​Surprising Sarasota

Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota Jungle Gardens

By Georgina Cruz
Special to North Palm Beach Life
Photos Courtesy of Visit Sarasota

            Ever since our 2020 world cruise was cut short due to the pandemic as we were headed to Singapore, a city famous for its gardens, my husband, Humberto and I have been “revenge” visiting other nearby garden cities whenever we can. Last year we went to Disney World in Orlando for the Epcot International Flower & Garden Show; this spring we went to Sarasota, where Selby Gardens, among many other attractions, beckoned.

            Sarasota, a beautiful city on a scenic bay – perhaps lesser known because it is on our west coast – is a surprising, real “find” for travelers who wish to spend a few days enjoying both cultural and natural attractions as it has plenty of both.

 These qualities attracted 3.2 million visitors in 2023, according to the Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau. Here, about three hours by car from North Palm Beach, on a weekend escape or longer stay, visitors find beaches with sand as white and as soft as marshmallows. Many insist that Florida’s west coast beaches are better than our more frequented east coast ones, and their waters are warmer –a welcome embrace for visitors like me who like bathtub-temperature soaks.

 Sarasota and its surroundings boast 35 miles of coasts and six barrier islands, so visitors can take their pick of beaches – Stephen Leatherman a.k.a. “Dr. Beach” has twice named one of them, Siesta Beach, as the best, not just in Florida, but all the U.S., in his annual reports. Another extremely popular beach is Venice Beach, called the “Shark’s Tooth Capital,” because of the great number of fossil shark’s teeth found on its sands. This beach hosts an annual spring festival, typically on an April weekend (the 2025 one was not announced yet at this writing), with music, food and exhibits dedicated to sharks.

            But the beaches are just a drop in the bucket of Sarasota’s attractions. Other charms of the city include world-class museums and entertainment centers, excellent commercial districts and restaurants and fun family-friendly attractions.

            After enjoying the city’s panoramas with modern buildings and the picturesque Sarasota Bay, there is a lot to experience when it comes to cultural attractions. Sarasota and its surrounding area is known as Florida’s “cultural coast” with its own ballet and opera companies and a professional symphony as well as more than 7,000 seats for plays, concerts and other events in 10 theaters and entertainment centers including the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The city also has 30 art galleries as well as a variety of museums

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Ringling Museum

            Among the latter, the Ringling Art Museum (https://www.ringling.org/visit/), is a “must” as it is a world-class institution including an art museum; the 1920s bayside mansion Ca’ d’Zan (John and Mable Ringling’s former winter estate with 56 opulent rooms in Mediterranean Revival style); the Asolo Theater; bayfront gardens and a circus museum. “Ringling” is synonymous with the circus as is Sarasota since John Ringling established the winter seat of his circus in the city in the 1920s and Cesar B. DeMille filmed “The Greatest Show On Earth” there in 1950. Circus acts are presented and there are exhibits about the history of this form of entertainment. Admission to the gardens is always free and to the Ringling Art Museum it is free on Mondays.

            Dubbed “The Living Museum,” Selby Gardens, (www.selby.org), was our favorite attraction in Sarasota –due to our “revenge” visits goal of going to cities with horticultural attractions. Plant and nature lovers, like us, will be ecstatic here. It is a 45-acre urban oasis in two bayfront locations in Sarasota one 15-acre campus downtown and a 30-acre one at historic Spanish Point, with many areas of interest including lovely displays of epiphytic plants (Selby Gardens’ specialties) including orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, ferns, as well as other tropical plants. In all, Selby Gardens has a collection comprised of 16,000 plants, representing some 5,000 species in 1,100 genera from nearly 190 plant families. Enchanting spots include a koi pond with many colorful specimens of this fish, a bonsai exhibit, and a fragrant butterfly garden with plants that attract this lovely insect. Running now through June 30, the Selby Gardens and its Museum of Botany & the Arts hosts a special exhibition, “Yayoi Kusama, a letter to Georgia O’Keeffe,” which is an homage to both artists’ work with horticultural  displays that echo their work: the dots and circles of Kusama and the bold colors, shapes of nature, and landscapes of New Mexico of American Modernist O’Keeffe. Examples of the homage horticultural displays at the Selby exhibition include the Dot Matrix with round cactus plants hanging under the canopy of the Welcome Center which are a play on Kusama’s signature polka dots and O’Keeffe’s New Mexico’s cacti.

            The city also has attractions that are ideal for families. Among these, Mote Marine Aquarium (www.mote.org) is an excellent facility with a shark habitat with 135,000 gallons of water. Other areas of interest include aquaria with marine turtles, stingrays and manatees. Popular exhibits include the Florida Watershed with river otters, roseate spoonbills, alligators and gopher tortoise, and Creatures From The Coastal Ocean with seahorses, crabs, ghost-like sea jellies and more. Mote Marine also offers five virtual reality experiences including swimming with whales.

Another attraction is Sarasota Jungle Gardens https://sarasotajunglegardens.com/), one of the oldest in Florida, established in 1939. It has 10 acres and hosts Muntjac deer, lemurs, crocodiles, giant tortoises and other reptiles and birds in bright crayon hues –some of the birds are trained to put on shows. Frosty, the sulfur-crested cockatoo, who gained national fame by riding a unicyle on the high wire on the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s, has retired. Also to the delight of kids and the young at heart, there is a petting zoo with chickens, goats and other friendly critters, and the “Flamingo Petting Zoo” where visitors can feed and pet these beautiful birds. Also available for extra charge are opportunities to pet and pose for photos with reptiles or birds.

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St. Armands Circle

For souvenirs, St. Armands Circle (https://starmandscircleassoc.com/) is one of the most popular shopping areas in Sarasota. It has some 130 shops and boutiques as well as art galleries, restaurants and sidewalk cafes. Attractions here also include a park-like setting with tropical plantings, more than 30 classical-style statues put in by John Ringling, that dot the area, and the “Círcle Ring of Fame” that honors great circus acts and persons who have made contributions to the circus in their careers.

IF YOU GO–

Lodging: There is a great variety of hotels in Sarasota and surroundings. Hilton has several hotels including Embassy Suites Sarasota and a Homewood Suites by Hilton (www.hilton.com) that are practical for families as they have suite accommodations with kitchen or kitchenette and free breakfast. We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton ($280 per night for a one-bedroom suite with full kitchen). For special occasions, the Ritz Carlton Sarasota is a luxury property in the city that offers free shuttle to its Beach Club in Lido Beach and St. Armands Circle Sarasota Hotel | The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota (ritzcarlton.com).

Restaurants: Our favorite was the Columbia Restaurant, 411 St. Armands Circle. It was ideal to satisfy our taste for Spanish and Cuban dishes such as delicious paellas, black bean soup, “ropa vieja” (shredded beef dish), “churros” (fried pastry), flan, and more.  (https://www.columbiarestaurant.com/st-armands-circle-sarasota).

Transportation: The Sarasota Bay Runner is a free trolley that connects the city center to the beaches and spots of interest to visitors like St. Armands Circle (https://sarasotabayrunner.com/).

            Information: www.visitsarasota.com.

Georgina Cruz is a freelance travel writer based in Vero Beach.

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