St Armands Circle

You can see it as an outdoor shopping mall, a tourist trap, or a traffic circle to navigate on the way to Longboat Key--and it is all of those things. But St Armands Circle, on Lido Key in Sarasota FL, is also a sort of urban-pedestrian-cultural-park worth visiting because it's a beautiful and easy getaway for a few hours of high-tone sitting, sunning and gawking.

Pedestrian crosswalk and seating area, St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL

 A mile or so down the road as you exit the John Ringling Causeway across Sarasota Bay from downtown, the exhilaration of zooming over the bridge immediately slows, as traffic bows to pedestrians in the crosswalks between each block of the "circle" of shops and restaurants that makes up St Armands Circle. 

Pedestrian crossing at St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL

There are eateries representing most types of international cuisine here.

Columbia Restaurant, St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL

Plenty of outdoor sitting and schmoozing takes place in artfully placed nooks between circle traffic and shops.

Pedestrian seating area, St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL

At many of the crosswalks, you can pause to admire white marble statues representing the "virtues", which were inspired by John Ringling's travels to Italy, where he purchased most of them in the 1920s. Several more were added in 2007 by Sarasota organizations dedicated to the ongoing preservation of the Circle.

"Music" statue at St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL, next to "Allegory of Sarasota, it's Seven Virtues" 

"Bounty" statue, St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL

Getting Away from it All: Lido Beach Scenic Trail

If you drive to St Armands Circle (over the Ringling Causeway from downtown Sarasota), take your 2nd right off the Circle, and you'll find Lido Beach parking. (This is the St Armands Circle entrance to the beach, not the official beach pavillion entrance which is further down on Ben Franklin Drive.) 

After you park your car, head directly towards the wood entry ramp and deck that takes you onto the sands of Lido Beach. 

Lido Beach entrance pavilion at St Armands Circle, Sarasota

Walk about 20 feet onto the beach, and look to your right. You'll see a sandy path that parallels the beach (to the left) and the neighborhood (to the right). 

Lido Beach walking path at St Armands Circle, Sarasota FL

Start walking along the path.  

Sometimes when I'm here, it feels just like hiking in the Rockies high desert where I used to spend summers. The only thing that gives it away as being Sarasota is the sliver of blue-green Gulf at the horizon to the left. 

There's a bench for taking a pause, and the path is wide enough for bicycles. I also enjoy its gentle changes in elevation. A nice break from the flatness of most of Sarasota. 

If you walk the entire path, it eventually curves over (in less than a mile, I'd estimate) to reconnect with Lido Beach. You can then walk back to St Armands Circle along the beach. Or return via the footpath. Your choice.

Walking Tour of Sarasota Districts

Sarasota FL, a lush and quirky small city on Florida's Gulf Coast, is trying to use principles of New Urbanism to weave its various charming "old urbanism" districts into a cohesive live-work-culture-nature experience.

Blessed with a gorgeous location, nestled alongside the mid-Gulf Coast, an hour south of Tampa, protected by even more gorgeous barrier islands--here called "keys"--including Longboat Key, Lido Key, St Armands Key, Bird Key and Siesta Key--Sarasota is also the arts and culture capital of Florida.

In its very walkable and compact downtown, you'll find theatres, a beautiful opera house, a soaring modern library, a purple-painted waterfront concert hall, a municipal auditorium, upscale shops and restaurants, Whole Foods Market, and many art galleries.

A few blocks away, across the only scenic section of Tamiami Trail (Hwy 41), is the magnificent Sarasota Bayfront Park, lined each winter season with modern sculptures, and featuring a lovely tree-shaded walking path and park, impressive yachts, and two restaurants, one upscale and one of the sea-shack variety.

Several blocks south of Main Street, separated by a non-descript, pedestrian-indifferent office-building-zone, there is a charming antiques district, called Burns Square, along Pineapple and Orange Avenues, with restaurants and boutiques, an art movie house, and a neighborhood of artist studios offering monthly Friday night studio/gallery strolls.

Crossing Tamiami Trail and south a few blocks more, is the tiny retail crossroads called Southside Village, surrounded on one side by a lush neighborhood of old residental streets and on the other by the expansive Sarasota Memorial Hospital Center. Southside Village has been undergoing "upscaling" in recent years, and it's a delightful mix of lux gift shops, gourmet markets, restaurants featuring international cuisines, as well as cozy neighborhood bar-restaurants, bakery-cafes, hair salons and boutiques.

A few winding miles down the road is Siesta Drive, which crosses Sarasota Bay and winds through Siesta Key, a tropical paradise enlivened by Ocean Boulevard with its funky shops and restaurants, leading to an exquisite wide beach composed of soft, powdery white sand that is 99% crystal. Perfect for walking, swimming, sunning, parasailing, and sunset-watching and applauding, which is a nightly tradition on Siesta.

Heading northwest from downtown Sarasota, over a couple of short bridges, you enter the world-famous St Armands Circle retail district. It's a "circle" of short blocks that wrap around a park on St Armands Key. There is every kind of store and restaurant, as well as Lido Beach, a long and deep expanse of not-so-soft sand with unbroken vistas across the blue-green waters of the Gulf.

Over another couple of bridges and you're driving alongside the perfect lawns and landscaping of Gulf of Mexico Drive on Longboat Key, a golf-course- and luxury-high-rise-lined gold coast community with its own long strip of wild beach towards the north end. Cross another bridge and you're on lovely Anna Maria, a key of old houses and cute shops just north of Longboat and west of Bradenton.

All these bridges and keys, taken along with downtown proper, make Sarasota a diverting place to live. Within a few miles of any one spot is another with different views and amenities.

Sarasota: A City of Walkable "Pods"

While you need a car, bus, or bicycle to get from district-to-district in Sarasota FL, each "pod"--as I like to think of them-- is easily walkable once you're there.

For instance:

Downtown Sarasota:
Park on Cross Street, at the north end of Pineapple Avenue in Burns Square. Walk across the roundabout towards downtown. At the purple fountain, continue on either Lemon Avenue or Pineapple Avenue. You can walk everywhere downtown from here. West on Main Street to Bayfront Park. Or east on Main Street all the way to Rte. 301 (Washington Blvd). Don't forget to explore Palm Avenue, 1st Street, State Street, etc.

Siesta Key Village:
Park in the Village (free parking lots behind Ocean Blvd). You can walk west down Ocean Blvd to Beach Access #5. Explore all the side streets, too, including Canal Road (which intersects with Ocean Blvd at the gazebo between the Lobster Pot and Beach Bazaar.

Gulf Gate and Sarasota Pavilion:
Gulf Gate Village consists of one-story shops and restaurants on Gulf Gate Drive, Gateway, and Superior Avenue. Next to the village is Sarasota Pavilion, which has lots of shops including Michaels Crafts, TJ Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross Store, Panera Bread, Books-a-Million, Marshall's, Chinese food, and many others. Park in the village or at the Pavilion, and you can walk anywhere within those two shopping/dining areas.

St Armands Circle and Lido Beach:
There's plenty of parking behind the shops and restaurants on St Armands Circle. If you want to walk the circle and have easy access to the beach, park in the Lido Beach parking area (2nd right off the Circle, if you're coming from Tamiami Trail). You can walk right onto Lido Beach from there, or walk around the Circle. There's a lovely walking path just off the beach entry there. As soon as you step onto the sand from the entry ramp, look to your right, and you'll see a tree-shaded path that parallels the beach for about a mile and then reconnects with the beach. So you can walk on the path in one direction, and return via the beach in the other direction.

Pinecraft:
This is the Amish/Mennonite neighborhood in Sarasota. Taking Bahia Vista St. east from Tamiami Trail, look for the small turquoise "Pinecraft Park" sign on your right, and turn right.You can park near the shuffleboard court at Pinecraft Park. Walk in the small park, or along the canal. Also, you can walk through the whole neighborhood of small, well-kept houses. On Bahia Vista Street, get fresh produce at the Amish Market. There's a popular Big Olaf ice cream shop, a pizzeria, restaurants, and other locally owned shops. At the corner of Bahia Vista and Beneva is a shopping center with Earth Origins market, Dollar store, CVS, etc.