Epic Travel → North America → The South → Florida → Tampa Bay Area → Ringling Museum

Location: Sarasota, Florida

Time Required: 3 hours to all day

Red Tape/Notes: Open daily 10am – 5pm (til 8pm on Thursdays); admission to the Museum of Art and the Circus Museum is $25 per adult. For additional details, visit their website.

What’s Nearby?: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota Honey Company

More officially described as the “John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art”, The Ringling is the state art museum of Florida, and contains both a Museum of Art and a Circus Museum. The Art Museum was originally built by John Ringling as a legacy to the citizens of Florida (it’s quite a sweet idea, really) and contains a vast permanent collection of art as well as rotating exhibitions. The Circus Museum is pretty self-explanatory, and must be the best circus museum there is, given Ringling’s part in creating that particular form of entertainment and Sarasota’s long and continuing history with it. You can also visit Ca’d’zan, the mansion where John Ringling and his wife lived, for a supplemental price on your admission ticket. If you like fancy houses, this one is a great example of the kind of grandeur the roaring 20’s produced.

Epic Travel → North America → The South → Florida → Tampa Bay Area → Ringling Museum