The Resort at Longboat Key Club

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Your Guide to Sarasota, Florida

 

 

Top Landmarks

 

 

Siesta Key Beach

Coastal expert “Dr. Beach” has named this little piece of paradise the top beach in America for several years, and for good reason: the quartz-crystal sand remains cool beneath your feet–even in the tropical heat. There are also plenty of kids’ playgrounds, nearby eateries, free parking spots, and a newly renovated Sarasota School of Architecture. Check out the spots made famous by MTV, and stick around on Sunday evenings for the entertaining drum circles.

 

 

 

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

This 66-acre estate is actually a five-ring circus, consisting of the State Art Museum of Florida, the Circus Museum, Ca’ d’Zan (a palatial mansion designed in a dazzling, Venetian Gothic style), the Bayfront Gardens, and the Asolo Repertory Theatre. But the star attraction is the Circus Museum, filled with a 44,000-piece circus model, costumes, parade wagons, posters, the performer-shooting cannon and the Ringlings’ restored private railcar.

 

 

Sarasota Classic Car Museum

Whether you’re into Alfa Romeos or more of a Ferrari fan, you’ll find more than 75 amazing vehicles at this shrine to the automobile. Self-guided tours are a great way to linger and peruse the one-of-a-kind classics before swinging by the gift shop to pick up miniature mementos.

 

 

Mall at University Town Center

Showcasing more than 100 stores and 20 restaurants, University Town Center (UTC) is a world-class destination attracting shoppers, diners, art lovers, and community members to this spacious place. From Saks and Macy’s to Dillard’s and Lululemon, it has everyone covered.

 

 

Most Popular Things to Do

 

 

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Split between the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus and the 15-acre site in downtown Sarasota, the Selby Gardens was founded by women to celebrate, showcase and study the area’s tropical plants and archeological history. Head to the downtown site to immerse yourself in an array of orchids, bromeliads, and ferns.

 

 

Shopping, Dining, and Gallery Hopping at St. Armand’s Circle 

In addition to UTC, Sarasota teems with retail opportunities, including St. Armand’s Circle, which is an island shopping center featuring Alexander Fine Jewelers, Alvin’s Island souvenir store, the Met Day Spa, Les Ciseaux salon and Michael Saunders & Co. real estate, among other fine and fun destinations. Top dining spots on St. Armand’s include Cafe L’Europe, Tommy Bahama, Columbia, and Crab & Fin. Sports fans will love the poster selection at Stadium Gallery, while Wyland Gallery is the place for tropical art and much more.

 

Downtown Sarasota

The up-and-coming Rosemary District is also well worth a visit, thanks to its beautiful location and inspiring selection of unique boutiques, galleries, and eateries. And don’t miss the Sarasota Farmers Market, which takes place every Saturday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. in downtown Sarasota, luring visitors to dozens of vendors selling everything from apples to zebra-striped prints.

 

Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium

Visitors at this multifaceted facility can see more than 100 marine species, including sea turtles, sharks and manatees while peering in on some of the world’s top research. Check out the open water Shark Zone, ogle the otters, and hop on a boat for an eco tour of the area.

 

 

 

Kayaking Mangrove Tunnels

Imagine gliding underneath archways of mangroves, fiddler crabs and fish just inches away from your kayak–and it’s so quiet you feel like you can hear every Florida creature. This is what it’s like to partake in one of Sarasota’s top adventures, offered in kayaks or on stand-up paddleboards in Lido Key.

 

 

Spring Training

The Atlanta Braves and the Baltimore Orioles call Sarasota their winter home. Discover “Birdland South” at Ed Smith Stadium, or watch the Braves at Wellen Park.

 

Kiteboarding

Sarasota’s shallow waters and sandy areas create near-perfect conditions for kiteboarders, who flock to the Skyway Bridge to practice their craft. Elite Waterports offers lessons, rentals, and everything else you need to take flight.

 

Best Restaurants

Obviously no trip here is complete without eating your way through the signature restaurants of each Sarasota Opal resort, like Portofino Ristorante & Bar at The Resort at Longboat Key Club, but if you decide you want to venture off property and into town for a bite – here are our local favorites.

 

 

It’s a “shore” thing when you dine at this fine al fresco restaurant, known for its Key West shrimp, Scallops Risotto, and refreshing cocktails that mimic the colors of the setting sun. You can shop for Shore clothes to match the décor, or simply kick back with a plate of crab cakes and kung-pao calamari during happy hour. Dig into your Pan Seared Local Snapper alongside a refreshing sea breeze in their open-air dining space in Sarasota or stop by their most recent expansion on Longboat Key.

 

 

 

Owen’s Fish Camp

Old Florida—full of banyan trees, tire swings, and photos of real-life fish stories—is preserved at Owen’s Fish Camp, one of Sarasota’s best spots for Southern hospitality as sweet as the fried black-cherry pie. Choose your fish, your sauce, and your sides, and let the chefs work their magic.

 

 

Orange Octopus

This ice cream shop on Siesta Key serves 24 flavors slow-churned right in the store, swirling real bourbon into its Kentucky honey bourbon, crumbling homemade key lime pie into the Key Lime Pie treat, and baking fresh brownies for the Ooey Gooey Brownie. The only ingredient missing: Superman, for the eponymous flavor that will send you flying on a sugar high.

 

 

Local’s Favorites

 

 

Myakka River State Park

Flowing 58 square miles through one of the oldest preserved patches of Florida wilderness, the Myakka River is home to alligators, osprey, turtles and limpkins. Hop on a bike, or lace up your hiking shoes to explore this fascinating piece of the Sunshine State’s wildest side.

 

 

Pinecraft Amish Community

The picture-perfect postcard town of Pinecraft draws Amish residents looking to escape the northern cold in winter, and also day visitors who delight in strolling among the parks and the Amish restaurants, famous for their made-from-scratch pies.

 

 

Big Cat Habitat

Yoga with tigers? Yep, it happens at Big Cat Habitat, a large-animal rescue center founded in 1987 and now home to lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, and birds. Look online for yoga class times as well as the schedules for bird shows and live animal demos.

 

 

Nathan Benderson Park

You can row, row, row your boat, among other activities, at this 600-acre community park, which includes a 2,000-meter spring rowing course and regatta center, one of the best venues of its kind in North America. You’ll also find yoga, Zumba, dragon-boat races, and simple relaxation at Nathan Benderson Park.

 

 

PopStroke

Mini-golf gets an upgrade when Tiger Woods and his team design two 18-hole courses with all the high-end features of a traditional golf course: bunkers, lush fairways and synthetic turfs. Discover this brand-new venue at University Town Center.

 

Serene white-sand beaches, an abundance of outdoor adventures to be had, and plenty of wildlife to encounter, Sarasota can be your stepping stone to experience some of Florida’s finest.

 

Anna Maria Island is a charming slice of Florida living, thanks to the quaint restaurants and boutiques that line Pine Avenue.

 

Located 30-minutes north of The Resort at Longboat Key Club, sits Anna Maria Island, recently voted the #2 “most charming small town in Florida,” according to Travel + Leisure. According to the experts, it isn’t just the beaches that make the little town so great (though they are definitely a plus), it’s the combination of the beaches and the shops, galleries, and restaurants visitors can check out on their stroll down Pine Avenue.

 

 

Get the Anna Maria Island Look at Pink and Navy

This Pine Ave boutique offers a romantic take on traditional beachwear. Imagine flowing floral dresses and effortlessly cool linen two-piece sets. While the shop focuses on women’s clothing, there are sections for both men and children. After one visit, the whole family will be stepping out in true Florida fashion.

 

 

Anna Maria Island City Pier

For a taste of old-school Florida, visit the pier, which was once the landing site for ferries full of day-trippers. Now, it tends to be quieter. Rather than crowds of visitors, there are always a handful of fishermen casting their lines over the side and families walking to the souvenir shop at the end of the pier for an ice cream cone and to look out at the view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the distance.

 

 

Add a Piece to Your Art Collection at The Studio at Gulf and Pine

Tired of the same cheap touristy souvenirs? Check out the artworks hanging at The Studio at Gulf and Pine. The walls are covered in an eclectic array of styles with one commonality: All of the artwork has been created by artists who call AMI home. Find a quality keepsake in a photo print by Rusty Chinnis or a moody, atmospheric landscape by Charles Townsend.

 

 

Historical Society

Over the years, the Historical Society building has been an icehouse, automotive garage, and sea turtle hatchery. Now, the exhibits in the museum cover everything from the first settlers of the island to the area’s long history as a haven for MLB players like Yankee’s first baseman Earl Torgeson, who bought a home on the island after visiting during spring training. The museum also offers biking and walking tours around AMI as well as tours of the historic Belle Haven cottage.

 

 

The Donut Experiment

Everyone is familiar with the concept of a coffee and a donut. But, what if your morning sweet treat was made right before your eyes and to your specifications? That was the idea behind the Donut Experiment. The steps are simple: Pick from one of six frosting flavors; pick a topping, like Fruity Pebbles, bacon, or cinnamon sugar; pick your drizzle, and let the maestros behind the counter work their magic. The restaurant has become so popular, they are popping up across the US, but the company will always think of Anna Maria Island as home.

 

Above © The League Collective, @leaguetravels

More than just a paradise for gourmets and shopaholics, St. Armands Key – and its respective popular tourist spot of St. Armands Circle – is home to some interesting history.

 

Home to more than 140 upscale boutiques, award-winning restaurants, posh art galleries, and more in an open-air European-inspired setting, St. Armands Circle is said to be the jewel of Sarasota. But there’s more to this barrier island destination – which sits adjacent to Lido Key and is connected to the mainland by the John Ringling Causeway – than just a sophisticated outdoor dining and shopping experience. Its rich history tells a story of presidential ties, elephants as building aids, and an intentionally circular layout inspired by that of a circus wagon wheel.

 

1. Its Name Should Really Be St. Amand Circle

The island is named for Frenchman Charles St. Amand, a homesteader who purchased roughly 132 acres of land on the island in 1893 (for the sum of $21.71!), becoming its first resident. However, his name was misspelled as “Armands” on the deed, thus St. Armands Circle was born.

 

2. The Shape and Layout Were Inspired by the Circus

 

Circus magnate John Ringling – whose honorary museum, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, is located just six miles away in northern Sarasota – purchased the island in 1923 with a vision for a spoked wheel–shaped shopping and recreation district and an upscale residential enclave consisting of homes of Mediterranean and Spanish architecture.

 

3. Elephants Built the Circle’s Adjoining Causeway

Well, not by themselves, that is. Ringling used his paddle-wheeled steamer, Success, to ferry workers back and forth to the island, but circus elephants were recruited for hauling the timbers used to construct the causeway and bridge.

 

4. It Has Presidential Ties

At the heart of St. Armands Circle, Ringling developed a community of residences around a circular park, which he named in memory of his friend, Warren G. Harding – the 29th president of the United States.

 

5. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places

The aforementioned park is now known as the Harding Circle Historic District, which celebrates its 95th anniversary in 2021, and was designated a national historic place for its unique community development and planning in 2001.

 

6. Sculpture Was a Key Part of Ringling’s Vision from the Beginning

 

 

John Ringling was a voracious collector of art. He indulged his passion on annual scouting trips to Europe for the circus, collecting works from the Old Masters including Rubens and van Dyck. Today, more than 30 sculptures grace the streets of St. Armands Circle – one-third of which belonged to Ringling himself.

 

7. It Nearly Fell Victim to the Stock Market Crash of 1929

In fact, the circle’s commercial and retail district sat virtually empty until the 1940s and ’50s, when shops and restaurants finally started filling up storefronts. Today, the district fulfills Ringling’s dream of being a premier tourist destination, drawing visitors from all over the world.

 

8. It Has Its Very Own Version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Winter home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus, Sarasota honors its ties to the circus with The Circus Ring of Fame that lives in St. Armands. With a roster of more than 140 inductees from around the world, the award celebrates the highest of achievement in the circus arts, and each inductee is honored with a bronze wagon-wheel and biographical plaque inlaid in the circle’s central park.

 

 

Inside Sarasota’s Wood Street Studio

Across the country, more and more woodworkers are jumping on the urban lumber bandwagon by breathing new life into old wood destined for the dump. But only in Sarasota will you find an abundance of rare tree species and a man, named Dale Reike, who transforms it into stunning pieces that tell a unique story about this southwestern spot on the gulf.

 

While Rieke looks every bit the quintessential 50-something surfer, with his salt-and-pepper hair, facial scruff, slouchy gray T-shirt, and camo-print shorts, his number-one passion is actually working with his hands. Specifically, he’s been designing and building furniture for the last 30 years – first under the company known as Dale Rieke, Inc., but now rebranded as Wood Street Studio, the fabrication studio about a mile from downtown on the edge of the city’s up-and-coming Rosemary District. And with the change in name also came an evolved business approach, when, roughly six years ago, he began embracing his local roots in his design – quite literally – by venturing into the world of urban lumber.

 

Across the country, urban lumber is on-trend, where woodworkers are taking salvaged, recycled, or reclaimed wood, rather than uniform lumber purchased from typical suppliers to create one-of-a-kind custom tables, chairs, bar tops, mantels, bed frames, and more. But being “on-trend” isn’t what ushered Rieke into using this unique kind of wood. Sarasota did. In more ways than one.

 

Dale Reike at Wood Street Studio

 

Saving Downed Wood Destined for the Dump

“There’s some heavy building going on right now in Sarasota, which means a lot of trees coming down and a wealth of wood that is destined for the dump,” says Rieke. “The thing that really motivated me was when I’d see really beautiful trees come down, I would feel this anguish. And I’d wonder to myself ‘what could I have made out of that?’” That’s when he says “the insanity” started. After offering to take wood off contractors’ or arborists’ hands, people started automatically approaching him, tipping him off to potential trees because of building projects, storms, or damage by insects. “Every time I have a job and I know that he can use the wood, I call him,” says Mauricio Calles, owner of P&C Expert Tree Service.

 

It’s really a win-win situation: It saves on labor for the arborists (who usually have to mulch as much of the tree as they can) as well as landfill fees (landfills charge somewhere around $37 per ton and a tree trunk alone can weigh eight or nine tons), Rieke gets some beautiful wood, and it’s downright better for the environment.

Unique Wood Species You’ll Only Find in Sarasota

Invasive species also play a role. In particular, Australian pines are a non-native species in Sarasota that are considered a nuisance because they have shallow root systems that make them easy to topple, and they encourage beach erosion – particularly on the barrier islands of Longboat Key and North and South Lido. As a result, the county has to remove them. “But the wood is amazing. It’s so heavy and dense, and not prone to rotting. It’s become this amazing resource for me that, for years, I never knew existed.”

 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the kind of resources Sarasota offers up. Yes, this geographical area of Florida is farther south than most other places in the continental United States, which means that instead of just your usual walnut, maple, and cherry trees, Rieke gets access to specimens like guanacaste, 700 (!) different species of eucalyptus, and kapok trees that thrive in this more tropical climate. But even more so, the climate zone is even different from that of Central Florida – even that of northern Tampa. Sarasota is home to what’s known as a subtropical climate and Central Florida is a temperate zone, which means Sarasota doesn’t get much of a consistent freeze, which leads to wood that doesn’t typically grow in the immediate surrounding regions, like rosewood, golden camphor, and red camphor.

 

“I’ve been in this business my whole life, and I had no idea the epic trees that are here in Sarasota,” he says. “Sometimes, arborists drop off these trees that are extremely unique and we’re not even sure what they are. And because of that subtropical climate, these trees are anything but uniform – there’s more tension on them, so they’re smaller, with more curves.”

 

Wood Street Studio's Unique Urban Lumber Style

 

Rieke’s design style naturally fits well in Sarasota, home to a collection of midcentury-modern residences and buildings designed by big names like Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph, Victor Lundy, and other members of the Sarasota School of Architecture. While the wood offers an undeniable wild touch to everything, the overarching aesthetic of his final pieces feel very clean-lined, Danish, and minimal. He also – with the help of his wife, who he says is a bit of a “mid-century fanatic” – finds old mid-century furniture at auctions, estate sales, and flea markets and refurbishes them using his wood. “We’ve found at least 20 or 30 Herman Miller tables, so we’ll fix the bases, then use our urban lumber on top,” says Rieke. Take, for example, a 1950s Charles Eames tulip table with an oval chrome base that he refurbished then replaced the top with a beautiful piece of rosewood.

 

“It was a fitting choice because Eames used a lot of rosewood veneer during that era,” he says. “Now, not only is it an interesting architectural design that pays tribute to Sarasota’s past, but it also has a one-of-a-kind unique piece of wood on there. It’s a table that tells a story.”

 

 

Host your next meeting or event at the Resort at Longboat Key Club

Events to remember begin at the Resort at Longboat Key Club. With 12,000 square feet of sophisticated event space, we’re ready to host your next conference, meeting, special event, or the wedding of a lifetime. Our expansive indoor and outdoor spaces include ballrooms, boardrooms, the beach, and the largest resort marina on the Gulf Coast.