Bradenton Beach and City
Bradenton Beach
Bradenton is the seat of Manatee County with a census of about 1000 people. The city is on the mainland and connected by the Cortez Bridge to its beach town called Bradenton Beach.
The public beach on AMI was called Cortez Beach until The Bradenton Herald, a local newspaper, started referring to it as Bradenton Beach possibly to distinguish it from Cortez which is a village on the mainland. The name stuck. It may
Bradenton is the seat of Manatee County with a census of about 1000 people. The city is on the mainland and connected by the Cortez Bridge to its beach town called Bradenton Beach.
The public beach on AMI was called Cortez Beach until The Bradenton Herald, a local newspaper, started referring to it as Bradenton Beach possibly to distinguish it from Cortez which is a village on the mainland. The name stuck. It may
Photo by Irina, 5/2019 on TripAdvisor
be a better option for parking availability if Coquina Beach’s lots are full on market days. The beach is open from 6:00am–12:00am daily, there are rest rooms, picnic tables, water fountains, and benches.
Bradenton Beach has a cool town center, shown below, on Historic Bridge Street. It is pretty touristy, with ice cream shops, souvenir shops and small restaurants. Here’s a listing of the vendors in the downtown area.
Photo from TheWaterfrontRestaurant.net
There’s a museum with a historic jail, along with shops and restaurants, of course. Here’s some ideas for things to visit, like the famous Sandbar Restaurant right on the beach.
There’s a museum with a historic jail, along with shops and restaurants, of course. Here’s some ideas for things to visit, like the famous Sandbar Restaurant right on the beach.
Bradenton City
It might be worth crossing over to the mainland to visit the The Downtown Bradenton Market which happens on Saturdays 9am–2pm October through May. Typically there will be over 100 vendors along with live music. There is a two-day Formula-2 Powerboat Superleague Racing event every February, and holidays feature block parties.
Photo: BuyTheSunCoast.com
Photo: DiscoverBradenton.com
Photo: DiscoverBradenton.com
There is a Mattison’s restaurant there, like in the downtown center of Sarasota, on the Riverwalk which is pictured above, to the right. On the first Friday and Saturday of the month visit the Art Walk. Mileage Mike made a half-hour dash cam video driving over the Cortez bridge into Bradenton City on the mainland. It’s more interesting than his ride through Holmes Beach.
Coming back to AMI, and continuing on southwards, we come to Coquina Beach, described in the next section.
