Longboat Key Travel Guide
Longboat Key is located on Florida’s Gulf Coast just south of the Tampa beckoning beachgoers and vacationers with miles and miles of white sugar sand beach. If you and your family are searching for the unique upscale Florida vacation, Longboat Key is your destination.
Stretching between the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico and serene Sarasota Bay, locals and visitors enjoy beautiful Longboat Key sunrises and spectacular Longboat Key sunsets. The waters that surround Longboat Key are home to manatee, dolphins, fish, pelicans, osprey, and a variety of shorebirds. Click Here for the best deals on Longboat Key Hotels!
Longboat Key offers a wide variety of activities such as shelling, biking, shopping, fishing, and golfing on Longboat Key’s two championship golf courses with over 50 more golf courses in surrounding Tampa Bay area.
If deep-sea fishing is part of your Longboat Key vacation fishing boat charters, with or without a captain, are available as are boat and wave runner rentals. The Gulf waters offer plenty of opportunities for scuba diving, snorkeling, or just relaxing while floating on an air mattress.
Longboat Key shops and restaurants are mainly located on the north end of the island. The Sarasota area offers a wide variety of shopping opportunities from national retail chains to upscale local shops and stores.
Longboat Key Visitor and Vacation Information – Weather, Information, Map
Information to help you plan your Longboat Key vacation including statistics, weather information, and helpful Longboat Key links.
Longboat Key is located at 27°23′49″N 82°38′41″W / 27.39694°N 82.64472°W / 27.39694; -82.64472 (27.396931, -82.644751)[4]. It is north of St. Armands Key, with its circle of shopping and dining, and Lido Key, and south of Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, and Anna Maria, which are located on adjacent Anna Maria Island.
The nearby cities of Sarasota and Bradenton and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport round out Longboat Key’s varied list of geographic amenities. Gulf of Mexico Drive runs the length of the island, with ancillary boulevards branching off to residential neighborhoods. From some locations, one can see both Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. At other points, the island widens and accommodates various homes owned both singly and in condominiums, hotels, and sports clubs.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 17.1 square miles (44.2 km²), of which, 4.9 square miles (12.7 km²) of it is land and 12.1 square miles (31.5 km²) of it (71.18%) is water.
Gulf of Mexico Drive, also referred to as State Road 789, is the only main thoroughfare and runs north-south through the island. The Town is accessed by bascule (draw) bridges, from the south by New Pass Bridge connecting Longboat Key and Lido Key and Longboat Pass Bridge on the north connecting Longboat Key to Anna Maria Island. Both bridges connect to secondary roads to the mainland in each county which leads to major regional facilities, including Interstate 75, US 41, and US 301. These regional facilities provide access to Bradenton and Tampa to the north and Sarasota, Fort Myers, and Naples to the south.
Longboat Key Restaurants, Bars and Nightlife
Longboat Key has a wide variety of restaurants, bars, and nightlife from Four Star to “Mom and Pop” bars and grills.
Below is a listing of the better known Longboat Key eateries and places to have a cold beverage. Be sure to take the time to taste the local fare.
Euphemia Haye Restaurant – 5540 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Longboat Key
“A Classic American and Romantic Restaurant”
euphemiahaye.com
Pattigeorge’s Restaurant – 4120 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Longboat Key
American regional favorites, Italian traditions, exotic Asian flavors, and exciting Caribbean and Latin American nuances.
pattigeorges.com
Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant – 760 Broadway St., Longboat Key
Come by Land or by Sea and Enjoy a Taste of Old Florida
groupersandwich.com
Chart House Restaurant – 201 Gulf of Mexico Dr # 12, Longboat Key
American cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood, with additional steak and chicken entrees.
chart-house.com
The Monkey Room at The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort – 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive
The Colony Dining Room has received its 12th consecutive Golden Spoon Award from Florida Trend magazine – an honor reserved for only the finest, consistently superior restaurants in the state!
colonybeachresort.com
Harry’s Continental Kitchens – 525 St Judes Drive, Longboat Key
Harry’s Continental Kitchens restaurant on Longboat Key, Florida is fine dining at its best.
harryskitchen.com
Dry Dock Waterfront Grill – 412 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Longboat Key
The Dry Dock features casual indoor & outdoor dining overlooking Sarasota Bay.
drydockwaterfrontgrill.com
Mattison’s Steak House – 525 Bay Isles Pkwy, Longboat Key
Three delightfully different restaurants with live music, indoor/outdoor, waterfront dining and daily specials.
mattisons.com
Cafe on The Bay – 5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key
A relaxed attitude paired with a sleek new larger interior makes Cafe on The Bay Side an unforgettable gem nestled between the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay.
cafeonthebay.com
Blue Dolphin Cafe – 5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive Suite 101, Longboat Key
Our menu consists of freshly prepared breakfast and lunch fare with daily specials prepared by our Culinary Institute graduates.
bluedolphincafe.com
Longboat Key Fishing Charters, Golf, Boat Rentals, and Things to Do
Longboat Key offers visitors and vacationers a variety of activities to fill there days in paradise. Golf, tennis, deep-sea fishing, boat rentals, beach weddings, and more and nearby and affordable.
Longboat Key Beach Weddings
Florida Beach Weddings, it’s all about couples who want to show how much they love each other. It’s a celebration to be remembered for a lifetime. This is your day and you deserve to have the best. Your day has to be special and a Longboat Key Beach Wedding is that special place to start your lives together.
As the wedding location, Longboat Key enhances and gives physical evidence of the blissful union, your selection of the location is of great importance. Enjoy the beautiful weather here in Bradento Beach. It is a wonderful place to have your Ceremony AND your Honeymoon…. very few towns can claim as much as Longboat Key. We hope that you will enjoy it as much as we do.
A beautiful Florida beach wedding site may be something that includes sugar-white sand beaches, glorious Florida sunshine or sugar white beach sand and a soft Gulf wind blowing as seagulls swoop overhead. the Longboat Key area offers many venues and facilities for you to have a memorable wedding event and it won’t always cost you the down payment on your house to orchestrate.