smallet

I am choosing a destination for my winter breaks. I plan to come to Miami or Tampa and stay in the place where I could access beach for swimming and sunbathing and be able to exercise on a road bike the other days. What would be a good destination?

shoota 

Pick any town along the Pinellas Trail. It's very long, easy to get to from wherever you stay on the beach and should be a lot of fun for you.

Map: https://www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd/PDF/Locator.pdf

Clearwater is very touristy, and it gets less touristy as you move northward. Dunedin and Indian Shores are nice towns.

RonH

You could try Inverness or Hernando and be along the Withlacoochee Trail. When you want to go to the beach just hop in your car and it's a short drive to any number of beaches.

shoota 

No offense but you must live near that trail. Because that's not just a "short drive" to the beach. Especially not compared to staying in a beach front town with the Pinellas Trail in your backyard..

ncbikers

There are a lot of differences between Tampa and Miami as vacation spots.

There is a lot more traffic congestion in Miami and fewer MUPs which makes cycling harder and more dangerous. There is a lot less traffic congestion and more MUPs around Tampa. Easier and more enjoyable (to me) cycling.

In Jan & Feb (you mentioned winter breaks) Miami is a lot closer to lay on the beach and swim outside temperatures than is Tampa. In Tampa that time of the year you will basically have the beaches to yourself. In Jan/Feb in Tampa it is not unusual for it to freeze (below 32 degrees) at night. It is rare for it to freeze in Miami.


There is also a big difference in water temperature between the 2 cities.


My suggestion would be to go on the internet and find average temperatures for both cities (both air and water) before making a decision. Then you have to decide if better cycling or sun bathing (warmer temperatures) are more important to you. Both are interesting places in their own ways and have a lot to do. Enjoy your vacation.

RonH

You got that right!!! We retired where we are in FL so we'd be close to the bike trails.
We go to Honeymoon Beach maybe once or twice a year.

FLvector

Depends on what you're looking for in both riding and beaches. Miami is very congested, but does have many beaches to choose from and lots of night life. The bike routes will be very flat, somewhat scenic and lots of wind coming off the water. The Tampa Bay area is more laid back, nicer beaches on the Gulf coast, but once you go much further north than Clearwater, the beaches go from sandy to silty. I'm not a fan of the Pinellas Trail due to the numerous cross streets, but there are other nice trails (Suncoast, Withlacoochee) and many routes to choose from. There are actually some nice hills in San Antonio and Brooksville if you want to explore. I believe the Tampa area has an edge up on Miami for beaches and cycling.

shona

We just spent a week (december 2013) in Inverness where we were able to ride the Withlacoochie trail. The trail was real nice. The gulf is a short drive away but it's too cold to swim right now.

smallet

Thank you for comments. I finally settled to go to Boca Raton. I choose this place mostly because it is warmer there in late December and because I was able to book plane tickets and a hotel. I was training on A1A road which goes along the Atlantic. The road a great, there are many road cyclists, apparently training, drivers are nice to cyclists. There is only one problem - it is absolutely flat. But otherwise I enjoyed my holiday.