Free Parking on Clearwater Beach

I have bad news for those of you who used to frequent the Idlewild and Glendale streets area of Clearwater Beach.  The stretch of beach associated with the main area of free parking spaces on the beach no longer has free parking spaces. The parking spaces that lined the street along Mandalay Avenue have been converted to metered spaces.  And, the spaces on the streets on Glendale and Idlewild have also been converted to metered parking spaces. Now, if you want to park along that iconic stretch of Clearwater Beach, you’ll have to pay the outrageous hourly prices prorated by the parking meters on a seasonal basis.

It almost makes more sense now just to park at your favorite part of the beach, because the iconic free parking spaces of north beach are no more.  There is, however, still reason to park on this portion of the beach.  The lifeguards and lifegaurd towers end just before here, and so rules regarding the use of skimboards and hard boards are non-existent.  Unfortunately, it will cost you an arm and a leg in parking fees to participate in skimboarding activities along this previously free parking portion of the beach.

Fortunately, if you look hard enough, you’ll still find free parking along select streets where hardboards are permitted.  We can call them secret spots.  The key is to look closely at the no parking signs to determine which places along the streets are permissible to park on, and which places are not.