Sarasota
America’s Happiest Seaside Town

A s one of Florida’s primary Gulf Coast cities, Sarasota is an eclectic blend of big city culture, great dining and exceptional white-sand beaches including Siesta Key Beach – cited as the #1 Beach in America.

Whether your taste in art leans more toward Ringling Bros. circus memorabilia, seashell creations and sand sculptures to works by Old Masters like Rubens and Poussin, you’ll find it all right here.

Home to the Foreign Film Festival, there is plenty of theater in and around Sarasota too, and if you want to add music to your itinerary, the Sarasota Orchestra, Key Chorale and Sarasota Ballet are just a few of the many groups who have stage performances throughout the season.

Revered as one of the “Best Food Cities” in the US, there’s no shortage of great spots to eat in Sarasota which attracts some of the best culinary talent in the industry.
There’s also plenty of fine shopping, as well, including St. Armand’s Circle close to the coast and the Mall at University Town Center which has many distinctive retailers not found anywhere else in the area.

Historic Cedar Key—
A Taste of Old Florida

If you want to visit a piece of “Old Florida,” tell Siri to take you to the tiny enclave of Cedar Key.

Rich in small town flavor, this quaint, old-fashioned vacation town, with its lovely beaches, great fishing and lush natural preserves, is a haven for artists and writers who find inspiration from the unspoiled environment.

Located about 60 miles southwest of Gainesville and three miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, it’s an island whose out of the way location helps keep it authentic and where time seems to stand still.

This is a place where houses and stores stand like herons perched on stilts above the Gulf and where the police greet you from spiffed up golf carts.

As one of the nation’s top sources of farm-raised clams, it’s easy to find tasty clam chowder here along with some of the best “Cracker Cuisine” in Florida.