 Longboat Key
If your tastes run to wide-open vistas, uncrowded beaches, private communities, and great boating, golfing and tennis opportunities, Longboat Key is for you. The approximately 6-mile long island lies between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and has become an international destination as well as a favorite for visitors and residents from the U.S.
Longboat Key is adjacent to sophisticated St. Armand’s on the south and quaint, quirky Anna Maria Island on the north. The entire length of the island is traversed by the Gulf of Mexico Drive, a scenic boulevard first started by John Ringling in 1925.
As you drive the length of Longboat, you will see many magnificent residential towers on the Gulf beach side, and elegant private homes, some in gated communities, on the Bay side. There are two championship golf courses that comprise the Longboat Key Club as well as numerous yacht basins, for Longboat is a boater’s haven. Upscale shopping and fine dining are found on the island as well.
 Siesta Key
Siesta Key is the antithesis of Longboat. Here you will find a vibrant hum of activity everywhere you look, from Siesta Village with it’s eclectic shops and wide selection of dining venues, to the powdery white sands of world-famous Crescent Beach, filled with happy beach-lovers below and high-flying kites above. Turtle Beach on the south end of the island is another favorite spot, with deeper waters for great swimming.
Here, along Midnight Pass Rd. and Beach Rd. you will find a myriad of resorts, many stretching from the Intercoastal Waterway to the Gulf, offering visitors access to the best of both worlds. If you explore the side streets, you’ll find everything from gulf-front condominiums, to villas and apartments, to magnificent waterfront estates.
But wherever you go on Siesta Key, don’t forget to catch the sunset over the Gulf, a sight of incredible beauty that visitors from the world over have taken home as a cherished memory of this special place.
 Casey Key
Casey Key lies 15 miles south of Sarasota. It stretches from Siesta Key on the north to the Island of Venice on the south. The island was named for Captain John Casey, an Englishman who graduated from West Point with General Robert E. Lee.
The majority of this little gem of an island is a conservation district, established in the early 1970s by the Florida State Legislature. Residential real estate on the key consists almost entirely of stately single-family homes and opulent waterfront estates. Visitors and residents of this lovely little key enjoy the beaches and recreational opportunities on the island. Boating, fishing, picnicking and just soaking up the sun are the favorite activities here.
 Bird Key
Bird Key is known as a boater’s paradise, with it’s own private yacht club, deep-water canals, and spectacular waterfront homes. As one of Sarasota’s outstanding communities, Bird Key is a self-contained island neighborhood with sparkling waters all around. Here you can start your day with a cityscape sunrise over Sarasota Bay and end it with a blazing sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. At night, the Sarasota skyline sparkles like a jewel, connected to Bird Key by the new causeway, opened in January 2004, whose sleek contemporary design itself is dramatically lit at night.
Bird Key is home to a wide variety of people, including doctors, attorneys, entrepreneurs and celebrities. Many live in grand new homes of various architectural styles, while others choose to live in finely renovated vintage Bird Key homes. The glue that binds this community together is it’s geographical compactness and the small-town atmosphere reflected in the friendliness of it’s residents.
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