Sights in Sarasota
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Ringling Museum Complex
Who doesn't love the circus? Well...people who are afraid of clowns. But a little coulrophobia isn't necessarily a deal-breaker at the Ringling Museum Complex. On the grounds of the 66-acre complex are three separate museums, all included in your admission and each one a worthy attraction on its own. Railroad, real-estate and circus baron John Ringling and his wife Mabel put down roots here, building a Venetian Gothic waterfront mansion called Ca d'Zan. You can wander the ground floor at your own pace, or take a guided tour - totally worth it - which grants you access to the upstairs bedrooms. Also on the grounds, the John & Mabel Museum of Art is an excellent art museum …
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Cà d'Zan
Said to mean 'House of John' in Venetian dialect, Cà d'Zan (1924-26) was the grand winter home of the Ringlings. Fronting Sarasota Bay, it's a spectacular combination of Italian and French Renaissance, baroque, Venetian Gothic and modern architecture. The lavish house has a ballroom, dining room, and taproom (with vaulted ceilings and stained-glass panels); the ballroom and playroom had their ceilings painted by Willy Pogany, a set designer for the Ziegfeld Follies.
There's a catwalk around the 30ft-high court, or living room, with very fine tapestries throughout. In fact, the whole stupendous place is filled with eclectic and opulent decorative arts and furnishings. It …
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John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art
This enormous and imposing Venetian Gothic and Italian Renaissance building (finished in 1929) boasts a first-rate collection of 17th-century, late-medieval, baroque and Renaissance French, Dutch and Spanish paintings and tapestries. Art works span 500 years, while the art museum library has a whopping 60,000 books spanning all art periods. The sculpture garden contains bronze replicas of ancient Greek and Roman figures.
You'll also find rotating modern exhibits and the Asolo Theater, a horseshoe-shaped, 300-seat theater that was originally built in the castle of Asolo, Italy, in 1798. After being dismantled in 1930 to make way for a movie theater, the theater was eventua…
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Beaches
The area's excellent powdery, white-sand beaches are located on the barrier islands west of town. Parking is generally a snap; there are public lots, and public transport from the mainland. Lido Key, just west of St Armand's Circle, is divided into North and South Lido Beaches, the latter of which is huge and also shaded for picnicking. Siesta Key Beach, an absolutely deservedly famous strip of sand, accommodates 800 cars in its parking lot.
Head south on Midnight Pass Rd to the end of Siesta Key for the quieter Turtle Beach. Crescent Beach, perfectly fine, is wedged in between those two. Longboat Key, north of St Armand's Circle, also has lovely beaches with lots of acce…
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Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary
Dale Shields is the Pelican Man, and his sanctuary rehabilitates injured wildlife; it's on City Island, just east of the Mote, on the south side of Ken Thompson Pkwy. Although all injured animals are helped, pelicans are their primary customers (90% of all injured pelicans are hurt by fishing line). Since its humble beginnings in 1985 when Shields' first pelican rehabbed in a bathtub, the sanctuary now rehabilitates upwards of 6000 animals annually.
Still, some animals cannot be released; about 250 birds including hawks, gulls, egrets, owls, storks and pelicans and other indigenous wildlife now live here permanently.
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PAL Sailor Circus
Sarasota even celebrates its circus heritage in its school system. The PAL Sailor Circus is a truly unique circus experience – you don’t have to worry about animal or human cruelty here – its troop is comprised entirely of Sarasota County students. The kids take ‘circus’ as an extracurricular school activity, and learn high-flying, tumbling and clowning, which they then perform under the big top. It’s a wonderful experience that also supports positive after-school activities for children. Look for it tucked under the big blue-and-white circus tent east off S Tamiami Trail.
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Ringling Museum Complex
Really, don’t miss the 66-acre winter estate of railroad, real-estate and circus baron John Ringling and his wife, Mable. This excellent museum complex, with exotic plantings and a rose garden, is easily worth at least a half-day of your holiday. Avid art collectors, over the years they amassed an exceptional collection of works by Rubens, Hals, Van Dyck and others. Ringling began work on a fine art museum in the early 1920s, which was donated to the state after his death in 1936. You can also tour Ringling’s home, Cà d’Zan, and the enormous Circus Museum.
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Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
This 9-acre, indoor–outdoor botanical oasis specializes in orchids (more than 6000 of them) but also has quite a selection of other botanicals. There’s a hibiscus garden, cacti and succulent garden, a tropical house, bromeliad display, bamboo pavilion, koi pond, butterfly and waterfall gardens and tropical food gardens, where everything’s edible. There’s also a mangrove walkway. All in all, it’s a great place to sit quietly and soak in the peaceful ambience.
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Classic Car Museum
This sexy museum, with hundreds of exotic and curvaceous cars, appeals to nostalgic travelers. Among the Rolls, you’ll find a 1905 Rapid Depot Wagon, an ’81 DeLorean, a 1932 Auburn speedster, a tiny 1958 Metropolitan, and that most sought-after transporter, a 1976 Plymouth Voyager Van. A small music room contains romantic radios, turntables and other ancient noisemakers. You can’t miss it as you drive north on US 41 – look for the Flintstones’ car outside.
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Circus Museum
This fascinating place contains the wild Barlow Animated Miniature Circus, original and elaborately carved circus wagons, the cannon used to blast the Flying Zacchinis into low orbit, sequined costumes, calliopes and dozens of rare circus posters. Circus fans will be pleased to know that the spirit of the circus is still alive and kicking in Sarasota, though it's no longer the winter home of Ringling Bros Circus.
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Sarasota Baywalk
These shell paths and boardwalks circle a series of ponds surrounded by red, black and white mangroves. Though interesting, the lagoons were manmade and excavated by the Sarasota Bay Natural Estuary Program to different depths to attract different animals. The Baywalk is on City Island and is adjacent to the Mote, next to the bridge between Lido and Longboat Keys.
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Gulfcoast Wonder & Imagination Zone
No matter your age, the Gulfcoast Wonder & Imagination Zone - with robots, hydraulics, wave machines, lightning bolts and paper airplanes - will keep every family member entertained for a rainy afternoon. It's well worth a stop.
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Museum of Asian Art
The focused collection at the Museum of Asian Art highlights art from China, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and Myanmar (Burma). It boasts the famous Yangtze River Collection of Chinese jades.
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Art Center Sarasota
The Art Center Sarasota, originally founded in 1926 as the Sarasota Visual Art Center is a community gallery that serves as a good one-stop shopping experience.
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Mote Aquarium
Mote Aquarium, a research center and rehabilitation facility, has touch pools, a manatee habitat, the fun Shark Attack Theater and, of course, fish.
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Towles Court Art District
Wander about a cluster of colorful galleries and studios at Towles Court Art District.
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