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Sarasota Bay

Sarasota

A mecca for the arts, Sarasota has popular beaches on its barrier islands and a surprising amount of green space

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Contents

  • 1 Resources
  • 2 Exploring Sarasota
    • 2.1 Myakka River State Park
    • 2.2 Myakka Hiking Trail
  • 3 Featured Trails and Parks near Sarasota
    • 3.1 South Creek and Lester Finley Trails
    • 3.2 Historic Spanish Point
    • 3.3 Myakka River Canopy Walk
    • 3.4 Sleeping Turtles Preserve North
    • 3.5 Celery Fields
    • 3.6 Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
    • 3.7 Lake Osprey Trail
    • 3.8 Urfer Family Park
    • 3.9 Joan M. Durante Community Park
  • 4 Articles
    • 4.1 Florida’s Best Urban Parks
    • 4.2 Historic Spanish Point

Resources

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover 50 Hikes in South Florida book cover Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us continue to provide public information on this website.


Exploring Sarasota

Sarasota is known for its beaches. It has coastal hiking trails that show off Sarasota Bay and the estuaries, and paddling routes to follow along the protected side of the barrier islands.

It also is the northern terminus of the Legacy Trail, which stretches along the former Atlantic Coast Line route that the Ringling Brothers Circus once took to its winter home in Venice.

To its east is a large swath of natural lands protecting the Myakka River floodplain. Foremost among these is Myakka River State Park, a well-established state park with great camping and historic cabins.

Backpackers have one of the state’s longest backpacking loops to explore on the Myakka Hiking Trail amid wide open prairies and oak hammocks.

Myakka Canopy Walk Tower

Myakka River State Park

With tall waving grasses, saw palmetto, and the sound of birds, Myakka River State Park is Florida’s Big Sky country, blanketing more than 28,000 acres east of Sarasota

Sunrise at Bee Island

Myakka Hiking Trail

For immersion in the vast central prairies of the Florida peninsula, the 39-mile Myakka Hiking Trail is a serious backpacking destination in South Florida near Sarasota


Featured Trails and Parks near Sarasota

Oscar Scherer South Creek

South Creek and Lester Finley Trails

South Creek and Lester Finley Trails

Historic Spanish Point

Historic Spanish Point
Myakka Canopy Walk Bridge

Myakka River Canopy Walk

Myakka River Canopy Walk
Sleeping Turtles Preserve North slough

Sleeping Turtles Preserve North

Sleeping Turtles Preserve North
Wetlands at Celery Fields

Celery Fields

Celery Fields
Marie Selby Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Lake Osprey Trail

Lake Osprey Trail

Lake Osprey Trail
Picnic shelter at Urfer Family Park

Urfer Family Park

Urfer Family Park
Boardwalk through mangroves

Joan M. Durante Community Park

Joan M. Durante Community Park
 
More Trails More Parks


Articles

Oleta River State Park

Florida’s Best Urban Parks

October 27, 2016//  by Sandra Friend & John Keatley

When you live in a tightly packed space, you need somewhere green as your go-to place nearby. These are our top picks for parks in Florida’s urban areas, chosen for their diversity of outdoor activities and/or their unique green spaces.

Historic Spanish Point

December 7, 2013//  by Sandra Friend

At Spanish Point, scents hang heavy in the morning air: a moonflower in the act of closing for the day, the sweetness of citrus blossoms, the purple morning-glory clambering over mangroves, the brush of salt breezes.


INCLUDES: Fruitville, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Siesta Key, St. Armands | NEARBY: Arcadia, Bradenton, Osprey, Venice | PART OF: Southwest Florida

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