LIDO BEACH
Located on Lido Key, one half mile southwest of St. Armand's Circle.

NORTH LIDO BEACH
The beach is easy to get to and very private.

SOUTH LIDO BEACH
Located at the southern tip of Lido Key. The park is bordered by four bodies of water; The Gulf of Mexico, Big Pass, Sarasota Bay, and Brushy Bayou. The southern beach portion of the park offers views of the skyline of downtown Sarasota and the Gulf.

LONGBOAT KEY BEACH
Stretching the entire length of the key, secluded and a good place for shelling.

CASEY KEY BEACHES
Nokomis Beach is located on Casey Key directly west of the Albee Road Bridge.

NORTH JETTY PARK
Located on the southern tip of Casey Key. One of the best places on the west coast of Florida for surfing. It's a popular spot for fishing and a great place to watch the boats pass through the jetties from the Intracoastal to the Gulf.

SIESTA KEY BEACH
Offers the most pristine white sand in the world.  Voted as One of “America’s Best Beaches” (see below); “Third Best Walking Beach in the USA” by USA Today International Edition; and “The Best of the Best Sand” by Conde Nast Traveler

TURTLE BEACH
Located at the southern end of Siesta Key, less populated and a great shelling beach.

CRESCENT BEACH
Located Located  just south of Siesta Key Public Beach, it stretches for about one and a half miles toward Point of Rocks a favorite of scuba divers.

PALMER POINT BEACH
Begins at the southern tip of Siesta Key and continues onto the north end of Casey Key.

April 20, 2003
SIESTA NAMED "BEST SAND BEACH IN AMERICA"

A film crew from the Travel Channel was on Siesta Key on April 6 to shoot footage for a one-hour television show called "America's Best Beaches," which will air on a future date.  Siesta Key was chosen to the elite list by a panel of beach experts reviewing criteria such as cleanliness, sand quality and surrounding areas.

In addition to filming Siesta Key's dazzling white sand - made up of ancient quartz crystals worn smooth by time - the cable television crew asked beachgoers why Siesta's sand should be rated America's very best.  Their answers echoed what every local beach lover knows:  Siesta Key's sugar-fine sand is clean, powder-soft to the touch, free of shell particles and cool on the feet.

"This beautiful, wide beach has something for beach lovers of all ages," said John McCarthy, manager of Sarasota County Parks and Recreation Department.  "[It boasts] the greatest sand anywhere, leading to the clear blue water of the Gulf of Mexico, with shade trees and creational areas nearby."

Also interviewed was professional sand sculptor Mark Mason of Team Sandtastic, "Of all the places in the world I've worked and competed, Siesta Key is the absolute best for creating works of art in the sand," Mason said.

Students from the Ringling School of Art and Design were filmed creating sand sculptures for the segment, along with volleyball players, children, musicians and dancers from Siesta Key's popular Sunday night Crum Circle, and scenes of Siesta Village via the Siesta Key Island Trolley.

The Travel Channel is an international television network that is part of the Discovery Networks.  It is seen in nearly 50 million homes in the United States alone.

This isn't the first time Siesta Key Beach has been ranked among the best.  Last year, the Travel Channel rated it as one of Florida's top 10 beaches.  In a recent readership poll by USA Today, more than 3,000 people across the country named Siesta Key as one of the top three U.S. beaches.  In 1987, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution gave Siesta Beach the designation of having "the whitest, finest beach sand in the world" out of more than 30 entries worldwide, a title that still stands today.

Conde Nast Traveler Magazine also ranked Siesta Key Beach's sand being "the best of the best" in 1999.