I’m a New Yorker, but my mother has lived in downtown Sarasota for seven years, and I've flown from LaGuardia often enough to start feeling like a part-timer. It’s easy to take a place for granted when you live here, but coming from the outside, Sarasota is still a rare find: a walkable city with a healthy arts and culture scene, a deep bench of restaurants, plenty of urban parks and beaches that most cities would kill to have. CNN recently ranked Sarasota No. 1 on its list of "Best Towns to Visit 2026,” and it’s easy to see why.

One of my favorite places to visit is the Rosemary Art & Design District, a compact neighborhood just north of downtown. It’s changing fast. New condo and apartment buildings are rising on nearly every block. Restaurants keep filling up old warehouse buildings, and a small cluster of home design showrooms shares blocks with a charter middle school. Walls in the neighborhood are covered in colorful murals, and a pocket park provides green space. It feels like a place where people live, not one that’s been polished up for visitors, and that makes it all the more worthwhile to explore. Here’s how to spend a wonderful weekend in the Rosemary Art & Design District—and a few nearby spots.

Friday evening started at Hanami, the sushi and hibachi spot that opened this spring in a century-old Rosemary District building once used to ship Florida citrus. The room still shows its bones with exposed brick and a restored facade, and the sushi is worth the trip. If you can’t get into Hanami, try close-by Rosemary and Thyme, the neighborhood's longtime anchor on North Orange Avenue, with a bistro-style courtyard and eclectic American menu (think signature meatloaf with rosemary gravy alongside fresh seafood). It’s built for lingering. It also runs a two-course $40 weekend special that is delicious and worth building a night around. 

After dinner, I walked over to Fogartyville for live music. It’s an intimate venue that evokes a ’60s coffee shop vibe, the kind of spot where the crowd listens, and where you end up talking to strangers between sets. The musicians are often extraordinary. A recent weekend saw the duo Grammy-nominated lutenist Ronn McFarlane and celebrated guitarist Andrew McEvoy mesmerize the crowd.

Saturday morning meant getting outside before the heat could argue with me. Every Saturday at 9 a.m., there is free yoga at The Bay—held indoors in the summer. Afterward, I walked to Project for coffee and a breakfast sandwich that might be the best in the city, full stop, one of those orders you start thinking about the night before.

By midday, Sarasota goes indoors, and so did I. A day pass at The Sarasota Modern gym and pool is my answer to a scorching afternoon: a quick swim, a workout and a lounge chair with drinks and light apps that add up to a mini-vacation experience without leaving town. 

Saturday afternoon, I made the short drive to Newtown, Sarasota's historically Black neighborhood, to visit the Historic Leonard Reid House. The small blue bungalow with its bright orange doors was built in 1926 by Leonard Reid, a confidant of Sarasota's first mayor who helped lay out the city's first golf course, and now serves as a cultural and historical center. A short documentary plays inside about Reid, his family and the Newtown community he helped establish.

Since time allowed, I poked around home furnishing stores Home Resource and The Sarasota Collection, and the quirky, eco-friendly gift store Rabbit Rabbit. I strolled past the murals by the middle school Sarasota School of Arts & Sciences, and peeked into Katy's Cat Café, mostly to say hello through the glass since Ellie, my mom's goldendoodle I was walking, isn't exactly cat café material. The café is named for owner Marian Morcos's own cat, and it has helped place foster cats in homes through a local rescue partner. 

Saturday night brings even more choices in the Rosemary Art & Design District: Spice Station, a neighborhood favorite for its unfussy menu and fresh, well-priced Thai food and sushi. There’s also Arts & Central, the modern, upscale restaurant that feels like a neighborhood third space and has become an answer to "where should we grab a drink?" If you’re in the mood for pizza rather than the more elaborate cuisine of Arts & Central, head next door to Origin Craft Beer & Pizza Café and top it off with nearby Great Heights Creamery, which churns in-house, unusual ice cream flavors like Yes Honey (built on local honey) and Somewhere in Tuscany, made with olive oil. After the sun goes down, walk a few minutes south of the Rosemary District to Sage for a nightcap, live music and a view of the city. The rooftop bar sits atop a 1925 building that once housed the Sarasota Times newspaper. 

Sunday morning is for slowing down. The Yoga Shack offers a paid class if you want structure—and air conditioning—before the heat sets in. Brunch is at Toasted Mango—known for waffles with their signature mango butter, eggs Benedict, lots of healthy options, and a dog-friendly patio. Before I leave, I take Ellie for one last stroll around the neighborhood (though four-legged visitors can check out the dog park not too far away on 10th Street by Gillespie Park). 

On my flight home back to New York, I’m already scrolling on the Delta app, checking dates for my next trip down to Paradise.