We went to Longboat Key at the urging of friends from England who got a bayside place through their time share exchange. We were fortunate enough to get a week on the gulf side at Veranda. It was an incredible time! Our huge balcony faced east, so we had a view of tennis courts, the main thoroughfare, and a large pond - but that was no problem. The rooms were spacious and comfortable and we had plenty of room for entertaining our guests from England. During our stay we took advantage of the free bicycles and fishing rods (we caught flounder from the pier 50 yards down the beach - "quick, go get some butter from the Publix across the street!" Hubby was back in 10 minutes - talk about convenient - and delicious!) On the days when the wind and waves were not stirring up the ocean floor, you could see beautiful schools of fish. I did get hit by a sting ray on the foot when I was so excited to show my daughter some sea life that I wasn't paying attention - incredibly painful, so be careful and shuffle your feet. Our friends on the bayside did have manatees in their cove, which was really neat, but we all agreed that the Veranda was the place to be!

We visited friends staying at Veranda Beach Club for 1 week during June. 2/2 condo has a nice split layout, large balcony, plesant furnishings, plenty of kitchen space for entertaining. Second floor, mid section of the building was quiet & comfortable. Beach is nice, but not sugar white sand such as Anna Maria or Siesta Key. Certainly nice though with beach loungers & umbrellas provided. Loved the Hobie cat sailboats for guest use! Great Longboat location, close to shopping, walk to grocery, access to downtown, marinas, etc. The drawback: Pool area is partially covered at beachfront lower level, therefore can be very loud if lots of screaming kids are present with parents who ignore them.

My wife and I decided to take our mothers on a week long vacation with our 1 year old. The two bedrooms and pullout sofa came in handy. The beach is beautiful and the sand is made up of fine grains. The beach club provides umbrellas and lounge chairs which made for comfortable days on the beach. The pool is also half under cover so you can retreat from the sun while swimming during the mid day. Furnishings are a little dated but accceptable. We liked having a kitchen to cook in and also liked having access to gas grill for grilling. The supermarket across the street was a plus as well.

This is a timeshare resort and dedicated owners so this place does not get a lot of reviews, so I'm writing this a year after my stay because I wish I was there right now! In one word I LOVE this place, and would highly recommend and stay there again in a second. We were in a 3rd floor front right 2/2 condo, the floors are approximately 3x3, so a block of 9 and the front corner units are the best for a view and large open verandas! The front and side corners were ALL windows / sliders that opened with the most amazing wind or breeze coming in, the unit was very open for the very nicely appointend living / dining room area. It is a very large unit - the master is huge, the other bedroom is on the other side of the unit with the bathroom right off the room. Would be perfect for 2 couples, you would not feel cramped. The verandas has plastic patio furniture - we used the placemats and had homemade breakfast every moning! The kitchen is very small however includes almost everything you would want for a week depending on how much you cook - we cooked alot and brought a lot of our own must haves (nice knives or tongs) but no complaints, except it was so small that a drawer had trouble coming all the way out. The fridge has an ice maker ;) We made our own drinks or bottle of wine and carried them out to the beach ... the beach at the Vernda Beach Club is the best appointed for as far as we could walk, North and South - they not only have really nice Cabana style lawnchairs, they also provide Kayaks and a Sailboat catamaran thing for no extra charge. It was also nice to have the pool and hot tub right there. The resort is small, mostly older adults, a few children where there during our stay but they really had to amuse themselves and were very respectful of adults etc. The Publix shopping center is right across the way, you could walk if you wanted and there is a liquor store in the plaza but not much else. The Wi-Fi was good, reception for our Verizon and AT&T cells was good. Oh and I called a local massage therapist and she came to our room, and gave us each an in unit massage. With the sliding doors open and the sounds of the ocean it was great! Very professional. We really didn't interact with the staff at the Veranda, we did attend the informational breakfast one morning and it was a nice way of meeting some of the fellow guests that week, having some really nice free donuts, cakes and fruit, juice and coffee. The information was NOT about the timeshare although I heard a rep was onsite with a list of available weeks but you would have to make the first move. The information was about things to do in the area. We did rent a boat from the local marina and explored the Bay side - we would recommend this activity too. During our stay, we enjoyed Longboat Key and the Sarasota area so much we even stopped in at a realtor to get info on available condo's. No purchases were made ;) Last but not least, parking was very convienent and using the BBQ(s, 2 of them) was easy too - just prep everything you need and take it and a cold drink out, maybe your cell incase you forget something and have your partner bring it down LOL