Sandpiper Inn on Longboat Key is Home-Away-From-Home for Exploring Sarasota
February 8th, 2011 4:31 pm ET.

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.

Veteran inn operators, Christine & Harold Cullison also own the Sandpiper Inn in Spring Lake, New Jersey, an exceptionally charming beachside town on the Atlantic, just about 1 1/2 hours from Manhattan, reachable by train. Before that, they had owned the Four Chimney b'n'b on Rte 9 in Vermont for five years.

Ours is the smallest of the units – a studio, which in the low-season of January runs about $99/night (less by the week or multi-week), but we couldn't be happier or feel cozier. It is furnished with charming wicker furniture.

Totally unpretentious and completely charming. You feel at peace. You don’t need a Tiki bar, just BYO, and sit on beach, beach comb, right outside your door. Here you have a small apartment with all the comforts of home. A no frills hideaway and the beach; serene. Even the keys are quaint -an actual key, not a card.

Walking along the beach, you may well spot dolphins and manatees, rays, blue heron. From March through Oct, you have to keep outside lights off because of nesting sea turtles. Across the road is a small shopping center, and four miles down the Gulf Drive is a Publix (where you should stock up on provisions). Another two miles or so, at the southern end of Longboat Key (where you connect with the causeway to the mainland) is a marvelous "downtown" filled with boutiques and eateries.

The Sandpiper Inn is open year-round and is a non-smoking property; check the website for specials, 5451 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, Florida 34228, 941-383-2552, www.sandpiperinn.com  innkeeper@sandpiperinn.com.

..