Best Western Plus Siesta Key Gateway

We stayed for four nights at the Best Western Plus Siesta Key Gateway, and it was definitely a good choice. They are located right before the bridge to Siesta Key, and are only a 5 minute drive to the main beach area. In addition, they are only 10 minutes from the downtown area of Sarasota and 15 minutes from St. Armand's Circle.

The room itself was pretty basic, but nice. The bed was very comfortable. The housekeeping staff did a good job each day of keeping our room clean. The front desk staff was friendly. Each morning, the breakfast served was plentiful and pretty good for a hotel continental breakfast. There was also free popcorn to take from the lobby throughout the day. The wifi also had great speeds that allowed for high quality streaming video.

The pool area was very nice and had its own bar, which was run by a friendly bartender. The parking lot had some strange double bumps in it, so be careful driving in it. You don't want to be holding coffee while driving over them!

The only negative we found was there was no clothesline in the bathroom for hanging wet bathing suits, towels, etc., which is unusual for a beach area hotel.

Address: 6600 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34231
Wifi: Free
Parking: Free
Restaurant: No
Bar/Lounge: Yes
Smoking: Non-smoking
Hidden Fees: None
Free Breakfast: Yes

Siesta Key Beach

Siesta Key Beach is considered by a few places to be the #1 beach in America (and boy does the town let you know it!). And after visiting for a few days, it is easy to see why. The sand is very soft and comfortable to walk on and lay down on. Even on a hot day, it is cool on your bare feet. The waves are very calm, making it nice to hang out in the ocean.

While you will find some cigarette butts and other trash in the sand (I don't understand how anyone can litter like this on a beach!), for the most part, the town keeps the beach area pretty clean.

There is a gigantic parking lot located at 909 Beach Road. On busy days, it can get full, so be aware of this. However, there are a few free shuttle options in the area to get you to the beach, where the only cost is the amount to tip the driver. If you plan on getting to the beach before 10 AM though, you should have no trouble getting a parking spot, even on the busiest of days.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens are located right on the bay in Sarasota. The gardens offers visitors a nice serenity when visiting. The plant life is gorgeous, and the views of the bay are wonderful. There are various tours offered each day, but this is something we skipped due to time constraints. If you have about 90 minutes to spare during your visit to Sarasota and enjoy walking through gardens, this would be a good choice for you.

Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary

The Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary is located outside of the main area of Sarasota. It is well worth the trip though if you're an animal lover. Here, you'll find various rescued animals, with tigers being the main focus, but also with bears, lions and others.

This isn't a very large facility, but they do great work in taking care of the animals. In addition, each day at 2 PM, they do a great show featuring some of the animals, but also explaining what individuals can do to help out.

FSU Ringling Center for the Cultural Arts

The FSU Ringling Center for the Cultural Arts is a gorgeous facility. The main attraction, for us at least, was to go into the Ringling Circus museum, which features an amazing model circus. Words can't even describe the amount of detail that went into this. In addition, you'll get to learn about the history of circuses and what it's like to do a tightrope walk and put on clown makeup.

We only had about 90 minutes here, so we couldn't explore everything. However, the grounds were gorgeous and you could easily spend all day here. One other highlight was the Ca' d'Zan, which is a Venetian style home. You can take tours of the inside (we weren't able to due to our own time limitations), but just seeing the outside is pretty breathtaking.

We highly recommend spending some time here when in the Sarasota area.