Lido Key Florida Hotel Deals and Travel Guide

Visitors to the Sarasota area frequently make Lido Key a part of their vacation plans because of its unique combination of natural and cultural attractions. With the powdery white sands and warm waters that Florida's Gulf Coast is famous for, Lido Key is most famous for surf, sun, and shopping.

Lido Key Florida travel Guide

The southwest Florida barrier island known as Lido Key was purchased by John Ringling (of the famed Ringling Brothers Circus) in 1917. Ringling built a wooden causeway to connect what was then known as St. Armands Key (there is no apostrophe in the name) to the mainland and brought Italian statues from his personal collection to the island. Once Ringling could no longer afford to maintain the causeway, he sold it to the City of Sarasota.

After a period of decline and rebirth in the mid-twentieth century, the shopping and dining district of St. Armands Circle on Lido Key began to take shape. The island features painstakingly manicured landscaping, and at the center of the district is a traffic circle with streets extending out from the main circle like spokes from the hub of a wheel.

The streets of St. Armands Circle are lined with boutique shops, art galleries, outdoor cafes and restaurants, including the Key West themed Hemingway's with plenty of seafood dishes, and a Columbia Restaurant (an offshoot of the Tampa original) featuring Spanish cuisine. Although many of the local shops are decidedly upscale, they are also surprisingly accessible to visitors and residents alike.

Lido Beach is just a half mile away from St. Armands Circle, and is one of three public beaches on the island. In general, Lido Key's beaches are less crowded than Siesta Key to the south, and more open to the public than Longboat Key to the north. No matter where visitors find themselves on Lido Key, they are experiencing a little slice of Gulf Coast paradise.