36 Hours
36 Hours in Sarasota, Fla.
Often overlooked in favor of Tampa to the north and Miami to the south, Sarasota, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, is a laid-back city that seems content to keep its white-sand beaches out of the spotlight. The city of 55,000 has long been home to the Ringling museum complex, set on a picturesque bay, where visitors can find artworks by Peter Paul Rubens, Titian and El Greco, and a circus museum. There’s plenty for nature lovers, too: Spot alligators, manatees and dolphins; meander beneath stately banyan trees; and take a kayak for a spin through the wild mangroves. These days, the city is abuzz with developments, including an expansion of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and the opening of a 1920s house-museum in Newtown, the city’s historic Black district.
Recommendations
- Siesta Beach, the pride and joy of locals, offers miles of soft sand that’s great to lounge or stroll on, as well as expansive views of the Gulf.
- The Ringling is a complex of museums and gardens where visitors can discover such delights as a 3,800-square-foot model of an early 20th-century circus.
- Meliora captures the high-low spirit of Sarasota with unfussy decor and sophisticated seafood dishes.
- Kayak tours from Kayaking SRQ and Liquid Blue Outfitters take visitors through mangroves and Sarasota Bay, providing the chance to spot dolphins, manatees, starfish, crabs and more.
- At Myakka River State Park, a kayak rental will get you up close and personal with alligators.
- Newtown Alive offers trolley tours that trace the struggles and successes of residents of Sarasota’s historic Black neighborhood.
- Leonard Reid House is a new museum in Newtown that was once the home of one of the city’s first Black settlers.
- Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has a new gallery with living specimens from the Gardens’ collection of 35,000 preserved plants, a conservatory with displays of flowering orchids and walkways shaded by banyans, ficus and mangroves.
- Lakewood Ranch Farmers’ Market offers live music, food stands and various events for kids, like arts and crafts or storytelling.
- Shack, a popular fitness studio, runs jam-packed yoga and pilates classes.
- Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar is a seafood lover’s paradise, with peel-and-eat shrimp, lobster tails, calamari, oysters and, for those inclined, fried gator.
- Project Coffee, a vegan cafe with several locations in Sarasota, has a menu that adds a little fun to brunch classics, like a frozen açaí bowl with cornflakes and black-sesame crumble.
- Sage, a restaurant inside a historic 1926 building that once housed the Sarasota Times newspaper, has a swanky rooftop bar with live music on Fridays.
- Siesta Key Oyster Bar has festive cocktails and live music nightly.
- Gilligan’s Island Bar has a loungey backyard with swings; pop, disco and reggaeton tunes set a dancey vibe.
- The Resort at Longboat Key, renovated in 2020, sits on 410 acres of land on a barrier island off Sarasota. Besides a private beach, the hotel has its own golf course, tennis gardens and a spa. Rooms start at $999 a night.
- Kompose Hotel, near the airport, allows guests to book a room at a base price and pay for customizations, like use of the pool and jacuzzi ($5 per day), or the Peloton bike ($10 per hour); a sauna session ($35 per person); or accommodating a dog ($75 per stay). Rooms start at $250.
- Timberline Glamping Co. offers luxury tents in Oscar Scherer State Park equipped with linens, rugs, lamps, electric outlets, heating or air-conditioning, mini fridges and Keurig coffee makers. The site provides hammocks, a charcoal grill, a wood fire pit and a picnic table. There’s a shared bathhouse with toilets and showers. Tents from $169.
- For short-term rentals, look in the Alta Vista or Laurel Park neighborhoods for proximity to Sarasota’s downtown at reasonable prices. Rentals on Siesta Key, a barrier island connected to Sarasota by two bridges, are more expensive, but offer easy beach access, free trolley service and small town charm.
- The best way to get around Sarasota is by car, whether it's a rental or via ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft. An on-demand ridesharing service called Breeze OnDemand runs in downtown Sarasota, on Siesta Key, on Longboat Key and on Lido Key, and costs $2 per person; book through the app. Free trolleys run along Siesta Key and Lido Key, and between Lido Key and downtown Sarasota. Track the Lido Key trolleys with the Bay Runner app. The Siesta Key Breeze trolley runs approximately every half hour.
Itinerary
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