Our stay was better than expected! When booking I thought we needed to be on the Gulf side, but it was SO much nicer and quieter on the bay side. The traffic is pretty insane on Gulf Drive so we were very pleasantly surprised to enjoy the peace and quiet looking out over Sarasota Bay; you couldn't hear the road noise at all! If we'd chosen a property on Gulf Drive, I can't imagine sitting on the balcony looking at long lines of cars with the beach over the road.
Our stay was amazing and we had more than we needed in the condo; laundry supplies, beach towels, comfy beach chairs (only thing missing was a beach umbrella, but we brought our own), cleaning supplies, TP, paper towels.. all the 'extra' things you don't want to pack or don't want to rush out an buy straight away. Did I mention spices for cooking? There was an amazing assortment of oils and spices available, previous guests for this property are very generous.
We would stay here again for sure, it truly was perfect for our family of 6. Our 19yr old son slept on the sleeper sofa, and triplet 16yr old girls in the twin bedroom (we brought an air mattress). The condo itself was updated and beautifully decorated.
Thoughts for our next visit:
Fly down, uber from Sarasota. Rent bikes for getting around (much quicker than car, easy parking and there are no hills), possibly rent a golf cart. Buy a cheap beach umbrella when we get there.
TO DO, walking distance from condo:
Coretz beach market (Wed & Sun) was amazing
Leffis Key Preserve - Opposite Cortez Beach, lovely walk, great fossilized shells
Beach walks - lots of shells!
Smooq House - killer sandwiches
French Crepery breakfast on Bridge street
AMOB - Anna Maria Oyster Bar - long wait, they do not take reservations. we walked down, put our names down and walked back to condo along beach while waiting. Great food.
So much more to do than time to do it in!
Great place, cannot wait to go back!