is closer than you think.
The best beaches in Anna Maria Island, FL—without the endless search.
Wayfind turns “best beaches in Anna Maria Island” into a small, confident shortlist. Ranked by rating weighted by review volume, then proximity — no ads, no paid placement, updated daily.
Free to start. Your taste stays yours and is never sold.
Your Anna Maria Island shortlist.
Wayfind weighs rating quality, review depth, proximity, and local context—then tells you why each choice belongs.
Anna Maria Island, decoded: THE beaches — soft white sand, calm Gulf water, and famously good sunsets, quieter than Siesta Key.
The one thing to know: A deliberately low-rise island that refused to become Miami — old Florida, preserved on purpose.
The ranked list
Coquina Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
Anna Maria's longest stretch of sand, with a boat launch across Gulf Drive on the Intracoastal side.
Coquina stretches along the south end of Anna Maria Island — the longest run of sand on the island and one of just two county beaches with full amenities, from restrooms and showers to the cafe and pavilions. A boat launch sits directly across Gulf Drive on the Intracoastal side.
🗝️ Insider: The boat ramp across Gulf Drive gets you on the water without fighting for beach parking.
Coquina Beach, Gulf Dr S, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217, USA
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island, Florida, USA
Bean Point Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
The north tip of Anna Maria Island: no restrooms, scarce parking, just shorebirds and a clean shot at sunset.
Bean Point sits at the literal north tip of Anna Maria Island, where the sand narrows and the Gulf meets the bay. There's no lot, no restrooms, no snack stand — just a walk in from North Shore Drive, birdwatching that runs from herons and pelicans to spoonbills, and open-water sunset views.
🗝️ Insider: Gladiolus Street and Jacaranda Road have the closest on-street parking to the point — get there before 9 a.m. or you're walking.
Bean Point Beach, 793 N Shore Dr, Anna Maria, FL 34216, USA
Anna Maria Island Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
101 Elm Ave, Anna Maria, FL 34216, USA
Anna Maria Public Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
Anna Maria Public Beach, Florida 34217, USA
Manatee Public Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
The island's most popular beach — lifeguards on duty 365 days a year, free parking, free trolley nearby.
Manatee Public Beach sits at State Road 64 — Manatee Avenue — and Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach, with lifeguards posted 365 days a year and a free lot with ADA spaces right at the sand. A playground, sand volleyball courts, and concessions through the beach cafe mean a full day without leaving.
🗝️ Insider: Skip the parking hunt — ride the free Anna Maria Island trolley, which stops near the island's big beaches.
4000 State Road 64 and Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 34217, USA
Cortez Beach
A quieter AMI beach with soft sand and a relaxed feel · 5.3 mi from the town center.
Cortez Beach, 698 Gulf Dr S, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217, USA
Anna Maria Beach Resort
Thirty-one condo-style suites on Holmes Beach with your chairs and umbrella set up on the sand daily.
Staff set up complimentary beach chairs and umbrellas on the sand for you, and the 31 remodeled suites behind them run condo-like, with balconies and modern appliances. A zero-entry pool and five rentable cabanas fill the space between suite and surf, and during nesting season the resort clears the beach at sunset for the turtles. Roughly 900 reviewers average 4.7.
🗝️ Insider: Day passes are sold to non-guests — staying elsewhere on the island, you can still buy into the pool and cabanas.
6306 Gulf Dr, Holmes Beach, FL 34217, USA
Holmes Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
Year-round lifeguards, a 100-foot beach mat, and the island cafe on the Holmes Beach Gulf pin.
Holmes Beach's guarded Gulf pin stays open until 10. Lifeguards post 365 days. A 100-foot beach mat sits north of the Anna Maria Island Beach Cafe, and free chairs come from the shed by the concession.
🗝️ Insider: Call the shed (941-587-4902) for a free chair before you walk out. The mat is the access, not a rumor — it starts just north of the cafe.
4101 Gulf Dr, Holmes Beach, FL 34217, USA
Coquina Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
Twenty-two acres of white sand at Anna Maria Island's south end, with a free trolley every 20 minutes.
Twenty-two acres of soft white sand at the island's south end, run like a proper county park: year-round lifeguard towers, volleyball, a playground, grills, a café with a tiki bar, and a free trolley every 20 minutes so the car stays wherever you left it. Water is usually calm, though wind and tide can rough it up.
🗝️ Insider: Free beach wheelchairs go first-come from the county — claim one early on busy days.
2650 Gulf Dr S, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217, USA
Bayfront Park
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
A bayside picnic park where the Sunshine Skyway floats on the horizon and the water barely moves.
This is the island's calm-water counterweight: a bayfront strip at the northeast corner of Anna Maria, facing Tampa Bay, Egmont Key and the Sunshine Skyway instead of Gulf surf. Shaded picnic tables, grills and a reservable pavilion make it the family-cookout beach; the flat, sheltered bay water suits small kids. A four-figure review count for a picnic park says the formula lands.
🗝️ Insider: The Anna Maria City Pier is next door — walk it after the cookout for the long Skyway view.
Bayfront Park, 316 N Bay Blvd, Anna Maria, FL 34216, USA
Anna Maria Beach Access
101-199 Pine Ave, Anna Maria, FL 34216, USA
Anna Maria Beach
611 FL-789, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217, USA
Bean Point Beach Access
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
The island ends here — a bare tip of sand where the Gulf runs into Tampa Bay, with no facilities at all.
Bean Point is what the rest of Anna Maria was before the towels arrived: no lifeguards, no restrooms, no parking lot — just the quiet tip of the island where founder George Bean staked his 160-acre homestead in 1892. You reach it on foot from two street-end paths, and at low tide a sandbar opens up for shelling.
🗝️ Insider: At low tide, wade out to the sandbar for some of the island's best shelling.
Anna Maria, FL 34216, USA
Coquina Beach
🏖️ Water: clear — great for swimming
The island's south end, guarded 365 days a year, with pavilions, grills, and a trolley stop at the door.
Coquina is the south-end workhorse: a long ribbon of guarded beach with lifeguards on duty every day of the year, pavilions and grills for family parties, and a trolley stop at the entrance. The county keeps free beach wheelchairs on hand. It's built to absorb a full summer Saturday — and the county posts its flaws, flooded parking included, in plain sight.
🗝️ Insider: Rent the Gulfside North pavilion if you need electricity — it's the only one wired.
Coquina Beach, Gulf Dr N, Bradenton Beach, FL 34217, USA
More in Anna Maria Island
Best Things to Do in Anna Maria Island · Best Restaurants in Anna Maria Island · Best Nightlife in Anna Maria Island · What Sarasota is known for
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