Bridgewalk, a Landmark Resort

A Key West-Style Resort on Historic Bridge Street

BridgeWalk sits on Bradenton Beach's Bridge Street, the historic stretch that once carried visitors onto Anna Maria Island across a wooden plank bridge, with the Bradenton Beach Fishing Pier and Clock Tower at one end and the beach itself at the other. The resort spreads across three Key West-style buildings, Royal Palm, Sabal Palm and Queen Palm, each with screened verandahs and a slightly different mix of studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom townhomes. It is a resort built to sit inside a neighbourhood rather than beside one, with retail shops and restaurants woven into the same stretch of street rather than set apart from it.

Why It Works

We chose BridgeWalk because it gets the fundamentals of a beach stay right at a scale most resorts do not bother with: most rooms run well over eight hundred square feet, not counting the verandah, with tile floors, granite countertops and a Jacuzzi tub in nearly every unit. That is real space to spread out in, on an island where plenty of competing properties pack guests into standard hotel footprints, and the Key West styling gives the whole resort a consistent, unforced identity rather than a theme applied after the fact.

Why This Location

Bridge Street is Bradenton Beach's own historic commercial strip, with seven restaurants within steps of BridgeWalk's door and a free island trolley reaching the rest of Anna Maria Island's eateries beyond that. The pier and clock tower anchor one end of the street and the beach the other, so a stay here puts both the town's social centre and its sand within an easy walk, without needing a car for either errand.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Key West-style, roomy, pedestrian

• Rooms: Studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom townhomes, most over 800 square feet with screened verandahs

• Best For: Families wanting real space on Anna Maria Island, travellers who want Bridge Street's restaurants and pier on foot

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Rooms over eight hundred square feet with granite counters and a Jacuzzi tub in nearly every unit

• Dining: Island Time Bar & Grill on site, with seven more restaurants within steps on Bridge Street

• Amenities: Heated outdoor pool, SeaRenity Spa, complimentary beach towels, chairs and umbrellas, daily maid service

• Attractions: Bradenton Beach Fishing Pier and Clock Tower, Bridge Street's shops and restaurants, the beach at the other end of the street

Rooms Built With Room to Spare

Across the three buildings, BridgeWalk's accommodations favour space over density: two-bedroom townhomes and studio aparto units with full kitchens in the Royal Palm building, west-facing one-bedroom units in Sabal Palm, and studio suites in Queen Palm. Nearly every room carries a Jacuzzi tub alongside its tile floors and granite counters, and the screened verandahs extend that space outdoors, a feature plenty of beach resorts promise but few actually deliver at this size or with this much consistency.

Island Time Bar & Grill and SeaRenity Spa

On-site dining runs through Island Time Bar & Grill, a restaurant and bar that saves a trip off the property for a casual meal, and SeaRenity Spa covers massages and facials for a day built around doing nothing at all. Between the pool, the bar and the spa, BridgeWalk works as a self-contained stay even before Bridge Street's own restaurants and shops come into the picture at all.

Bridge Street Itself

The street BridgeWalk takes its name from is as much a part of the stay as the resort, lined with retail stores, restaurants and the pier at one end, with bike and Segway rentals, parasailing and putt-putt golf available nearby for anyone who wants more than the beach and the pool to fill a day.