Sarasota is a popular city on the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida. It is known for its vibrant arts community, excellent restaurants, unique shopping, and beautiful beaches. Sarasota, although a mid-sized city, is considered to be the cultural center of West Central Florida. The city has a metropolitan flavor unique to cities of its size and to cities in Florida.
The Asolo Theater, Florida West Coast Symphony, Sarasota Opera, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and frequent art shows add to the cultural theme of the city, rivaling the facilities of Florida's largest cities. Sarasota is also home to the Ringling Museum of Art, the Selby Botanical Gardens, New College (Florida's public honors college), a USF branch, and the Ringling School of Art and Design. Sarasota's downtown cityscape features office buildings and several upscale downtown condominiums. It is complemented by Saint Armands Circle, on Saint Armands Key, which is surrounded by Lido Key, across Sarasota Bay from downtown via the Ringling Causeway (with sweeping views of Sarasota Bay).
The city includes the mainland downtown as well as three islands, called "keys." These are Longboat Key, Lido Key, and Siesta Key. Causeways to all these keys are free and very picturesque. Downtown Sarasota is very vibrant with a healthy mix of businesses, residences, restaurants, and city services.
1 Sarasota Jungle Gardens, 3701 Bay Shore Rd, ☏ +1 941-355-5305. 10AM-5PM. There are 4 shows at the gardens in addition to the grounds which are filled with many interesting plants. As with most early attractions, they offer some animal shows and a chance to see some rare plants, many of which are of extraordinary size. This attraction is a rare opportunity to see what Florida was like in the tourist boom of the early 1900s. $18/adult, $17/senior, $13/child. (updated Mar 2016) The Ringling Estate, 5401 Bay Shore Road, ☏ +1 941-359-5700. 10AM-5PM.
1 Siesta Key Beach. Siesta Key Beach is among the first and foremost reasons for many visitors to come to Sarasota. The sand, which is 99% pure crystal quartz, is often cited as being the cleanest, whitest sand in the world. With an athletic area equipped with volleyball courts, a cookout area complete with grills (bring your own charcoal), and life guards on duty all day, Siesta Key Beach is a great place for families and spring breakers alike. On Sundays at sundown, there is a tourist-heavy drum circle where local hippies play and everyone dances. 2 Historic Spanish Point, 337 N. Tamiami Trail, ☏ +1 941-366-5731. Open to the general public from M-Sa 9AM-5PM, Su noon to 5PM.
1 The Breakfast House, 1817 Fruitville Road, ☏ +1 941-366-6860. Breakfast and lunch. 2 Cafe Amici, 1371 Main St, ☏ +1 941-951-6896. 3 Cafe Epicure, 1298 N Palm Ave, ☏ +1 941-366-5648. Italian upscale casual. 4 Columbia Restaurant, 411 St. Armands Circle, ☏ +1 941-388-3987. Cuban-American food. 5 DaRuMa Restaurant, 5459 Fruitville Road, ☏ +1 941 342-6600. Japanese steakhouse and seafood 6 Main Street Bar and Sandwich Shop, 1944 Main Street, ☏ +1 941-955-8733. 7 Mattison's City Grill, 1 North Lemon Avenue, ☏ +1 941-330-0440. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. An open-air but covered restaurant and bar with live music, on the corner of Main and Lemon downtown.
1 8-ball lounge, 3527 Webber St, ☏ +1 941 922-8314. 2 Cha Cha Coconuts Tropical Bar, 417 St. Armands Circle, ☏ +1 941 388-3300. 3 Gator Club, 1490 Main St, ☏ +1 941-366-5969. Popular bar and nightclub with entertainment nightly. 4 Raffurty's Bar and Grill (formerly known as Urban Reef), 1888 Main St, ☏ +1 941-260-5285. Sports bar with upstairs area and occasional bands, jazz, flamenco, lounge, and performers. Late nite bar menu. 5 Smokin' Joes, 1448 Main Street, ☏ +1 941-366-9439, info@smokinjoespub.com. M-Sa 9AM-2AM, Su 10AM-2AM. Popular Downtown Sarasota bar. Full liquor with large selection of beer on tap. Over 15 televisions for any sport. Cigar humidor.
Sarasota is a rather safe city, although regular precautions should be taken just to be safe. The only real place a tourist should avoid is Newtown. Located right near downtown, Newtown is rather small and is normally fine to drive through during the day. However vigilance is required if traveling through Newtown at night. There is a nice downtown park at the Five Points intersection of Main Street,Pineapple and Central Avenues. Some homeless people congregate there but there is a city ordinance against panhandling and sleeping outdoors. The northern end of Tamiami Trail near University Parkway is also known for run-down motels and some prostitution arrests.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Aug, Sarasota typically sees ~30°C daytime highs and 24 rainy days.
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