Egmont Key Tickets
Islands, Dolphins &
Hotels across Tampa Bay
At the mouth of Tampa Bay sits a mile-long island you can only reach by boat — Egmont Key, where an 1858 lighthouse still burns, a Spanish-American War fort crumbles photogenically into the Gulf, gopher tortoises own the paths, and the snorkeling runs over sunken gun batteries in clear green water. This guide books the island properly — the Fort De Soto ferry, the snorkel-and-dolphin cruises, the rules of a wildlife refuge — and then builds out the bay around it: Shell Key's sandbar wilderness, the dolphin fleets, Clearwater's rescue aquarium, the Dalí, Busch Gardens' coasters, and the beach-resort row from the pink palace of St. Pete Beach to Clearwater's sugar sand.
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Tours & Attractions
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Hotels
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Travel Guides
1858
Lighthouse, Still Lit
Attractions & Tours
Top Egmont Key Experiences
Egmont Key Ferry
The only scheduled ride to the island — the Tampa Bay Ferry runs from Fort De Soto's bayside across the shipping channel to Egmont Key, dolphins escorting most crossings, with hours ashore among the lighthouse, fort ruins, and empty Gulf beach.
Egmont Key Snorkel & Dolphin Cruise
Snorkel a sunken fortress — cruises from Fort De Soto and John's Pass pair dolphin-watching with mask-and-fin time over Fort Dade's drowned gun batteries, where sheepshead and snook patrol hundred-year-old concrete in clear green Gulf water.
Egmont Key Lighthouse & Fort Dade
A ghost town with a working heart — the 1858 lighthouse still guides Tampa Bay's ships while Fort Dade's brick streets, gun batteries, and powder magazines crumble around it, walked free once you're ashore and narrated by shorebirds.
Fort De Soto Park
The five-island county park that keeps topping America's-best-beach lists — North Beach's lagoon and sugar sand, the 1898 fort and its big mortars, seven miles of paddling and bike trail, and the Egmont ferry's home dock. One parking fee buys it all.
Caladesi Island State Park
The other island you take a boat to — a short ferry from Honeymoon Island lands you on one of the last undeveloped barrier islands on the Gulf coast: white sand, a mangrove paddling trail, and no condo in sight.
St. Pete Pier
A 26-acre public park built out over Tampa Bay — splash pad, beach, fishing deck, a marine discovery center, rooftop drinks and sunset over the city — and free to walk from dawn to late evening.
Hotels
Where to Stay in Egmont Key
The Don CeSar
★★★★★
The Pink Palace of St. Pete Beach — the 1928 Gatsby-era landmark rising flamingo-pink over the Gulf, with Egmont Key on its horizon, two pools in the sand, and the grande-dame service that made it the coast's postcard.
Opal Sands Resort
★★★★★
Every room faces the Gulf — a sleek, curved Clearwater Beach resort directly on the sand, with private balconies, a zero-entry pool, a full-service spa and the beach promenade at the door.
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