Visiting
Flights to Sarasota (SRQ)
Don’t fly into Tampa, there is no good public transportation option to get to Sarasota (SRQ). An Uber ride will be $100 and a taxi even more. In the winter season you can fly direct nonstop from Boston to Sarasota (SRQ) on JetBlue (2-3 flights per day), Delta (1 flight per day) or Allegiant (3 flights per week). Here’s a lot of good information on SRQ.
Photo of SRQ by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Photo of SRQ by the Business Observer
From Cape Cod we fly out of Providence, RI (PVD) to SRQ as it is a shorter and less stressful drive then to Boston. Also, Breeze currently (January, 2025) offers once-daily nonstop service roundtrip between PVD and SRQ five times per week, skipping Thursdays and Sundays. There are other airlines doing this route from PVD, but they all have stops.
Roundtrip fare on Breeze with add-ons usually hits around $350 pp, but there are deals and likely more flights per day will be added as we move into the winter season. Breeze uses new Airbus planes with five seats across, two on one side of the aisle and three on the other side.
The flights typically leave PVD around 3:00pm and arrive in SRQ about 6:30pm. The plane then turns around and leaves SRQ about 7:45pm and arrives PVD around 10:30pm. The flight crew lives in Providence so that makes sense.
The flight is listed at around three hours in the air, but usually takes about 2.5 hrs. Bring a sandwich as all they offer is water for service, everything else is for a fee. There is WiFi for pay on the Airbuses and they have reclining seats unlike Allegiant and Spirit.
To Get Downtown
Once you arrive at the SRQ airport proceed downstairs to the luggage carousel, then walk to the opposite end of the terminal where the taxi station is. A taxi to downtown is $35 and they leave immediately. I check the Uber and Lyft apps and normally there is a budget car ($15 to $22) five minutes away. Pick-up is outside at the end of the terminal.
Parking at PVD
The cheapest garage parking at TF Green Airport is in the Red Beam Garage (garage C, see below picture), it’s about $20/day. It is just after garages A and B, but as it is private the airport does not show much signage to it. They seem angry that somehow the airport lost one of its garages to a private concern. Just follow the signs to Garage A or B (which are more expensive) and you’ll come to C. To book a reservation use this website page.
Next door to PVD is the Fairfield Inn where I would stay the night before when the flights left PVD at 8:30 AM. They offer paid outdoor parking for ~$17/day which you can reserve in advance, and with a pass on your dashboard you can park anywhere on their property. For more than a week use the long-term “Parking” field shown below.
It’s right off the Post Road which is the main road to PVD. Turn towards Bertucci’s and go to the big field on the left just before the Fairfield Inn, just display your dated pass on the dashboard. You can walk to the Fairfield’s front desk to get a parking pass and ask to hop on their free 24/7 shuttle if you have luggage, but it is easy to walk to the terminal if all you have is a carry-on.
I drop people and luggage off at the airport departures, then go park at the Fairfield Inn. From the long-term parking field walk past the Fairfield Inn’s entrance, down the lot to the Covered Entry to Garage A. You’ll come to a locked door.
Enter code 194000 to open the door. If you forget the code just hop through the big window opening (just in front of the pictured man). Then walk through garage A to the terminal – follow the signs. To return, walk out the airport ground transport exit and follow the signs to and through the garage back to the Fairfield Inn. No code is needed to exit the parking garage. Find your car and drive back Arrivals and pick up your party and luggage.
