6-Day Kid Friendly Anna Maria Island Itinerary with Fun Adventures and Gluten-Free Finds

Written By Jennifer Roberts

Over the past few years, Anna Maria Island (AMI) in Florida has become quite the spot for vacationing and tourism. With their fluffy white powder sand and crystal clear blue waters, it’s really not hard to see why. When planning and organizing our trips in the earlier years of our travels to AMI, I found it really hard to navigate what there was to do outside of beach days.

5+ years in, it’s safe to say that I’ve refined my travel guide and favorite spots and am so excited to share them.

If you’re wanting to book a kid friendly AMI vacation that is rinse and repeat, check out our 7 day itenary below where I’ll share all the gluten-free finds, fun activities, helpful tips and a peek into our daily adventures, this guide has you covered.

Place to Stay

There are many ways to enjoy AMI whether that’s booking an Air BNB, staying at an off island campground, or booking an on (or off) island hotel. For this trip, we went with staying at an off island campgorund with our RV (which is only a 5 minute bike ride onto the island). To learn more about this option, check out our blog post on RV Camping in Anna Maria Island.

Things to consider when booking an Air BNB or hotel:

Island traffic is NO JOKE! We left the island to go into Sarasota one time and there were lines of traffics to get onto the island. I pulled my GPS out to see that traffic was backed up for 1.5 hours over a stretch that takes less than 10 minutes to drive without traffic. When we plan our adventures, we always make sure to be intentional about when we leave the island and know that we don’t have any set schedule on island plans just in case traffic backs up.

The north side of the island is notorious for traffic, especially during peak travel times, so if you’re wanting to travel the isalnd or do off island adventures, you will need to plan accordingly. I always say the north side of the island is perfect for anyone who loves golf carting, riding bikes, walking, and beaching in that specific area. There are plenty of restaurants/places to enjoy.

Booking near Cortez Road is a great place to book if you want to adventure a bit more and it’s closer to two of the popular boat ramps being used for excursions which makes traveling to your adventures include less traffic. This area is also bikable (we bike there) but it’s not as friendly as the north shore. Often times we will stay closer to Cortez and drive to the north side of the island (with bikes in tow) for biking and adventuring.

Day 1: Travel Day & Explore

We arrived around 2pm. Depending on where you’re traveling from, you may be able to squeeze more in!

On day one of our trip, we get set up wherever we are staying and take a liesurely bike ride around town to get a feel for what we are wanting to include on the trip. Even though we’ve been to AMI many times, it’s never the same. The island has changed more noticably within the past year due to the previous hurricanes, so scoping out our area is a must!

The RV park we stayed at was a quick 5-minute bike ride into town. Our first stop? Back Alley Treasures Coffee Shop, where we loved the frozen vanilla latte, frozen hot chocolate, and frozen vanilla drinks. There is a cute butterfly wall mural across from this little shop as well that’s fun for a photo.

As we were driving back to the RV park, Landon let me know that his breaks on his bike no longer worked. That was a fun ride! We made it back safely and knew it was time to grab a new bike and we knew the perfect place to look.

Our family loaded up the car and went to the local Goodwill for some thrift shopping.

Our favorite Goodwill in that area is located at:
3465 Cortez Rd. W, Bradenton, FL 34205.

We ended up staying in this store for hours looking through DVD’s, toys, and books. Landon found a new bike with breaks that work (thank God).

Dinner on Night One was Gluten Free Lasagna that I had prepared prior to our trip. This is one of the perks of taking an RV - it keeps our dining out budget low.

If you’re not able to pre-cook meals and reheat them on your trip, check out my Best Gluten Free Restaurants Guide for ideas.

Day 2: Biking the North Shore & Escape Rooms

Landon chose to donate his old bike at the RV park. We left a disclaimer note on it, loaded our bikes up and headed to the north shore for a liesurely morning.

We often park on the streets near the North Shore Cafe, unload the bikes and pedal around town. We saw where the pier used to be (before the storm wiped it out), checked out the local shops that are across the street and biked to the restaurant area of the north shore ending up at Poppo’s Taqueria (they had safe gluten-free chicken and brown rice, all fresh toppings, and corn tortillas, though they can’t grill them due to cross-contamination).

After lunch, we rode back to the truck where Jason kept our beach wagon. We’ve had this wagon for a while and Jason just recently modified it to fit onto the back of his bike and it’s the perfect size for loading up with our beach gear.

Here is a comprable beach wagon to the one we use with a bike attachment piece that could work!

We biked our gear to Bean Point, our favorite shark-sighting beach, where the kids collected shells in their mesh bags until it was time for us to head back to the RV to grab a quick dinner (leftover Thai) before heading out to Premier Escape Adventures to enjoy escape rooms. It’s also fitting to note that the bike Landon left for someone to take was no longer there. He got such a tickle knowing someone else was getting to enjoy it.

Escape Rooms We Tried

Houdini Room

This room started with one of us separated from the group — we had to solve puzzles between rooms to reunite and then complete the room together before escaping.

The Curse

I was initially skeptical about this room since it seemed darker, but the staff reassured us it was family-friendly. They were right. The room was so much fun and easily our favorite between the two. Pro tip: the 4-player minimum and there is for a reason!

Day 3: Tiki Boats, Fine Dining, a Beautiful Sunset and Late Night Swims

Day 3 started with Landon and Aria cleaning their seashells. It’s important to rinse the shells and let them dry (ensuring that no creatures were accidentally still in the shells).

After shells were storted, we pedaled over to Fox Mercantile for coffee, chai, and chocolate milks. The RV resort is next to the Mercantile and it’s the sweetest morning ride.

Once our thirst was quenched, more thrifting was in order. I mentioned that we thrifted before, but what I left out was that we intentionally thrift DVD’s. In our home, we don’t own a TV service. We use either an old TV or a projector attached to a DVD player with mom and dad approved movies for the family to watch and a few DVD’s of our old favorites to watch for a date night. Our thrift adventure this day brought us to the MM Foundation Thrift Shop — located at 4517 Manatee Ave West in Bradenton, Florida. This shop was loaded with DVD’s for us to look through.

Landon & Aria love to search for discounted baby clothes and accessories for their dolls.

We loaded up our carts and had to leave in enough time to head back to the camper to get changed for our boat tour. At the RV, we loaded a cooler with charcuterie, snacks, and fun dirnks and headed over to the boat ramp that was only 5 minutes away. (Again, this is the perk of staying closer to Cortez Road.

Tiki Boat Tour

Since a popular boat ramp was destroyed by the storms, many boat companies have been doing their best to find places to pick customers up. For this particular pick up, we were near a busy town area and had trouble finding parking. Because of this, we ended up paying $45 for public parking. Not our favorite way to spend money, but we didn’t have a choice. We boarded a Shore Thing Tiki Cruise and spent the first part boating around and enjoying the water. Eventually, we made our way to Beer Can Island, which just so happens to be one of my favorite beaches in AMI. We love swimming, collecting precious sea shells, and walking the shoreline where trees have fallen and the roots are covered in seashells placed there by people who come and go.

When our boat ride was over, we headed back to the camper to clean up and catch dinner at Anna Maria’s fine dining restaurant The Chateau. This restaurant is located north of Cortez, but not quite to the north shore and it’s attached to a Marriott hotel. Our friends were staying there and said it was lovely!

To learn more about our gluten free dining expeience there, be sure to read about it in my Best Gluten Free Restaurants Guide for AMI.

We finished dinner just in time to catch the sunset at the tip of the north shore with another set of friends who were on vacation! (Two friends in the same week without planning it is crazy… but it was so much fun! I definitely recommend!) After sunset, we went back to their vacation rental on the north shore that had a little pool and the kids swam into the darkness before we called it a night and went back to our RV.

Day 3 was a full day, but well worth it for the fun!

Day 4: Kayaks & The Sandbar Beach Day

After a farm fresh breakfast in the camper, we joined a Florida Blue Adventures Island Kayak Tour. For this tour, we were taken to a beautiful sandbar (not too far from Beer Can Island) and we spotted crabs, hermit crabs, tiny sand dollars, and more. It’s so cool to be able to make our experiences a classroom for our children to thrive in!!

Pro Tip: Arriving at the sandbar by 9 AM was perfect for beating the crowds. This sandbar in particular fills up with boaters on most summer days, but when we were there, it was peaceful and calm. We saw more wildlife on this 9am adventure than we do when we come out by boat in the afternoon.

Post kayaking, we headed back to the camper to grab a quick charcuterie board lunch before throwing our bikes into the truck and heading to the north shore to park so that we could spend the rest of the day on the beach.

One of my favorite MUST HAVE beach days every time I go to AMI is when we set up our cabana outside of the Sandbar Restaurant. We make trips to their to go window to grab virgin piña coladas to take back to the sand and enjoy, and when we get hungry, we walk up and grab a table for lunch or dinner.

It really is one of the most relaxing beach days ever, and this year we were able to make it even better by having both of our friends join us on the beach!

We had dinner and stayed on the beach through sunset. It was amazing, as always!

Pro tip: make sure you have a shirt and shoes to throw on to sit down at the restaurant.

Day 5: Sweet Treats & Sarasota Finds

By this part of trip, we decided it was time for a more relaxed morning. I made a cold homemade chia with raw milk for myself and a hot chai for the kiddos. While we took it easy, the kids journaled their trip so far and we got ready to leave the island for a bit to visit a gluten-free donut shop I found online.

Backstory: The first few years of our travles to AMI, there was a really cute donut shop on the island itself that offered gluten-free donuts - and like most things that changed, due to the hurricane it’s no longer there! So I made it my mission to find another donut shop.

We went to 5-0 Donuts which was said to have gluten free glazed donuts that could be iced with vanilla, chocolate or maple icing. When we got there and did my gluten quesitoning i learned that the glazed donuts are the only true gluten free option they have. The icings are the same ones they use for the gluten containing donuts, so cross contamination no-no. I ended up having a plain glazed donut that was seperated from the gluten donuts (make sure you ask for this because there are gluten free donuts on the line next to gluten donuts). The donut wasn’t bad, but wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. It also stinks no to be able to have any variety for additional icing/toppings, but I was thankful they at least had an option that I could safely eat.

After our donut run, we went to thrift again. I know, you’re probably thinking “how much does this family thrift”…well, a lot apparently on this vacation!

We scored deals at Red White & Blue Thrift (cash-only!) and Unique Outlet & Thrift.

I will note here that the Red, White and Blue Thrift Store had a HUGE selection of DVD’s, CD’s, Bikes, Kid’s Toys, Clothes, Games, and so much more. It was my favorite thirft store on this trip! But you MUST have cash. When we got to the register and she said “cash only” as I pulled out my card, my heart dropped. Then, I searched my wallet and had surprise cash (love when that happens) and I was one dollar short so a sweet gentleman in line behind us handed us a dollar. I know it was only a dollar, but that gesture was so dang sweet. I am usually on the giving end of that kindness, so to receive it was heartwarming to say the least!

We had lunch at Cheesecake Cutie — our top safe gluten-free pick!

Sandwiches, chais, cheesecakes… you name it!

We then hit Hot Bins Sarasota for $6-day treasure hunt before our second escape room adventure of the trip at Escape Reality Sarasota.

If you’ve never visited a Hot Bins, you’re missing out! It’s full of Amazon returns and you never know what you’re going to find. We scored a really nice projector for the RV for $100 (they have a table with bigger items on it for a different price), as well as a projector stand for $6 (along with a cart full of other goodies!).

Brewery Heist
For the first room, we went back in time to a prohibition era, except instead of rescuing beer, we rescued root beer - because we have kids and that’s way cooler! It was such a fun room and we escaped!!

Both rooms were set up really well and were so fun to complete! 10/10 recommend going!

FBI & The Toxic Take Down
Then, we hopped over to another room they offered and I think at this point our brains were fried. We were missing easy clues and getting hung up on things that normally wouldn’t stump us. We still escaped this room (can’t mess up our 100% track record)…but this one definitely took us more time!

Post solving the world’s problems, we ventured back onto the island and grabbed dinner at the Smoque House — a 95% gluten-free restaurant that did not disappoint! Not only did they have delicious options like rosemary chicken, pulled pork, and coleslaw, but they also had tallow fries from a dedicated gluten free fryer!!

Day 6: One Last Beach Morning and Back Home

And just like that, vacation was over. Days go fast in general, but in Anna Maria, they fly by. Every single time.

For our last morning, we hopped on our bikes and pedaled over the bridge to the beach. As we locked up our bike, we noticed the sweet ladies in a side by side checking on the turtle nests. They were volunteers with the sea turtle watch. They gave the kids stickers and talked to them about the nests that were nearby and invited us to a free turtle talk that they host every monday. You can find more details about it on this webiste.

We rinsed off, packed up the camper and then made one last trip to Cheesecake Cutie to grab lunch and cheesecakes before we headed back to real life!

Kid Friendly Finds We’ve Done in the Past:

Kid Friendly Finds We Have Not Done - But Look Cool:

Jennifer Roberts
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