We went on a Monday when the gardens and art museum was free and wow did it deliver. We started by walking the gardens and around the porch at Ca d’Zan taking in the beautiful views. Then we proceeded to the art museum and were blown away by not just the pieces but the architectural pieces they brought as well. The recordings on the website were really fun and helpful for those that prefer listening to reading, I just wish that there were a few more of them.

My husband and I bought the tickets which included The Circus and Art Museums and a tour of Ca’D’Zan (the historic mansion of John and Mable Ringling). The tour started in the morning, a short time after our arrival. We leisurely strolled up to the mansion and stopped at Mable’s lovely rose garden on our way. The Mediterranean mansion was wonderfully designed and breathtaking from the outside as it sits overlooking Sarasota Bay. Susan, our tour guide was enthusiastic and made our inside tour memorable. We saw a glimpse of the Ringling’s glamorous lifestyle. We experienced the first floor entertainment rooms and their glorious furnishings. We also were able to go up the marble spiral staircase to see John and Mable’s lavish bedrooms and a guest room as well. After our wonderful tour, we went to the Circus Museums and were impressed at all the amazing artifacts from the Big Top. The miniature circus set up was extraordinary! I loved all the circus cars and advertisements. It reminded me of long ago, when the circus came to town and how exciting it was for the people to experience it! We spent so much time of our day in these places, that we never got to the Art Museum. So, it gives us an excuse to come back to visit!

Decided to visit based on my friend's recommendation. There is so much to see! The miniture display was so detailed and really fascinating! Leave yourself plenty of time. We also toured the first floor of the mansion. Beautiful!

Beautiful Venetian mansion on the water with amazing water views. Wonderful art gallery with famous painters such as Rubens. The courtyard is stunning with European statutes in it. I enjoyed sitting there and just looking at the statues. Restaurant is wonderful with the chef from Italy.

Visited with family of grandmother, mom and dad, 3 college students and 1 HS student. Museum grounds a very pretty. There are three things to see: the mansion built by John Ringling, the Ringling art museum with renaissance, Asian, and some modern art, and the Circus museum. The circus museum is probably the most interesting actually. Allow a few hours.

We exited I-75 with the intent to drive through Sarasota's historic district. We did get a good look at this quaint town and headed north on US 41 Tamiami Trail. As we began to research the location of The Ringling Museum online we stumbled upon it. Parking was free and plentiful. Senior pricing for the museums (excluding the house) was $23. We headed straight to "The Big Top" where we saw a great video about The Ringling tent circus. A hall with digital copies of circus posters followed. We then entered a 360 degree diorama containing a huge model of a tent circus that explained how the tent circus operated 100 years ago. After we exited the diorama we went to another hall in this same building where we saw another video about acts that traveled with the circus and lots of real Ringling Circus memorabilia. John Ringling's first rail car was in in an adjoining building along with other circus animal wagons and larger memorabilia. We only toured these buildings due to time constraints but several other venues, including an art museum and gardens, were available for touring on the basic ticket. This museum visit was the highlight of our Thanksgiving weekend trip to Florida.

We stopped in at The Ringling as we were passing through Sarasota, FL. We only had about an hour and a half before we had to get back on the road. We would have loved spending twice that amount of time here! We spent our time in the circus museum and were so intrigued. I felt a smile grow across my face as I walked in and saw these memories and I think I smiled all the way through. Mr. Tibbal’s circus display is absolutely incredible. You could walk around it 10 times and find new things each time. The circus posters, the family train, the wagons, and the other memorabilia were so neat to see. I guess I never realized that this much went into making the circus happen. I hope to return to Sarasota to visit again and see the rest of the grounds and the art museum here. I would highly recommend a stop here!

What a great experience. Never knew a lot about history of the circus and everything that went into putting on the show in the early years. The Howard Brothers Circus Model did a great job of explaining and showing what it was like in the early days when there was a big top where circuses performed. The historical artifacts on display were sensational. It was also interesting to find out about all of the Ringling brothers. We also toured John and Mabel Ringling's home. What a magnificent place and the view from the house is breath taking.

I have to admit that I didn't expect to like this place as much as I did. Yeah the grounds and buildings and artifacts were pretty and interesting, but it was the huge model circus that was so impressive. So many details and model vignettes about life in a traveling circus. Great mix of videos, real artifacts and stuff of the time with which to engage. Hard to describe - if you're there, just go!

The time said leave 2 to 3 hours I say you need more. Depending on the package you can see 2 circus museums, the Ringling house right on the water and a ton of art in the museum. We easily did over 10k steps. The house is beautiful, the art was fine but if you aren’t art lover than maybe not and the Circus museums were impressive. They had one giant room with a miniature town with Circus tents set up. It must have taken years to finish