Sarasota questions

[Tigger9]

Hi, just wanted to know if anyone has been to Sarasota. We are heading there for the weekend in between our stay at Disney. We will be there only fridayand saturday nights, so I am looking fo rthe must sees and do's, we will be traveling with DS 2.5 and DD 5.
Also what is the best beach for shell hunting. Thanks!

 

[Galahad]

Not sure about shells, but our favorite beaches there are Longboat Key and Siesta Key (Lido Beach is good too). Be sure to go to St. Armand's Circle near Longboat key.

 

[chyam]

Also Venice Beach ( I think is about 30 minutes away) their beaches are known for hunting fossilized sharks teeth. All of the above mentioned beaches are nice too. St. Armands Circle has some great shops and restaurants. The Ringling Museum of Art is down there also, although I don't know how much your children would enjoy that.

 

[lillygator]

Jungle Gardens
Selby Botanical Gardens
Crowley Museum
The Children's Garden
Ringling Museum
Myakka State Park
G-Wiz Hands on Science Museum
Historic Spanish Point
Mote Marine Aquarium
Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary
The Village on Siesta Key has lots of shops and eateries....
Siesta Key has great shells but you have to go around the end "point of rocks" to get to them.

 

[taraprather]

I have a lot of family that lives in Sarasota/Siesta Key. My brother just moved back to Ohio from there. You have to check out Livingstons if you are into video games. It is a huge video game place/bar/gocarts, it just opened 1 year ago and my husband and I had a blast there while on our honeymoon!!! We are also going to sarasota for the 1st 4 days of our trip. My grandpa owns a lot of condos on Siesta Key beach, so that's we're we'll be staying. There are a lot of malls in Sarasota also, very nice! (I'm addicted to shopping). If you have any questions, you can always pm me!

 

[lillygator]

actually we have two malls - both now owned by Westfield - Sarasota Square as it used to be called is being remodeled slowly but has a lot of empty stores and not that great shopping...the other mall Southgate has a few more stores but if you are looking for a good mall close by there is the Brandon mall as well as Int'l Plaza.

taraprather - did you go to Livingstons when they were next to Sam Seltzer's or when they moved into their own building? I can't remember if it's been a year already since they moved.

 

[taraprather]

I went when they moved into there new building. We went last September and they told us they've been open for about a month. We had a blast, but it gets pricey. My son is saving up for all the games there.