One of my friends on our girl’s trip had been to Clearwater Beach once before and highly recommended the Sandpearl Resort. Unfortunately, it was booked for our weekend so we had to dig a little deeper in our search. We had a few options in the running but ultimately decided on Opal Sands Resort, a sister resort to Sandpearl.
A modern hotel situated on a curve along the southernmost stretch of beach in Clearwater Beach, every room boasts a gulf view. The resort is gulf front but not not truly beach front. The views are amazing but the hotel is built right up to the edge of the water. The beach is accessible through a public parking lot next door or through a gated stairway at the back of the hotel. This didn’t impact us at all but we weren’t there to lay around on the beach. It might be less than ideal if you are there mainly for beach days.
Offering single rooms as well as one and two bedroom suites, the resort has great options for families or friend groups. We stayed in a one bedroom suite. The extra space from the living room and kitchen area was great so that we had some room to spread out and didn’t need to all be crowded into a single space.
The resort has a really nice zero-entry pool… which was used primarily by birds while we were there. It was a little too cold for the pool for us but we did enjoy the hot tub in the evenings.
The resort has an outdoor restaurant (SandBar) and an indoor restaurant (SeaGuini). Our room rate included breakfast at SeaGuini and it was excellent. We enjoyed the breakfast perhaps a little too much. Not only did we go every day of our stay but we made so many trips to the buffet room that we got to know the chef. (We tried unsuccessfully to get her to share her muffin recipes because they were amazing. The muffins alone are worth going back to Clearwater Beach for!) We also had drinks in the restaurant a few times, as well as a light dinner. The food, drinks, and ambiance were all wonderful.
Overall we had an excellent stay at Opal Sands Resort. The rooms were comfortable and spacious. The food and service were fantastic. The location was a little out of the way – it was a bit of a walk to get to usable beach and a decent walk to get to the pier and downtown. But for this trip the location worked out fine and we liked that resort was a little quieter since it was out of the way. I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again.
