Things to Do in Sarasota: Tours, Tickets & Boat Trips

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the guided mangrove-tunnel kayak tour at Lido Key, 2) the mangrove and manatee kayak eco-tour, 3) the city sightseeing trolley tour, 4) the LED clear-kayak night tour, 5) the Taste of Downtown Sarasota food tour, 6) the Amish experience trolley through Pinecraft, 7) Siesta Key Beach and the Sunday drum circle, 8) the Ringling Museum, Ca’ d’Zan and Circus Museum, 9) Myakka River State Park’s airboat and canopy walk and 10) Mote Marine Aquarium.

Plan three to four days. Day one: Siesta Key Beach in the morning, Siesta Village for lunch, back for sunset (Sunday for the drum circle). Day two: the Ringling estate — allow four hours — then Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on the bay. Day three: an early mangrove kayak at Ted Sperling Park, St. Armands Circle, Lido Beach and a sunset sail. Day four: Myakka River State Park’s alligators and canopy walkway, or Mote Marine, then a downtown food tour. Add a day for Venice’s shark teeth or Anna Maria Island.

Siesta Key Beach and the drum circle, Lido Beach, Turtle Beach, Bayfront Park’s sunset and the Unconditional Surrender statue, the Ringling Museum of Art on Mondays (the grounds and Bayfront gardens are also free), the Legacy Trail, the Celery Fields’ birdwatching mounds, St. Armands Circle’s statues and shops, the Saturday farmers’ market downtown, the Towles Court art district, Phillippi Estate Park and the Sarasota Bay walk at Ken Thompson Park. Watching the sunset from the Siesta Key Beach pavilion is the classic free evening.

Myakka River State Park for alligators, airboats and the canopy walkway (30 minutes), Venice for shark teeth on Caspersen Beach (30 minutes), Anna Maria Island and Bradenton Beach (one hour), Longboat Key and Bradenton’s Robinson Preserve (30 minutes), the Amish and Mennonite village of Pinecraft (in town; trolley tours from about $80), Tampa’s Busch Gardens and aquarium (one hour), St. Petersburg’s Dalí Museum (one hour) and the Everglades-style Wild Florida airboats further afield.

The Siesta Key Sunday drum circle at sunset, an LED clear-kayak glow tour through the mangroves, a sunset sail from Marina Jack, dinner and live music in Siesta Key Village (the Siesta Key Oyster Bar, Gilligan’s), St. Armands Circle’s restaurants, downtown’s Main Street and Burns Court, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, the Sarasota Opera, the haunted or murder-mystery trolley and the Ringling’s Friday evening events.

Winter is high season, with highs around 72°F and the driest weather of the year. Manatees crowd into the warm mangrove creeks for the kayak tours, the Orioles play spring training at Ed Smith Stadium in March, the Ringling and Selby Gardens run holiday and orchid shows, the Sarasota Opera season opens, and Siesta Key’s cool quartz sand is perfect for long walks. Book beach hotels months ahead for February and March.

Mote Marine Aquarium’s sharks and manatees, Sarasota Jungle Gardens’ flamingos, Siesta Key’s shallow calm water, the Myakka airboat and alligator spotting, the Ringling Circus Museum with its miniature circus, the Children’s Garden downtown, a mangrove kayak (tandem kayaks for age six and up), Big Cat Habitat, Lido Beach’s pool and playground, Bayfront Park’s playground and the Legacy Trail by bike.

November to April — sunny, dry and comfortable, with manatees, spring training and every tour running, though February and March are the busiest and priciest. Late April to May is warm and quieter. Summer is hot and humid with afternoon storms, and hurricane season peaks in September; prices drop sharply.

Yes — the 66-acre bayfront estate combines Florida’s state art museum with Rubens and Old Masters, John Ringling’s Venetian-Gothic mansion Ca’ d’Zan, the Circus Museum with the world’s largest miniature circus, and rose gardens on Sarasota Bay. Allow half a day; the art museum is free on Mondays, and the Ca’ d’Zan interior tour is worth the extra ticket.