SIESTA KEY BEACH

"When it comes to white, powdery sand, nothing compares with Siesta Key, Florida. That's why Siesta Key beach has won accolades for many years from  “Dr. Beach,” Stephen P. Leatherman, a professor of environmental studies at Florida International University.

This quirky, yet beautiful barrier island off the coast of Sarasota boasts turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico let you know that you are in a tropical paradise, and since the beach faces West every night has a magical sunset.

"It’s clean, it’s dazzling white and it feels like confectioner’s sugar. Why? It’s the quartz. A study of Siesta Key beach sand by Harvard University’s geology department found that the sand was 99 percent pure quartz grains, ultimately derived from the southern Appalachian Mountains. Over millenniums, sand grains were carried by rivers into the Gulf and down Florida’s coast. Those quartz grains are very fine, without any coral or shell fragments, which results in sand with a soft, flour-like texture.

Quartz sand comes from igneous rock, the kind of rock that once was molten. Quartz is a very hard substance, graded at 7 on a hardness scale of 10. Diamonds are rated 10 on this scale. Minerals of hardness 7 cannot be scratched with the point of a steel knife. The most common such substance is granite."

~ Quoted from a Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce Flyer

Siesta Village is a hub of island activity. There are plenty of restaurants, shops, a food market, ice cream parlors, water sport and bike rental places, and fun hip nightlife. It has everything a perfect vacation could need, and with all the different free rides offered there's no worry about where to park. All our favorite places and things to do are listed on our favorites page at the top.