Start from 29 curated places around Anna Maria Island, FL, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
The Porch Restaurant
Housed in a restored historic cottage on Gulf Drive in Anna Maria City, The Porch is the island's most consistent dinner destination — a short menu that leans on whatever is freshest from local Gulf fishers, cooked with more care than you expect from a room this cozy. The fish tacos and the Cajun crab dip have become the kind of thing people plan their trip around.
Sandbar Seafood & Spirits
The original beachfront institution on Anna Maria, operating from the same stretch of sand at the north end since the late 1970s with toes-in-the-sand table service right on the Gulf. The grouper tacos and stone crab (in season) are what locals bring their out-of-town guests for, and the sunset view from the outdoor tables is genuinely one of the best on the island.
Trails & outdoors
Anna Maria Island Beach Walk
A 7.6-mile end-to-end walk along the entire length of AMI's Gulf-facing beach — from Coquina Beach at the south end to Bean Point at the north — covering all three cities (Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, Anna Maria) without a car. The terrain is flat Gulf sand the whole way, the views are uninterrupted across the water toward Mexico, and the route passes all of the island's major beach access points and most of its best restaurants.
Robinson Preserve: Osprey Loop
A 3.2-mile flat loop through Manatee County's best coastal wetlands just east of the island — boardwalks through dense mangrove tunnels, a 35-foot observation tower with bay views, and a consistent cast of roseate spoonbills, ospreys, and alligators using the tidal flats. This is the best birdwatching walk within striking distance of the island and a completely different ecosystem from the Gulf beach.
Things to do
Island Players Community Theatre
The oldest community theater in Manatee County, founded in 1949 and still running six-to-eight productions per season from a converted island cottage on Gulf Drive in Anna Maria. The 100-seat venue is intimate enough that there is no bad seat in the house, the productions range from classic comedies to contemporary dramas, and the ticket prices remain deliberately affordable by community theater standards.
Happy Paddler Kayak Tours & EcoVentures
The island's best-reviewed outdoor experience — guided kayak eco-tours through the mangrove tunnels and tidal flats surrounding AMI, led by certified naturalists who actually grew up on these waters. Tours run through the channels between the island and the mainland where wild bottlenose dolphins, manatees, and sea turtles are regular sightings, not just promised ones.
Landmarks & sights
Bean Point
The wild, undeveloped northern tip of Anna Maria Island where the Gulf and Tampa Bay converge — the widest, least-crowded stretch of sand on the island and one of the few places you can watch the sun set over the Gulf while looking northeast toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. No pavilion, no lifeguards, just roseate spoonbills picking through the shallows and the occasional manatee surfacing offshore.
Anna Maria City Pier
The historic pier at the north end of Anna Maria has stretched 700 feet over Tampa Bay and served as the social center of the island since the early 1900s. Hurricane Milton destroyed the walkway in October 2024, and the pier has been closed ever since; the city is rebuilding it with sturdier pilings and a reopening targeted for fall 2026. The heritage endures — for generations islanders fished from its rail at dawn while pelicans worked the pilings, and a new pier-end restaurant is set to return under a fresh lease once construction wraps.