White sand, warm Gulf water and a west-facing beach that turns on a show every evening — Clearwater Beach, on Florida's Gulf Coast, is the kind of place where you could do nothing at all and still have a great trip. But according to a recent guide from Destinationless Travel, you'd be missing out if you never left your beach chair.

The obvious headline act is the water. Parasailing is the site's top pick: a little over an hour overall, with roughly 10 minutes airborne above the Gulf at heights from 800 to 1,200 feet (244-366 metres). First-timers are talked through everything, nervous flyers can opt for the lower flight, and non-flyers can tag along with an observer ticket. Dolphins regularly appear in the water below — and around Clearwater in general.

For a proper half-day out, a private four-hour boat tour takes groups of up to six to Caladesi Island (boat-access only, so blissfully quiet), Honeymoon Island with its four miles of beach and a rare virgin slash pine forest trail, and Three Rooker Island, a young sandbar made for swimming and shell-hunting. The captain shapes the route around your group, dolphins or beach bars included.

Cheaper thrills come aboard the Sea Screamer, a 73-foot (22-metre) speedboat that tops 20 knots chasing dolphins through Clearwater Harbor and out into the Gulf. It's a one-hour trip, family-friendly, and yes — sit at the back and you will get splashed. Drinks are sold on board.

Back on land, Pier 60 is the beach's social heart. Every evening from about 4 pm to 8 pm, Sunsets at Pier 60 brings artists' stalls, buskers and street performers, all building up to the main event: the sun dropping straight into the Gulf. It's free, requires zero booking, and restaurants are steps away for afterwards.

Rainy-day or animal-lover option: the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a working rescue hospital, not a conventional aquarium. Rescued dolphins (viewable through underwater windows), sea turtles, otters and stingrays live here, and adult admission runs around $42 — money that funds the rescue work.

Two trips slightly further afield round out the list. A two-hour guided kayak tour out of Tarpon Springs, 15-odd minutes north, paddles the Anclote River past mangroves where dolphins, manatees, stingrays and bald eagles live, with the town's historic Greek sponge docks along the route. Back near Dunedin, the ParrotDise Express runs 2.5-hour dolphin cruises with beer, wine, sangria and rum punch included, including a sunset departure.

And if the weather or the crowd needs escaping: 90 minutes of instructor-led axe throwing at Hatchet Hangout in downtown Clearwater. Unexpected, but apparently a hit.

Practical notes worth knowing: skip the rental car — traffic is heavy, parking scarce, and the local trolley plus Uber cover you fine. Arrive early on beach days, since chairs and umbrellas are first-come, first-served. And if you're travelling in March or early April, expect Spring Break crowds. It's a family-friendly scene compared to Florida's wilder party towns, just a busy one.

A sensible three-day rhythm, per the guide: beach plus a dolphin cruise on day one, Dunedin and a boat trip on day two, then the aquarium and a clear-kayak paddle on day three — sunsets at Pier 60 woven through it all.