Prepared for some things to do in Siesta Key? Friend, if you have already Googled Anna Maria Island rentals, booked your next day trip to Siesta Key, and budgeted out your week for some upcoming Siesta Key beaches and Siesta Key restaurants, then you are already a step ahead of the curve. You seem to be locked and loaded for some fun and ready for that next vacation —- nonetheless, there is still something new you can always learn, even if you’ve already read all that you can on Anna Maria Island vacation rentals and everything else Anna Maria Island related.
Learn about everything you can do during your day trip to Siesta Key. You can hopefully catch something you missed or maybe even learn of something you did not think of. All in all, this should help you be all the more prepared for a great vacation! So read on to learn a bit of insight, folks, because every bit counts.
Explore the Beaches
It’s time to talk about Siesta Key Beach, Crescent Beach, and Turtle Beach!
Siesta Key Beach is packed with sun, seagulls, people getting their tans, and a good time overall. If you come for one or more of the above, you are in for a good time. And this beach offers plenty of bathrooms and nearby gift shops, too, to accommodate your every kind of need. You don’t even have to wander too far from the beach either, which is nice. Head out early to find a parking spot…. first come, first serve!
Crescent Beach holds some of the cleanest, most crystal-clear beach water you will ever find in this region; it is, as a matter of fact, probably the cleanest of the three beaches on the entire coastline. (The Siesta Key coastline includes Siesta Key Beach, Crescent Beach, and Turtle Beach.) Opinions vary as to which is the best beach of the three, but none dare disagrees that Crescent Beach holds the purest water. This beach is secluded and offers the most privacy, also. If you want to escape the hustle and bustle, this is the spot for you!
Turtle Beach is a beach that many like to call a ‘collector’s beach,’ and many people call it this because you can collect all kinds of different seashells —- by color, by size, by weight, and by overall look. The sand on this beach, from top to bottom, is riddled with seashells, so they recommend you walk around on it wearing flip flops, sandals, or shoes (and not just plain barefooted, as you can cut your foot if you step on seashell cracks).
Great Things to Do
No trip to Siesta Key would be complete without visiting Siesta Key Village. This little village is the happy man’s crib, as some like to say, a real go-to gold mine when it comes to all things Siesta Key. You will see every type of café, bar, shop, restaurant, and more as you walk around. And at the same time, it is all kept neatly and compactly in a small acreage type of area that can be traversed by foot. How convenient is it that you get to explore the whole thing, for once, without having to worry about finding a place to park, slow traffic as you drive through the area, or even a long-distance walk from the nearest AMI hotel? Super convenient.
Book Your Anna Maria Island Rental
AMI vacation rentals are the best they can be when you use Lizzie Lu’s. Whether you want 1 to 2 or 3 to 4, we have them at the best prices for bedroom sizes. Ask our team about your next booking!
At the Siesta Key Drum Circle, there’s no judgment. Dance as poorly (or as nicely) as you know-how, and the people here will still love you for it. You can attend the ongoing Drum Circle when you are here at AMI and find yourself integrating with a loving culture that will seem to accept you for just who you are (and no one else). To promote a spirit of unity and overall peace, people come together here and dance as in a circle. And yes, drums are played as they do so.
To explore Siesta Key to its fullest, consider bike rentals! There are a few bike trails that you can easily take up, and in case you are not sure where to start or end, feel free to ask one of the locals at a shop or at the info booth to help you out. They know the whole area and can tell you the best shortcuts to and fro, by bike. Renting a bike out here is relatively cheap, as well, depending on which provider you use. You can pay a day rate for a bike. And the streets are super friendly and laid-back, so traffic congestion more than likely won’t be an issue as you’re riding around.
Dining
It’d be a shame not to talk about The Cottage, Summer House Steak & Seafood, and Meaney’s Mini Donuts & Coffee House.
Let’s start with The Cottage. “Be Social, Eat Local” is their main catchphrase, one that catches on rapidly around here…. all sorts of visitors are often heard repeating it. This place has a huge lunch menu with lots of selections and a dinner menu of its own, too. Heck, it even offers an entire page just for drink options! For that, they have cocktails, brewed drinks on tap, bubbly or sparkly drinks, bottled or canned drinks, and even “Mocktails” (which are like mock cocktails, in a sense, and are ideal for those who want to stay away from alcohol).
Next, Summer House Steak & Seafood has earned the 2020 Traveler’s Choice (yes, TripAdvisor gave it that), so this place has to be checked out. Do not miss going here even if it’s the last stop you make on your way back to the airport! This is the steak house of all steak houses in this area, some say, and it has some of the best oysters that you can ever stick in your hungry mouth, to be frank. You get them by the half-dozen here, and they come either broiled or raw however you like best.
Photo from Pixabay
It’s hard to miss Meaney’s Mini Donuts & Coffee House. There’s a big yellow sign in the air, with big, bolded, black letters. Meaney’s is here to get all donut lovers’ attention and keep it! If you love donuts and especially mini donuts, then Meaney’s is just for you. They also serve up different kinds of delicious coffee, such as specialty house ice coffee, espresso, latte, and more. Plus, they have got an excellent little selection of ice creams, too, in case you want something else to munch on after that small order of mini donuts. Try this place out!
Directions to Siesta Key
It’s time to talk about directions from Anna Maria Island to Siesta Key. So, for directions to Siesta Key, your best friend ever is Google Maps or Apple Maps. If you type in both cities as your starting and ending points on the map, what you will find is that the whole distance to Siesta Key is about 45 minutes (28.5 miles appx.). The fastest way to get out there is to grab a car and hop on the highway known as FL-64 and take it Eastward to US-301 S. This ought to take you in the direction of Sarasota, which is straight south passing Siesta Drive. Continue right on it until you get to Midnight Pass ROAD (not Street or Drive), at which point you turn sharp left. Now you’re in Siesta Key!
