Ride the Full Length of Siesta Beach at Sunset
Two hours on an electric bike, down the full length of Siesta Key's sand and back, timed so the turnaround lands at sunset. The route pauses 15 minutes at Patriots Point for a flag lowering a local resident leads, then closes with a picnic where the ride began.
Siesta Key runs along the Gulf southwest of downtown Sarasota, and the beach on its western edge is wide enough that walking its length eats most of an afternoon. On an electric bike it is a two-hour round trip with time to stop.
The route covers the entire length of Siesta Beach, turns at Siesta Key Village, and comes back along the waterline to beach access 12. Before any of that you get a tutorial, because a bicycle with a throttle does not behave like the one you learned on.
Duration is fixed at 120 minutes.
The bikes carry five levels of pedal assist and a throttle you can use on demand, so you decide how much of this you actually pedal. The operator rates the ride as suitable for all physical fitness levels. Riders have to be 16 or older.
Siesta Key Electric Bike Sunset Tour120 minutes, fixed, with an English-speaking guide. Bottled water, the electric bike and safety equipment are included. One booking takes up to seven riders, ages 16 to 86.www.viator.comThe route runs the beach end to end, then back
The tour starts on Old Stickney Point Road, on the southern half of the key. After the bike tutorial the group heads straight out to the shoreline, rides the length of Siesta Beach, gets off at Siesta Key Village, and comes back to the beach access where it started.
Riding happens down by the water, on the sand packed hard enough to hold a tire.
- Start and finish are the same lot, so there is no pickup to arrange
- The turnaround is Siesta Key Village
- The guide works in English
A bugle at Patriots Point, and a picnic on the sand
The itinerary sets aside 15 minutes at Patriots Point for a flag lowering. The tour company does not run it. A local resident does. Everyone present gets the chance to call out the name of a service member, past or present, before a bugler plays Taps. Then the group rides the length of the beach back.
The picnic is the other stop. The operator describes it as fresh fruit, wine and cheese, served once the ride is back where it began. It shows up in the itinerary but not in the booking's list of inclusions, so treat it as something the operator throws in.
One more thing worth knowing if you are booking for a teenager: the ride takes riders from 16, and the drinking age in Florida is 21.
The bike does as much of the work as you want
Each bike carries five levels of pedal assist and a throttle on demand. At the top setting you are mostly steering. Turn the assist off and you are pushing a heavy bicycle along a beach, which is a different ride entirely.
That range is why the operator can call this suitable for all physical fitness levels and mean it. The age band runs 16 to 86.
Bottled water comes with the ride, along with the bike and the safety equipment.
Before you book
- Meeting point: the parking lot behind the Crescent market, at the corner of Old Stickney Point Road and Midnight Pass Road. The operator's note says to look behind the store, near the corner
- Parking: a flat USD 5 lot sits just before the park, and that one is on you
- Booking closes 120 minutes before departure, and confirmation is instant
- Tickets are mobile or paper, one per booking
- Cancelling at least 24 hours ahead returns the full fare. Inside 24 hours it returns nothing
- The listing flags weather as a reason the operator may call the ride off
Public transport runs near the meeting point.
Sunset on this stretch pulls a crowd that stops whatever it is doing to watch it happen. You will be out on the sand for it, an hour into the ride, somewhere between the village and the bugle.
Pick a departure, then give yourself time to find the lot behind the market.