Siesta Key or ? (Sarasota, Longboat Key: 2013, home, restaurants)

[whakru]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

You will not be able to walk out the door to the beach on either Lido or Siesta, best you will get is across the street. Also, as La-la land mentioned, Siesta Village will have virtually nothing of interest for shopping, and it's a long walk from the beach. Honestly Lido is probably your best bet, you will be ALMOST right on the beach, and it's an easy walk to St. Armands which is beautiful and lively, with lots of shopping and dining options. Add to that it is just over the bridge to Sarasota's downtown for even more shopping/dining, and I believe there is a trolley that can take you back and forth.

The other alternative is Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island - more low key and "old Florida", but again you won't have much in the way of shopping other than the "kitschy" beach shops.

All of these beaches are beautiful, so that won't be a disappointment no matter which you choose. All in all I recommend Lido for what you are looking for. good luck and have fun!

Curious as to why you would say this.....we stay on Siesta every year and literally walk out the door onto the beach. We stay at Island House and if you stay in the first floor condo you walk out the door and onto the sand. In fact there are plenty of resorts on Midnight Pass that offer locations on the beach. I highly recommend Island House....it is in the OPs budget and the units are very nice. So is the management.

Agree that the village is not the best for retail but it does have quite a few restaurants that are nice.

[nomosno]

Thanks for the tips. Island House is looking like it is out of the budget at $1950. I have multiple inquiries around Lido and Siesta. Looks like it might be Siesta as Lido is limited at this point. I should have started looking a little sooner. Whats happening in the area for July 4th.

[whakru]

Originally Posted by nomosno

Thanks for the tips. Island House is looking like it is out of the budget at $1950. I have multiple inquiries around Lido and Siesta. Looks like it might be Siesta as Lido is limited at this point. I should have started looking a little sooner. Whats happening in the area for July 4th.

The 2 bd 2 bth villas are only $1425. That is usually where we stay (I prefer them to the apartments....I didn't like sharing walls with other people or parking farther away from my front door) and they are within steps of the beach. They are quite nice. Villa 3 and 13 are the ones we usually choose.

Good luck with your search and I hope that you have a wonderful time on your visit!

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by nomosno

Thanks for the tips. Island House is looking like it is out of the budget at $1950. I have multiple inquiries around Lido and Siesta. Looks like it might be Siesta as Lido is limited at this point. I should have started looking a little sooner. Whats happening in the area for July 4th.

It's July 4th and it's the boat races. July 4th in itself will be a busy week.

[jojoboulette]

Originally Posted by nomosno

Thanks for the tips. Island House is looking like it is out of the budget at $1950. I have multiple inquiries around Lido and Siesta. Looks like it might be Siesta as Lido is limited at this point. I should have started looking a little sooner. Whats happening in the area for July 4th.

We're in Siesta right now and I can confirm that Siesta Village is not anything more than a tourist trap. Restaurants are overpriced, most are mediocre. The good ones are in Sarasota, apparently.

That being said, the beach is truly beautiful and very relaxing. We found a 2bed2bath condo with beautiful pool on the gulf side. 3min walk to beach or pool. Clean with AC that works great. $1100 for 10 nights. Prices go upin summer but you can still find places. Def check out vrbo or homeaway. You can get to St Armands pretty easily from SK, assuming you dont want to shop every day. We rented bikes, used taxi service to get off island a few times. Def cheaper than renting a car. SK is a nicer beach than Lido from what I understand.

[Rushmore]

Lido and a vrbo rental is the definite answer, given your criteria.

You will have a huge price and access advantage, coming at the lowest point of the season (the height of off-season?). Edit: didn't realize it was the week of the 4th, but it's still much better than the high season.

If your budget is $1500 for the week, you should be able to find something reasonably nice. With this short notice at this time of year, they want to get them rented, so try to negotiate a little as well (i.e. "waive that $300 cleaning deposit and I will send you a check right now").

The low season is definitely my favorite time of year around here, and not just because it's less crowded. It's impossible not to just relax when you realize that the beauty show was cancelled the moment everyone took a shower, walked outside, and sweated through their clothes. All you'll want to do is stumble from rental to beach and back, with the occasional foray to St. Armand's for lunch or dinner.

Have fun.

[blueherons]

To all of those who think Siesta is a tourist trap, please feel free to hang out elsewhere.

It will make more room for me when I eat at Blase Cafe, SKOB, BlueQ, The Hub, The Cottage or Captain Curts, and they aren't the only ones. My husband and I also find it hard to find a table at SKOB because we like to listen to live music while we eat our oysters. Ditto for the live music at The Beach House.

Many locals live and work on Siesta Key and if it weren't for tourism, I can promise you there'd be very little on Siesta or anywhere else in this city.

Tourism is the number one industry that drives Sarasota. Those places provide incomes for students, heads of households, and people trying to make a living.

To shun an entire area because it is frequented by tourists is stupid because I can promise you locals are there.

[Rushmore]

Originally Posted by blueherons

To all of those who think Siesta is a tourist trap, please feel free to hang out elsewhere.

It will make more room for me when I eat at Blase Cafe, SKOB, BlueQ, The Hub, The Cottage or Captain Curts, and they aren't the only ones. My husband and I also find it hard to find a table at SKOB because we like to listen to live music while we eat our oysters. Ditto for the live music at The Beach House.

Many locals live and work on Siesta Key and if it weren't for tourism, I can promise you there'd be very little on Siesta or anywhere else in this city.

Tourism is the number one industry that drives Sarasota. Those places provide incomes for students, heads of households, and people trying to make a living.

To shun an entire area because it is frequented by tourists is stupid because I can promise you locals are there.

I agree 100% with you on all of this (especially the fact that there is great food and drink to be had [you forgot Gabbiano's]), but on the other hand, it is a person's prerogative to try to avoid crowds and the more touristy aspects of any given place. I grew up in a resort town on the Jersey Shore, and I can assure you--that place makes Siesta Key look like some austere, sophisticated isolated getaway for the rich and powerful.

But that doesn't mean I wouldn't sooner take my family for a week on Little Gasparilla or even just to Lido rather than Siesta Key, especially when it is utter madness.

It's not like people are going to stop going to Siesta Key anytime soon anyway.

[nomosno]

Thanks for feedback. We will be spending time on Siesta as well as Lido. I have not nailed down a place yet. I have been utilizing VRBO for my search; I wish I would have known about this site in the past! Blueherrons thanks for the restaurant list, we will definitely be stopping in at a few.
In some of the home reviews people mention biking to different areas, is this feasible? Can we bike around Siesta or Lido Key?
Thank you, please keep the tips coming!

[jojoboulette]

Originally Posted by blueherons

To all of those who think Siesta is a tourist trap, please feel free to hang out elsewhere.

It will make more room for me when I eat at Blase Cafe, SKOB, BlueQ, The Hub, The Cottage or Captain Curts, and they aren't the only ones. My husband and I also find it hard to find a table at SKOB because we like to listen to live music while we eat our oysters. Ditto for the live music at The Beach House.

Many locals live and work on Siesta Key and if it weren't for tourism, I can promise you there'd be very little on Siesta or anywhere else in this city.

Tourism is the number one industry that drives Sarasota. Those places provide incomes for students, heads of households, and people trying to make a living.

To shun an entire area because it is frequented by tourists is stupid because I can promise you locals are there.

A tourist trap is a tourist trap. Doesn't matter where it is, they are every in the world and they are, in my opinion, a blight on otherwise beautiful areas. There may be a few nice shops here and there but the prices are outrageous. $30 for a toddler's bathing suit? $25 for toddler flip flops? Sorry, that's the definition of tourist trap. And while I understand your point about jobs, the truth is that the restaurants here are subpar given what they are charging. That's pretty typical of tourist traps as well, but I just expected a bit better based on reviews. If the restaurants and shops keep people in jobs, that's great... But there's no reason they couldn't be better quality as well. We paid $140 for two people at The Cottage. The food was nothing exceptional. We tried a few others in the village, they were even worse (although Broken Egg does have a decent breakfast, just skip the horrifialy bad coffee). For that price in many other parts of the world, you can get a very nice meal. We're headed to Sarasota tonight, hopefully we'll find something better.