Sandpiper Inn on Longboat Key is ideal Home-Away-From-Home for Families Exploring Sarasota

[Travel Features Syndicate]

Photo: © 2011 Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

You step through an archway and all you see are neat, lush gardens with lounge chairs set in a row, and beach and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico beyond, and your immediate reaction is "aaaahhh."

it is just the place you might imagine staying if you were writing your novel, an oasis of serenity and peace.

The Sandpiper Inn may have started out in the 1960s as a motel, but it bears little resemblance whatsoever. Each unit - studio, one or two bedroom - is more of its own cottage, with its own garden, lounge chair, table and chairs, and small stone walkway leading to the door. Not like a door to a motel, but a door to a home. And that is what each unit is.

It is no wonder that there are "regulars" who come each year for a month or so (Canadians especially), losing themselves on one of the most secluded tropical beach settings on Longboat Key. They greet you as new neighbors, not transitory guests, making you feel that much more comfortable and cozy.

You take two causeways from Sarasota to get to Longboat Key, which, for all its modern, luxury condominiums that loom over the beach, has a surprisingly residential and low-key ambiance.

Open year-round, Sandpiper Inn offers just 11 units (studios, one and two-bedroom), with fully equipped kitchen, free WiFi, a flat-screen TV with cable and DVD. There are laundry facilities nearby. there is a small pool (11 x 20) which is better suited for aquacize than for swimming. There is also a communal barbecue and a pavilion with tables and chairs that can accommodate an extended family, and lounge chairs are provided on the beach. The landscaped walkway has a decorative waterfall fountain.

The Sandpiper Inn epitomizes Old Florida, that charming, unpretentious, easy-going casual feeling that brought people here in the first place.

 

And it's ideal for families looking for a comfortable, cozy, value place on the Gulf, with access to fantastic attractions...Read more... and see slideshow.