Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa is about a 30-45 minute drive to Clearwater beaches. Downtown is nice but pricey for hotels. North side area around Wiregrass Mall and Tampa Outlet Mall has newer hotels like Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, Hyatt that are probably cheaper. About 25 min to Amalie from those places. Ybor is the big bar area about 10 min from Amalie and there is a trolley system between Amalie and Ybor.