Anna Maria Island ranked a top coastal town in U.S. Here’s what a travel site had to say
The rest of the world continues to find out what Manatee County residents and visitors already know: Anna Maria Island is awesome.
Travel website bigseventravel.com recently ranked the 50 best coastal communities in the U.S. and Anna Maria Island made the list, at No. 44.
To be fair to the website writers, they had thousands of coastal communities to choose from within the 95,000 miles of shoreline in America. They looked at a variety of qualities from uniquely charming New England communities to island paradises such as our own.
They took into account everything from atmosphere and amenities to beautiful beaches.
“When most people think of Floridian beach towns, images of Key West’s peaceful shores and Miami’s wild nights usually come to mind. However, one often overlooked gem is Anna Maria Island,” the website states. “Home to some of the most unique bars and restaurants in Florida, along with adorably quirky boutiques, plus jaw dropping beaches, Anna Maria Island has certainly maintained its charm over the years.”
The website goes on to say, “Whether you spend your days lounging on the (seven) mile strip of porcelain-white sand, or embark on your own foodie tour of the city, you’re in for an adventure.”
Granted, the website leaves out a lot of what the island has to offer in terms of boating, fishing, parasailing, dolphin watching, manatees, sea turtles, spectacular sunsets and much, much more. But they clearly only left a minimum amount of dedicated space to describe all 50 locations.
Whether you agree or disagree with the ranking, or like many, just prefer these travel sites stop mentioning the island to the outside world, it’s fair to agree that Anna Maria Island is certainly among the best in the U.S.
The island was one of only five Florida beach towns to make the list. Key West was No. 7, followed by Ameila Island at No. 25, Miami at No. 28 and Clearwater at No. 30.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 1:13 PM.