Although the curtain has fallen on The Greatest Show on Earth, The Ringling Museum still enchants visitors young and old, along with the town’s other cultural riches. The soft sandy beaches have also attracted a wide range of vacationers to its shores amid central Florida’s stunning west coast.

Here palm trees sit beside high-rises and contemporary orchestras and theatres give the region’s musicians and actors a cultural home. Brave souls can soar through the skies on a parasail adventure over Siesta Key.

There are also plenty of kayak eco-tours and windsurfing amid the area’s calmer beaches and protected waters.

Sports lovers can watch the Baltimore Orioles train in the spring at Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium, while golfers have their pick of challenging championship courses, all with a view.

The fun continues long past each miraculous sunset in the area’s lively nightclubs, comedy clubs, and festive saloons. Whoever said, “life is hardly a day at the beach,” probably never experienced the surrounding islands and majesty of Sarasota.