Once Upon A Beach Vacation Rentals in Bradenton, Florida

“We stayed for memorial weekend to celebrate my wife's graduation and a couple of family birthdays. The location is very close to Anna Maria Island and easy to access. The condo is very spacious and gave us that beach vibe that we were hoping for. We have stayed in this location before but at a different apartment so we did have some previous expectations that we mostly met. Definitely recommend for a small family that's looking for a vacation get away.”

“Very well maintained condo and community with all that was needed for our stay.”

“Gorgeous condo! The whole complex is postcard worthy. This condo is beautifully decorated and has everything you would need. Everything was high end and thoughtfully laid out!”

“The unit was beautiful and exactly as it was described. We have a great trip and enjoyed the location. We did a lot of walking into the local reserves. Close drive to the beach.”

“Very nice, spacious, quiet, and clean condo. The main beds in each room were very comfortable with the memory foam toppers and the pull out bed (ottoman) in the 2nd bedroom is VERY comfortable...per my daughter. We brought an AeroBed to put on top, just in case and didn't need it. The kitchen is gigantic with a great fridge, prep area, small bar (with Margarita machine), and a lot of utensils.   One thing it needed...a pizza pan (big home-made pizza fans here) and a measuring cup.  Otherwise, it was great and has everything you need.  Has seating room for 4 at the island/prep/sink/dishwasher area.  Also had a Keurig and regular coffee pot.  Over/under washer-dryer combo is in a closet between the kitchen and door.  You will need high efficiency detergent. BIG living room with all of the above, but indoors.  Cool, blue "weatherd" decor motif.  We didn't turn on a TV while we were there but it looked like there were movies (and games) in the cabinet. Large, mosquito proof screened, patio was very nice with a couch, coffee table, 2 chairs with a side table, a dinner table for 6, and a nice fan.  2 large outdoor carpets were a nice touch. If you are traveling with a pet, there are (at least) 2 nice doggy "potty" areas on either side of the cluster of units.  Very pet friendly property and we had no issues with barking or aggressive dogs or owners...mine was probably, and embarrassingly, the worst (first trip...she got better as the week went along). There are a huge amount of nearby beaches a short ride away.  There is a very small, dog friendly beach at de Soto to the South, and a larger one (with a nice dog park) at Fort de Soto park (tolls and pay-to-enter) to the North.  Anna Maria itself has no dog friendly beaches. Everyone we talked to during our entire trip were very friendly and helpful. I want to say, any perceived "negative" comments are net to be meant taken that way and are just "FYI items" to make future guests more prepared and are not the fault of the hosts at all.  Our hosts always responded very quickly and politely and I would definitely visit them again. Arrival Instructions were confusing to me.   There was only one sign, that I saw, per the instructions to "Follow signs to 'One Particular Harbour'."  I got caught caught in Floridays Restaurant traffic, as it was later in the evening, driving a big truck with a bike rack and had to turn around several times to find our entrance.  Just make sure you look closely on your google maps beforehand to see where you need to go.  The One Particular Harbour  is to the NW of the larger entrance as you turn off of Manatee. Only 1 key fob is provided to get into the property,  pool, playground, take out the trash (also need the fob to open the compactor which is located outside the gate), etc. The key fob would randomly not let us into pool area...I'm not sure why and it could have been "user error." With one fob, it does take some planning if you want to split up for the day. That's not unususal, and Condo Association rules. The outlets are odd.  There is a wall switch to activate some of the top plug-ins on some of the wall outlets, but bottom ones work all of the time...I think.  I got them all working and just didn't touch them again. We originally booked for 7 nights, the added on a night later.  When we returned from the beach the evening of our 8th night the door code had been changed and we couldn't get in.  Nikki and Mike responded very promptly, especially it being around 8:00 on a Saturday night, and fixed the issue. Finally, as we were leaving on Sunday morning, we were greeted by a member of the cleaning staff as I had just exited the elevator and had a half-gallon glass bottle fall off the cart and break.  She was AWESOME!  She ran to get a dust pan, while I was picking up the larger pieces, and she called maintenance so they could bring a shop-vac to get the smaller shards so no one would cut themselves.  Nikki and Mike...shout out to you cleaning crew! All that being said, 5 star condo, and hosts, with the positive outweighing the negative 1,000,000/1.”