Sarasota, Lido Key & St. Armands vacation rentals

Sarasota is the cultural center of this coast. Circus owner John Ringling left the state his Venetian-style mansion, Ca' d'Zan, along with the art museum on the same bayfront grounds, now home to a circus museum too. Downtown sits right on Sarasota Bay, with a bayfront park, theaters, galleries and a dense block of restaurants, and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is on the water just south of it.

Across the John Ringling Causeway, St. Armands Key holds the round shopping and dining district of St. Armands Circle, and Lido Key just beyond it has Lido Beach and the quieter sand at South Lido Park. Rentals in this area run from Lido Key condos steps from the Gulf to downtown apartments and houses in the established neighborhoods on the mainland.

Things to do near your rental

• The Ringling: Ca' d'Zan, the art museum and the circus museum
• St. Armands Circle shopping and dining
• Lido Beach and South Lido Park
• Myakka River State Park, about 30 minutes east