St. Armand's Circle, Sarasota

I should admit it. Lying in the sun and looking for perfectly-shaped butterfly seashells was the ultimate way to spend the blissful two days in Sarasota. But needless to say, after a lazy morning at the beach, it got boring pretty quickly. With quick research, what are the other places to see in the area, St. Armands Circle made the list of seven must-sees. About the other six, you can read here.

 
The Circle of high-end restaurants, luxury stores, art galleries, old-fashioned confectioneries and souvenir shops. It's all there. The Renaissance statues from Ringling's collection, Mediterranean-looking restaurants, spectacular bay's views when crossing the Ringling bridge, melting bright lollipops at the local art gallery and the peanut butter ice cream in a fresh-made waffle cone made my visit.

Even if you don't have some cash to burn, it's still a great place to visit for window shopping, people watching and a few scoops of an ice cream perfection from Kilwins on a nice breezy evening. Early evening is the best time to visit, so you can enjoy a beautiful sunset over the bay. Crossing the causeway is a marvelous ride in itself.

Heads up, parking can be a bit of a pain on weekends and holidays. Most parking spaces have hourly meters.

It's a classy area with the park in the middle with plenty of seating where you could happily spend an evening listening to live music from the nearby restaurants and making small talk with the beautiful people.