[jilldpa]

I'm ready to purchase a FL vacation home, and am looking for a community that is walkable with shops, restaurants, etc. I am not looking for a traditional suburb, but more of an old style community with a town center. I live in NYC, so I get plenty of energy and excitement up here, and am really looking for a slower, more relaxing pace with people who are friendly and laid back (I'm originally from the Midwest). I also like to bike, scuba dive, kayak and I love live music. I would prefer a single family or townhouse to a condo.

My ideal location would be Key West, but it's not as accessible as I need it to be. Friends have mentioned Coconut Grove in the Miami area (which gets me close to the Keys if I wanted to drive down there) or, on the Gulf side, Sarasota (plus Siesta Key and Longboat Key), Venice, Naples and Anna Maria Island. I'm not sure about Sanibel, as it seems a bit expensive and isolated. I would love to know your thoughts on these or about other specific neighborhoods that fit this description.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by jilldpa

I'm ready to purchase a FL vacation home, and am looking for a community that is walkable with shops, restaurants, etc. I am not looking for a traditional suburb, but more of an old style community with a town center. I live in NYC, so I get plenty of energy and excitement up here, and am really looking for a slower, more relaxing pace with people who are friendly and laid back (I'm originally from the Midwest). I also like to bike, scuba dive, kayak and I love live music. I would prefer a single family or townhouse to a condo.

My ideal location would be Key West, but it's not as accessible as I need it to be. Friends have mentioned Coconut Grove in the Miami area (which gets me close to the Keys if I wanted to drive down there) or, on the Gulf side, Sarasota (plus Siesta Key and Longboat Key), Venice, Naples and Anna Maria Island. I'm not sure about Sanibel, as it seems a bit expensive and isolated. I would love to know your thoughts on these or about other specific neighborhoods that fit this description.

You might check out Gulfport which offers pretty much everything you're looking for. It has that small town sense of community you're looking for as well as walkability and shops/restaurants/outdoor activities. It's also close to Tampa International Airport which makes it easy to get to/from.

Gulfport Florida

[marcopolo]

Check out the community of Dunedin, on the Pinellas Trail for hiking and biking, on St. Josephs Sound with gulf access for kayaking, numerous live music venues at interesting local bars and restaurants, concerts in the park, an old-style downtown, convenient to Florida's best state park (Honeymoon Island) which is accessible on foot, bike, rollerblades or car, definitely quieter and more laid back than Clearwater Beach or the more touristy areas you mentioned. Good luck to you.

[daytonadewd]

Based on you OP, I would check out these areas. If you're from NYC, then you'll find most of Florida laid back anyway. The key will be urbane living, community and bike/ped lifestyle:

• Mary Brickell Village (Miami) MIA
• South Miami (Sunset/Red) MIA
• Hollywood (Young Circle/N Beach) FLL
• Sarasota (downtown only) SRQ
• Old St Pete (downtown Arts District) TPA/PIE
• New Smyrna Beach (Canal St/Flagler Ave areas) DAB/MCO
• Daytona Beach (Beach St downtown) DAB/MCO
• St Augustine (north downtown) JAX/DAB
• Atlantic/Neptune Beach (Jax)
• Fernandina Beach (Jax)

Good Luck!

[jilldpa]

Thank you all so much for thoughtful responses! So many good leads...

[Coconut1]

Look no further... Surfside, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by daytonadewd

Based on you OP, I would check out these areas. If you're from NYC, then you'll find most of Florida laid back anyway. The key will be urbane living, community and bike/ped lifestyle:

• Mary Brickell Village (Miami) MIA
• South Miami (Sunset/Red) MIA
• Hollywood (Young Circle/N Beach) FLL
• Sarasota (downtown only) SRQ
• Old St Pete (downtown Arts District) TPA/PIE
• New Smyrna Beach (Canal St/Flagler Ave areas) DAB/MCO
• Daytona Beach (Beach St downtown) DAB/MCO
• St Augustine (north downtown) JAX/DAB
• Atlantic/Neptune Beach (Jax)
• Fernandina Beach (Jax)

Good Luck!

This is a great list - my suggestions also.

[squarpeg]

The list above is very good. I had the same criteria you mention and I have looked at almost all those places and every place you mentioned in your original post. I also looked at Dunedin, Mt Dora, Winter Park, Deland, Stuart and almost everyplace in the state worth possible consideration. I did craft shows for years all through Florida and have spent time in many towns. Almost all of these towns have potential, it is really going to take going to them and seeing if it is what you want. You will have to narrow things dowm a bit. In our case we stated with the " can we actually afford to live there" question. After that I think we decided on the general size of the town we wanted. Then we started looking at what the downtown has to offer. You can use a site called Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address to help you out. It is not totally correct but helpful. Then there are things like climate. Political and social make up of the town. For example, key west is warm in the winter, overun with tourists, highly liberal and has a fairly young vibe for Florida. Now go to Venice. It is very quiet, well kept and everyone you meet will be in a wheelchair or walker. Nice place but filled with old folks homes and dialysis centers. We ended up in Fernandina Beach, a lovely town with so much of what we want but it also has 2 huge stinking pulp mills in town. The people there are lovely and so friendly, but also more deep south then Florida. There is a lot of right wing politics and Jesus is never far from view. It is also cold in the winter, however it has beautiful historic homes and lots of music, bars and great restaurants. Everything is a compromise.