We just wrapped up a four night stay at the Sand n' Sea Beach Flats, a cute vacation rental on beautiful Anna Maria Island, Florida. So, was it worth the trip? Here's our full, honest review!
Ready to book? Check prices and availability for Sand & Sea Beach Flats here!
Who Are We?
Before we get into the details, a quick note on who's writing this review and why it might matter for your trip. We're a Florida-based family of three - me, my husband, and our 11-year-old son. Anna Maria Island is one of our many go-to Florida staycation spots. That means we're judging this place against the dozen-plus other rentals and hotels we've tried up and down this stretch of Florida coastline.
It also means we came in as locals in one specific way: we packed our own beach chairs, cooler, and gear rather than relying on what the rental supplied. So if you're flying in and need everything handed to you, a few of the things that were minor inconveniences for us might matter more for you. But don't worry, I'll let you know where you can get everything you need on the island!
Quick Note: I should also mention that while the property name is the "Sand n' Sea Beach Flats", you will also find it listed as "Sand & Sea" or "Sand and Sea" on various booking platforms. It's the same place! Here it is on Booking.com.
Location
This is where the Sand n' Sea really earns its keep. This cute little condo complex is located on Magnolia Ave, west of Gulf Drive, putting it just steps from the main beach entrance.
You're a short walk from many good restaurants, tourist shops, the beach access point, and the bike and water sport rental stands. (Be sure to check our Anna Maria restaurant recommendations too!) If you want to be in the middle of the action, this is about as good as it gets. We parked our car upon arrival and didn't use it again until we left for home.
To give you a better idea, check out this picture below. You walk out of the condo unit.... and there's the beach at the end of the sidewalk!
And it sure is a beautiful stretch of beach. Look at that view! It's super wide with soft, white sand and typically very calm water.
The trade-off is that this stretch of beach can be busy during the day, since it's one of the main access points for this part of the island. If a quieter, more secluded stretch of sand is the priority, you may want to stay a bit further north or south of this main access. But if convenience is the priority, it's pretty hard to beat.
I should also note that there are no traditional hotels on this part of the island. The City of Anna Maria has some very strict zoning rules that have largely prevented the development of hotels here. So vacation rentals are really the only option here, for better or worse!
Check-In Process
There is no reception area or staffed office here. We received a text with the door code around 3:30pm and arrived right at 4:00 pm, which is the check-in time.
Around 4:30pm, someone from the vacation rental agency knocked to check that everything was in order, explaining she hadn't made it over in time to inspect the unit after its cleaning. A bit of an odd interaction, but not a big deal. And everything looked fine to us.
There was no option for earlier check-in, and there is also no place to leave luggage early since there is no reception desk. So you do need to plan accordingly if you are flying in, especially if you're not renting a car where you could store things. These are some of the downsides of a vacation rental versus a traditional hotel, but I think the tradeoffs are worthwhile for this particular type of trip.
Our Beach Condo - Unit 109A
All of the apartment-style units at Sand n' Sea are independently owned, so they are all going to be a bit different. We stayed in Unit 109A, so I can give you all the nitty-gritty details on that one! (And if you want to book, here is a link to the exact unit we booked.)
It's very cute, to start. The front porch faces the pool, and had two Adirondack chairs for sitting. If you have kids, this is a great place to sit and supervise while they swim in the pool!
The unit has two bedrooms. One bedroom had a Queen sized bed and the other had two double beds, sleeping a total of six guests. There was plenty of storage space in both bedrooms, between the closets and dressers. There were even a few extra blankets and a fan tucked in the closet, which is always appreciated!
The furniture has definitely seen better days, which is really fine for a beach condo. But I'll just say it bluntly- the mattresses need to be replaced. Squeaky, bouncy, very uncomfortable. I'm generally not too picky about mattresses and can sleep on just about anything, but both my husband and I left here with sore backs.
There is a single bathroom with a shower/tub combo and a single sink. There were some travel sized toiletries provided, but if you're staying longer than a couple of nights, plan to bring your own. (More on that below.) There was a proper full sized hair dryer as well! You guys know how I feel about those little hotel hair dryers, so I fully appreciate this.
Moving on to the other side of the apartment, there is a nice sized living room with two sofas and a television. We didn't really watch TV, but there seemed to be live TV channels, plus the ability to login to your own streaming accounts like Netflix.
And connected to the living room is a dining area, with a dining table and chairs. Perfect if you are cooking and eating meals in the apartment.
There's also a full kitchen, complete with everything you need to cook and eat there during your stay. (See below for all the details of what's in those cabinets!) There is a full sized fridge with freezer, an electric stove an oven, and a dishwasher. And there's even a garbage disposal in the sink, which rentals often skimp on having! The appliances have seen better days, but hey, it's the beach.
And finally, out the back door you'll find a cute little deck with a table and chairs, plus an outdoor shower. There was even a grill, which we didn't get a chance to use. But that would be a lot of fun on a longer stay!
But my favorite part of this patio is that the gate (the white gate in the picture below) opens right out to the street, so we were able to park our beach wagon back here and just pop it out the gate when we were headed to the beach! There's even a garden hose to rinse the sand off of everything.
This is also where you'll find the washer and dryer, which are a stackable set inside the outdoor closet. There was a big warning note posted saying that it can't handle sand (seems like it should) and that the dryer may leave black streaks behind. I used them anyway for a few loads of towels, and didn't see any problems. I didn't risk any nice clothes though. Lol.
What's in the kitchen?
Alright, if you're planning to stay here for an extended time, you will want to cook. So you're wondering what's inside all those drawers and cabinets, right? You're in luck - I took pictures of everything!
In general, there was an assortment of pots, pans, cooking utensils, and baking sheets for cooking. There were plenty of dishes and drinkware, including wine glasses. There was even a blender, if you want to mix up some frozen cocktails.
There were limited kitchen towels - two dish towels, two dish rags, and a set of potholders. But there is a washer and dryer, and there were also some paper towels, so this seemed sufficient to me.
What else is provided and what do I need to bring?
Alright, this is always the big question with these vacation rentals. It's hard to know what will be provided in terms of towels, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. Some places are super generous in regards to what they supply, and some are super stingy. And it's rarely clear which type you're walking into until you arrive. ;)
So I will say that this place was sort of in the middle, providing what I would call "starter supplies". Here's a quick rundown on what was given.
Towels - There were two hand towels, four bath towels and four wash cloths. Personally, I find that to be pretty stingy, especially since the place sleeps 6 guests. Perhaps they stocked it lower since there were three of us? But I didn't pay half price.... We ended up washing towels twice. Towels are always a hot topic on the vacation rental forums!
Pool/Beach Towels - There were four beach towels provided. Again, why not six? But we had packed our own, so we had enough in total. I always like to pack along these lightweight Turkish towels for the beach, because the are super easy to pack and dry really quickly.
Kitchen Necessities: We were provided with one roll of paper towels and two trash bags. Yes, two trash bags. Haha. There was also a little kitchen kit, which had a sponge, a small dish soap, and two dishwasher pods. I thought that was very nice and helpful. But I think if you want people to keep things nice and tidy, you should make sure there are ample trash bags and cleaning supplies. If you're staying longer, you may need to bring some additional dishwasher pods and paper towels. And definitely pack trash bags.
Laundry Necessities: There were also two laundry detergent pods in the kitchen kit, plus some extras that weren't used up from previous guests. So we didn't need any more. If you plan to do a lot of laundry, pack a few more pods or some laundry detergent sheets (even more convenient!).
Toiletries: There were three packets of travel sized toiletries in the bathroom. I prefer to use my own, but the boys used the freebies and it was more than enough for them. For a longer stay, you'll need to pack your own toiletries. But there were only two rolls of toilet paper! Be sure to pack more for a longer stay!
The good news? There's a convenience store right across the street, which has pretty much anything you could need (or forget to pack). So it's very simple to run over and stock up on necessities without making a big Publix run.
The Pool & Beach Setup
The pool area is small but cute, and plenty large enough for the small number of condo units that share the space. There were some tables and chairs surrounding the pool where you could relax, and some communal floats and noodles available for sharing.
It was never busy, and I don't think I saw more than one other family using it the whole time we stayed. It was great for cooling off after the beach!
There's also a small common area out back, where you can find a stash of communal beach toys, some beach chairs, and even a cornhole set.
There were actually two beach chairs already hanging by our front door when we arrived, which I assume were pulled from the communal stack. But they were in rough shape so we just hung them back up and used the ones we had brought along.
If you're not local enough to haul chairs down yourself, I would suggest taking a look at what's available on your arrival, and then deciding whether you need to buy a cheap set for your trip. You can also rent a set at the AMI Beach Hut shop across the street. (If you're really feeling fancy, Beach Concierge on the island will also come set your whole beach day up for you, so you don't need to haul anything at all.)
If you are local enough to pack your own beach gear, you should do what we did and bring a beach wagon as well. We loaded it with our chairs and our small shade tent, and then just parked it on the back patio for easy grabbing.
There were also not any kind of coolers or ice packs in the unit, so you will want to bring those as well. I brought along a small, soft sided cooler, which is easy enough to pack.
I do think this place would benefit from just supplying a nice set of beach gear that stays with the unit, similar to what was offered up at Ringling Beach House in Siesta Key. That would be a worthwhile upgrade!
The Check-Out Chore Chart
I will first mention that the check out time is 10:00AM! That is an early checkout time, and they already have a pretty late check-in time of 4:00PM. So while that worked okay for us as semi-locals driving in, it's worth considering if you need work around a flight schedule.
Now, I'll be honest - I don't love being handed departure chores as a paying guest. This is one of the reasons we don't use Airbnb very much, as some of the requests have gotten out of hand, to the point of becoming an internet meme.
For this particular unit, we were asked to strip the beds, wash the dishes, take out the trash, and adjust the AC before departure. I think they should definitely be having the cleaning service take care of the bed linens. The other items are reasonable to me, as we wouldn't leave behind trash and dirty dishes anyway. But I did like the place, so I did my chores without complaint. ;)
Reserved Parking
Here's a big win: the unit comes with two reserved parking spots. On an island where parking can be a real headache, this is a huge upside and shouldn't be undersold. Our parking spot was literally closer to the beach than the actual parking lot for the beach.
Was Sand n' Sea Worth It?
For us, yes! The location alone makes it worth staying here, especially if you want to walk everywhere and don't mind a busier stretch of beach.
This was one of the more relaxing beach stays we've had in a while. The ability to just walk out to the beautiful beach at anytime, without needing to beat the crowds to get a chair like the big resorts, was just wonderful. We also really enjoyed the town itself, which had some really great food and great beach vibes.
The only real downsides were minor things. The check-in and check-out times were not ideal, the place was a bit understocked, and the mattresses really need to be replaced. But all-in-all, those are small things and wouldn't stop me from booking again.
Ready to book? You can check current rates and availability for Sand n' Sea Beach Flats, Unit 109A here.
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