Cortez Beach — Attraction in Brandenton Beach

The Beach we didn’t plan on driving to turned into the best beach we’ve visited in a very long time. Cortez Beach was AMAZING!Our family was en route to Anna Maria Island and it turned into trying to get to Coquina Beach, but traffic was starting to get busy and we just saw all this free parking so we pulled in and low and behold, we pulled in right in front of the pier entrance.

Parking was FREE and entirely up front. We doubled check signs to make sure and spoke to others pulling into the spaces.

We went through the short little sand walkway and the lifeguard tower was right in front and the water was AMAZINGLY blue, green and crystal clear. The Caribbean’s little sister on the FL Gulf.

The temperature outside was 98 degrees and the water was at least 75-80. It was PERFECT. The pier is great for photos, pier fishing as there are schools of fish and minnows along the side. You can’t swim past 15 feet which is understood.

The water was SUPER CLEAN and the WHITE SAND was clean with a few small shells along the shore. We hated to leave. Lots of space to put your beach towel or umbrellas up.

We’re so glad we didn’t drive any further. We might drive next time on vacation just to compare, but the beach was a happy accident waiting for us to discover.

Kid friendly, family friendly and...

We have the best experiences here. One day we saw a dolphin and later in the day, a manatee. You think it’s a blob of seaweed and it’s not! Lol. It was a little one but so exciting to see. The other day at the beach, schools of fish were swimming around. Sometimes they would jump out of the water. I think they were whitings. Later in the day, smaller schools but bigger fish. We called them the high schoolers. Lol. I saw a beautiful needle nose fish. Very long, skinny with a beautiful little blue tail. Birds, Ibis, sand hill cranes, beautiful pelicans, plovers and of course the ever present monkey gulls. (They sound like monkeys to me but are the laughing gulls)People are friendly here. It’s a beautiful beach...

This beach is nice, but I would go a little further south to Coquina Beach. The sand at Cortez Beach is more rocky and of your walking the beach they have these little piers that go up onto the beach that you constantly have to walk around. Don't get me wrong, Cortez Beach is beautiful and you have a great view oid the Gulf of Mexico with gorgeous sunsets, but I liked the sand at Coquina Beach better and the openness of the beach. You can take the free trolley from just about anywhere on Anna Maria Island and the last stop going south is Coquina Beach. I think the picture I posted is actually of...