it was easy for us to grab some groceries and store in the fridge.
Read about my first trip to Anna Maria Island here.
FAVORITE AMI RESTAURANTS
My favorite restaurants are Tide Tables (for lunch), The Waterfront Restaurant (lunch or dinner), and Blue Marlin (dinner only). We had a fabulous meal at AMI Beach Bistro last time, but they are only doing a 5 course meal now at $100 per person (without alcohol). I think it might be a new Covid feature, but I hope they go back to their old menu at some point. It is definitely the best spot on Anna Maria and I am sure the 5 course meal is amazing, but we just don’t eat that much food.
The Waterfront is not doing reservations right now (stupid, to be honest) so my tip is to put your name in 2 hours ahead of time if you want dinner there or just grab take out. We did take out several times and ate on the water. I love the caesar salad and grouper cakes from the Waterfront. I ordered the caesar every time I went! Blue Marlin has incredible pasta. I am drooling just thinking about it. Tide Tables has a great view on the water and the best grouper bites.
Dining Tips
Pro Tip 1: Use Yelp instead of Trip Advisor for restaurant reviews and sort by highest rated. I find a lot of the tourist traps are not rated well on Yelp, but are on Trip Advisor. I only use Trip Advisor for hotels/resorts and activities and then for food when we are in Europe (Yelp isn’t the best in Europe).
Pro Tip 2: Make sure you make your dinner reservations before or after sunset. The water sunsets are too good to miss! I made the mistake of making dinner reservations at 6:30 (right at sunset) and we ended up cancelling a lot of them and doing take out instead. I wish I had thought of that before!
Pro Tip 3: For lunch at Tide Tables, arrive at 11:15am before they open at 11:30am because the lunch lines get really long.
What To Do
Since our resort was on the beach, we spent a lot of time at the pool and beach. The water was super clear too and the sand is so soft. We also did a dolphin tour (we did one on our first trip too) and I highly recommend! I learned so much about the dolphins and this time of year you can see babies and pregnant females. We used G02Dolphins because the more highly rated one was booked up. It was so fun and we got to see a bunch of dolphins! You can also rent bikes and do all sorts of water activities. If you have a chance, go to St Armands Circle, Siesta Key Beach or Longboat Key nearby. I’ve also heard great things about Beer Can Island. We went to Dry Dock Waterfront Grill on Longboat and it was SO good! The view was also amazing.
If you have any questions about our Anna Maria Island trip leave them in the comments below! Keep scrolling to see all the outfits I wore on the trip!
Sizing reference: I am 5’4″ and typically XS in tops and 25 in bottoms.
Day 1: Exploring Longboat Key
We explored Longboat Key / St Armands Circle on the first day of our trip. We ate at the best spot called Dry Dock Waterfront Grill. The food and water views were incredible and it was a great way to kick off our trip! My tee and pants I wore are true to size.
Outfit Details:
Night 1: Dinner at Waterfront Grill
Waterfront Grill is one of my favorite spots in to eat in Anna Maria. We ate here several times and when the wait was too long, we did take out. The restaurant is right by the pier, so you can sit out there while you wait for a table. We caught an epic sunset that evening too! I am so happy I brought this jacket for the chilly evenings. I normally size up to a small in Patagonia, but the XS fit perfect in this.
Outfit Details:
Day 2: Lunch at Waterfront Bistro
It was much easier to get into Waterfront for lunch than dinner. We waited about 15 minutes, versus 2 hours evening before. I wore my new tank and zip up and I sized up to a small in both.
Outfit Details:
Night 2: Pizza & Sunset
We got pizza from Pizza Social and it was SO good. The hotel has the perfect spot for sunset viewing on the water, so we ate pizza, drank wine and watched the gorgeous sunset! My pink set is my normal size and my purple set is sized up to a small.
Outfit Details:
Outfit Details:
Top (c/o), Joggers (c/o), Necklace, Sunglasses
Day 3: Tide Tables
Tide Tables is SO good and has the best grouper. We had a lot of fun watching the workers cut up the fish on the dock prior to the restaurant opening. They said they catch the fish right there and it’s super fresh. The pelicans were grabbing the scraps they were throwing into the water, like begging dogs lol. I wore the cutest ribbed top there and sized up to a small in it.
Outfit Details:
Top (c/o), Shorts (c/o), Sandals, Sunglasses, Bag
Night 3: Waterfront Take Out & Sunset
We never want to miss a good sunset, so we decided to grab takeout and watch it. It was such a beautiful night. My lounge set runs true to size and I found it on major sale!
Outfit Details:
Top, Joggers, Sandals, Necklace, Sunglasses, Apple Watch Band, H Bracelet, Cable Bracelet, Hoops (c/o)
Night 4: Dinner at Blue Marlin
I can’t get over how good Blue Marlin was! We got (in order) blackened fish Alfredo, the Fulford and linguini white clam. My favorite was probably the linguini, although the other two were really dang good it’s hard to pick! We got to catch the sunset right before dinner and it was beautiful!
Outfit Details:
Shop the Post
Nice presentation Loved the scenery and sunsets. the food looked and sounded delicious – made my mouth water. The outfits looked great.
Thank you Grandma!! I miss you!
I’d really love to visit here!
Jennifer
Curated By Jennifer
It’s definitely one of my fave FL spots!
AMI is on our travel list and this makes me want to go even more!
Definitely in my top 3 fave FL spots!! Let me know if you decide to go!
This looks like a lot of fun! Definitely putting this on my list!
Lizzie
http://Www.lizzieinlace.com
It’s definitely in my top 3 favorite spots in FL! Let me know if you decide to visit!!
Looks like you had a great trip! I love the grouper at Tide Tables, too!
Ughh literally the best right?! I am craving it now!!
Such beautiful photos!! I’m so jealous 😅
Thank you Ash!
Not sure I will ever get used to our (used to be) sleepy overlooked island turned into a tourist destination. AMI was the island no one ever heard of, and Manatee was the county no one went out of their way to visit… not with the likes if St Pete or Sarasota to choose from.
When I was a teen (not all that long ago) AMI was a small community of residential homes (many generational), a handful of local warering holes, some restaurants and very few vacation rentals at all (by comparison). It was an evening ritual for my friends and I (many of whom lived on the island) to grab a sandwich (or even salad bowl and a few forks) or such from home and walk out on the beach, flop down, and dine in the sunset. Back then it was all too easy to walk out to the beach alone, find a spot, and be totally alone the entire time you were there. Only exceptions being the main public access. You would’ve loved it back then!! Granted, not as many shops, or restuarants to choose from, but a beach expanse quiet and private. Pedestrian and car traffic was nearly none.
Amazing what 15-30 yrs changes.
Glad you enjoyed your visit (but maybe tell less people about how nice it is out here?)
You are so lucky to live there, I would love to retire there some day! It’s interesting, because it still seems so quiet compared to over here (Clearwater / St Pete).. hard to imagine it even quieter. Do you find it’s gotten more crowded with residents or just tourists?
Our family has been going there (my husband 53yrs) (me 28 yrs) It is my favorite place. My children love it. Starting to get a little to busy. But when they were little they could run the beach and I could see them with no problem. There was hardly anyone there. Miss City Pier restaurant. I would add Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar on the pier at Cortez is great go at sunset and watch the boats come in and the dolphins.
Aw that is awesome! I will definitely have to check out the Oyster Bar next time I am there, thank you for the rec!
Hey I visited AMI 3 times in the passed decided I want to live there I just can’t afford it right now but maybe one day went 2 years ago beautiful as always 20 years ago so secluded too
I want to live there too! Me and my husband keep talking about retiring there some day!
Longboat key is not anna maria island
Who said it was? lol
We’ve been going to AMI since 1981 in the first few Summers we only stayed a week then it went to two and now it’s the whole Month of May then another two weeks in July, Our children grew up on that beach and our grandchildren, they now take there vacation on AMI we always stayed at Resort 66 thanks to all of out Time-Share The Beach House is one of our favorite restaurant for dinner and Hurricane Hanks is another it’s always fun plus you can go shopping right next door or access the street,there are so many good places to eat and shop on that beach, breakfast on the pier is another, Sunsets are beautiful, now here’s the kicker we lived on Madeira Beach but vacationed on AMI we now live in the Villages Florida we like to ⛳ golf, well May is almost here I best start packing for my favorite beach.😎
I love that it’s such a special place for you and your family! I will have to try The Beach House and Hurricane Hanks next time I go!!
I’m from AMI Hurricane Hanks and Cortez Kitchen are great places to have wonderful meal Anytime
I will have to check those out, thank you for the recs!!
Thank you so much for all of your amazing tips for visiting Anna Maria Island. We read your blog prior to our visit and planned a lot of our 8-day trip around your suggestions. They didn’t disappoint at all! Thank you!
Wow, that totally makes my day to hear, thank you for letting me know!! I am so happy you guys had a wonderful trip to AMA!!
Just returned from there as well .. fantastic! The columbia restaurant was incredible and the ugly grouper was a entertaining place !
I’ll have to add those to my list to try next time! Glad you had a great time!!
This post was so incredibly helpful! My husband and I are taking this same trip with our toddler next month, staying at Anna Maria Beach Resort.
How stocked was the kitchen there? Will we need to buy everything (S&P, cooking spray, etc)?
Can’t wait to try the restaurants as well!!
Aw thank you, I am so happy to hear it’s been helpful for planning your trip! So the resort has all the plates, silverware, cups etc. They do they dish soap for the dishwasher, but other than that you’ll have to bring any ingredients you want for cooking like spray and all that. The fridges are nice and large too for leftovers and there’s a Publix nearby!