We just returned from Clearwater Beach, and did not want to leave at all! It was a lovely 4 day vacation. I would strongly recommend the Hilton, which is right by Pier 60. We stayed after being at Disney for 4 days, and found Clearwater exactly what we'd hoped it would be. Very low key, beautiful white sand beaches, boat excursions, great drinks on the beach while watching beautiful sunsets! We did head further south to eat the seafood buffet at Shepards, and we did not care for the enviroment down on that end at all. Beach was too small and the only view was of rocks across the way.
The vendors and street artists on the Pier were great and all handmade. We saw someone new there each night, although, many of the same do return each night. There is hairbraiding, temporary tattoos, bungee jumping on the trampolines for kids, blow up jumping toys for kids, caricature artists, all kinds of jewelry, live music, etc... It is really quite nice for a family. We had some great meals at Crabby Bills and Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, which incidently, you can walk to dinner via the beach and eat outside while watching the sunset! The Pirate Ship cruise is great for any kids 10 or under, I would say. There should be some type of water excursion for everyone, from renting waverunners, parasailing, banana boat rides, turbo style jet boat rides, katamaran rides, pontoon rides that stop to look for seashells, and fabulous yacht dinner excursions that are very affordable. I would recommend anyone go to Clearwater Beach at least once, but I really don't know if I could've said that if I'd stayed down toward the Best Western Sea Wake or Shephards. Please use google earth to look at the hotel locations, it will show you the beach size of the hotel you choose, which I feel is really important. The Hilton rents you umbrellas and chairs, well worth the $18/day charge.

I'm not a beach bum, but, I visited my sister and brother-in-law in New Port Ritchie, and we took a trip to Clearwater for the sunset and the nighttime celebration with local musicians and artisans selling crafts on the boardwalk.

It was okay, and not really my thing. You have to pay to go out further along the boardwalk, so we stood by the pay area and watched the sunset. There is no open container law, so people were walking around with drinks in hand, watching the sunset, looking at what craft sellers had to barter and listening to street musicians and watching breakdancers.

If you're into surf and sand, this is a great place for it, and the sunset was quite lovely, but anti-climatic for myself!

Not my idea of a "quiet and romantic" beach or atmosphere.

We were in Clearwater Beach for two nights after a week in Orlando. It was very smoky while we were there so unfortunately we didn't see the beautiful sunsets we've read so much about. We stayed at the Best Western Sea Wake, which was nice although quite far down from the main beach area. The beach was beautiful (except for all the seaweed), but I didn't think much of all the construction everywhere. The whole beach area was fenced in a blue tarp thing so you couldn't walk down the street and see the beach at all. The town as a whole seemed kind of run down with nice new condo buildings sprouting up here and there. We really enjoyed two dinners at Jimmy's Fish House. They have a really nice outside restaurant over looking the gulf, and had live music. I'd definately recommend going there for great food, drinks and atmosphere.

The clearwater beach is probably the best beach in the gulf area. The beach is pretty, the atmosphere is nice, its not too crowded. The sunsets are amazing. It has the best white sand i've seen on any beach. There is some construction going on right now, so parking might be a hassel. However, the beach itself is not affected by the construction. Frenchy's is a great place to eat out and watch the sunset.