Following our story on the best new restaurants opening in 2024our USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida dining and entertainment team is now turning its attention to a Forbes article.
Forbes Travel Guide’s “Top 12 Destinations for 2025” highlights destinations around the world. “From Asheville to Amsterdam, these hot spots should be on next year’s itinerary,” reads the article published in early December by the famous American business magazine founded in 1917.
The list includes destinations spanning South Asia, North Africa and Australia. Several vacation spots in the United States are also featured, including a small, relatively obscure island in Florida.
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Longboat Key Named to Forbes List of World's 12 Best Travel Destinations for 2025
Following the recent announcement that one of Longboat Key's most popular and acclaimed restaurants — Dry Dock Waterfront Grill, overlooking Sarasota Bay — has made OpenTable List of America's 100 Best Restaurants for 2024The entire barrier island earned a coveted spot in Forbes Travel Guide's “Top 12 Destinations for 2025.”
While Longboat Key spans part of Sarasota and Manatee counties on Florida's west coast, the Forbes article focuses on the Sarasota side, specifically The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort. Opened in August, the luxury hotel overlooks a private white-sand beach and the Gulf of Mexico, offering guests spacious rooms with coastal accents, several waterfront restaurants and bars, and a spa offering various signature treatments .
Waterfront Restaurant in Sarasotanamed one of America's 100 Best Restaurants by OpenTable
Beachfront hotel in Sarasota, St. Regiswith waterfront restaurants now open
Forbes calls Longboat Key a 'quiet barrier island off the coast of Sarasota'
Forbes notes that “whatever your travel motivation—from Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans to Amsterdam's 750th anniversary—you'll find a place to visit” on its list of top destinations for 2025.
Longboat Key is described as a “quiet barrier island off the coast of Sarasota.”
“Here, visitors will discover 12 miles of white sand beaches, turquoise waters and nature preserves,” writes Forbes contributor Jennifer Kester. “But the secret is out with the opening of the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort, the brand’s only hotel to debut in the United States in 2024 and the island’s largest development in 50 years.”
Where is Longboat Key?
Longboat Key, a barrier island along Florida's west-central coast, spans Manatee and Sarasota counties. Nestled between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is just south of Anna Maria Island. The island was divided between the two counties when Sarasota County separated from Manatee County in 1921.
Split almost equally between the two counties, Longboat Key was incorporated as a town in 1955 and is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan area. The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort is located approximately six miles northwest of downtown Sarasota and its famous Bayfront Park.
What is the average room rate at the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort?
The St. Regis occupies the premier property on Longboat Key that was once home to the famous Colony Beach and Tennis Resort and has begun construction. about three years ago. Today, it offers guests a beachfront getaway spanning 18 acres and 800 feet of private beach.
The 168-room complex, temporarily closed following minimal damage caused by hurricanes Hélène and Miltonalso includes several pools and cabanas, a winding waterway, and a saltwater lagoon wildlife experience that includes stingrays, turtles, and tropical fish. The average room rate is $1,200, according to information provided by The St. Regis when it opened.
Can the public dine at the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort?
The resort features four main dining venues: CW Prime steakhouse, Northern Italian restaurant Riva, Latin American restaurant Aura and the Asian fusion rooftop lounge, Oshen.
There is also the St. Regis Bar, the Monkey Bar and the hotel's café, Caroline's. All restaurants and bars are open to the public, except Oshen, which is reserved for hotel guests and St. Regis members.
Wade Tatangelo is a story editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Florida regional dining and entertainment editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram And X. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com.
