South Lido Park is located at the southern point of Lido Key and minutes from Lido Beach Sarasota Florida. This little park is directly across from Siesta Key which is rated as one of the top five beaches in the world.
South Lido Park has everything you need to enjoy a day at the beach. The park has excellent amenities for a county park. There is a beautiful picnic area under Australian pine trees with grills throughout to cook those hot dogs and hamburgers. The beach has plenty of area for swimming, fishing, and you can collect some of the coolest shells around. This is also a great place to watch the boats come through Big Sarasota Pass between the bay and the gulf.
It was a little to cold on the day the pictures were taken to go into the water, but there was a lot of people still sunbathing on the white fine sandy beach.
Want a place to watch a beach sunset? This is the place. We didn’t stay long enough to get images on this day, but I’ve been here during the summer on a boat parked on the sand bar. This is on of the worlds best beach sunset you will ever experience. Very romantic.
This county park is a great no thrills place to launch a kayak and take the family for the day. Plenty of parking is available and you don’t have to walk far to get to both the beach and picnic area. The amenities and restrooms were wonderful and clean.
How do you get to South Lido Park? Really easy. From State Highway 41 in downtown Sarasota, you want to take the John Ringling Bridge across the bay to St. Armands Circle. Once at St. Armands Circle, yes you need to go about half way around the circle and follow the signs for Lido Beach and Ben Franklin Drive. Stay on Ben Franklin Drive until you cannot drive anymore. A word of caution, if you haven’t been to St. Armands Circle, you should stop on your way back from the park. Another great place in Sarasota to take a stroll to shop and eat. That is another story.
Hope you have fun and please provide your comments if you do visit. We love to hear about your experiences.
One of my favorite places, South Lido Park offers a great range of opportunities for relaxation and activity at no or a very reasonable cost. Acessibility from Sarasota via St Armands is both simple and interesting. The contrast to the cultural centre of Sarasota and the more commercial cirty centre is like sitting back with a cold beer after a hard day at the ffice.
As a native Sarasotan, this was one of my favorite places to go to get away from the crowds. It was a lot different then, completely wild and natural. It’s been turned into a nice little park to be sure, but oh how I long for the old days and how it used to be.
Hi Turner, I think most places in Sarasota have are not what they used to be. I remember coming down in 1972 to visit my Grandparents. The areas was so much more peaceful and tranquil with a lot less people, or should I say, people that cared about each other. South Lido Beach today is a nice little park and is great even just for a few hours of fun.