The place file / Gulf Coast
Dunedin,
Florida
Named for Edinburgh by two Scots in 1882.
The Blue Jays have trained here every spring since 1977.
Salty Seniors place guide
Could I live here?The draw
February in shirtsleeves
The catch
Hurricane season, and the insurance
The question
Six months a year, or all twelve?
A Scottish town with a Toronto ball club
Dunedin got its name in 1882 from two Scottish merchants who wanted a post office and called it after Edinburgh. The city has kept up its end. There is a Highland Games every spring. The high school has a pipe band. So does the city.
The Toronto Blue Jays have trained here every spring since 1977 and have never trained anywhere else. In 2021, with the border closed, they played 21 regular-season home games in the local ballpark, which seats 8,500.
Downtown is small, flat and walkable. A rail trail runs through the middle of it, golf carts are allowed on most of its streets, and the oldest craft brewery in Florida is around the corner.
Offshore is Honeymoon Island, the busiest state park in Florida. It was Hog Island until 1939, when a New Yorker built fifty thatched huts on it and ran a contest in Life magazine to fill them with newlyweds.
Now the catch. Hurricanes Helene and Milton came through two weeks apart in 2024. The park was closed for two months, and parts of it for much longer. Near the water this is a flood zone, and the insurance is priced accordingly.
The honeymoon huts had no electricity and no plumbing. More than 200 couples applied.
What stays open year-round?
All of it. Dunedin is a city of 36,000, not a seasonal resort. What changes is the crowd. From November to April the snowbirds arrive and the wait for a table gets longer. By August you can park anywhere, for reasons that become clear when you get out of the car.
What will summer ask of you?
Air conditioning and a plan. June to September sits in the low 30s with humidity to match and a thunderstorm most afternoons. Hurricane season runs from June through November. In 2024 Helene and Milton arrived two weeks apart. Ask about flood zones and insurance before you ask about the view.
How close is the care you need?
Very. Mease Dunedin Hospital is in town with a 24-hour emergency room, and the rest of Tampa Bay’s hospitals are within half an hour. For Canadians the question is who pays. Provincial plans cover a small part of an American hospital bill, so travel medical insurance is not optional.
Could you live without a car?
Downtown, more or less. The Pinellas Trail runs through the middle of it, and golf carts are legal on streets posted at 30 miles an hour or less, which covers most of the centre. Past that it is Florida, with six-lane roads and long distances. Most people keep a car.
What does a house cost?
A typical house sold for somewhere between US$350,000 and US$415,000 in 2026, depending on who was measuring. The median age is 56.7 and a third of residents are over 65. From January to April, expect a lot of Ontario licence plates.
Coming from Canada?
Tampa’s airport is about half an hour away. Canadians can generally stay up to six months in any twelve as visitors. If you drive down and stay 30 days or more, you now have to register with the U.S. government, unless you were given an I-94 at the border. Check how long your province lets you be away before your health coverage lapses.
