Florida roadtrip suggestions

[N_76]

Hi...

Time for a 4th roadtrip in USA :) The last one was a great succes and therefore we are planning on another one.

Florida end of march 2013.

Suggestions on what to do, dont miss and where to stay or any other useful info........

We are thinking
day
- Fly to Miami
- drive to key west, spend one night somewhere along the way or at KW.
- Trip to dry tortuga 7.30pm from key west
- drive back to main land spend a night on the way or near everglades
- Everglades
- Naples
- Sanibelle/Captiva
- Orlando
- if we have time maybe drive up to Savannah for a day or two...
- Kennedy space center
- Fort Lauderdale
- 4-days cruise to bahamas
we have calculated we need around 17 days to this.........

[AZBuck]

You've already listed the highlights of southern Florida, but with more than two weeks you certainly have time to get up into northern Florida and even southeastern Georgia with no problems at all. One funky stop would be Daytona Beach. You should check, but the last time I was there, they still allowed you to drive your car along and on portions of the actual beach. That is where some of the early hot rod racing that helped lead to NASCAR took place and there is still a car culture to the town. A bit more on the sedate side is old St. Augustine, one of the earliest European (Spanish) settlements in the United States. The in southern Georgia there are two great natural sites, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Cumberland Island National Seashore. And Savannah is a great old Southern town, built around a number of 'Squares', that just oozes charm.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

- drive back to main land spend a night on the way or near everglades
- Everglades

Florida City is a nice little place, and very handy to the Everglades NP, as well as the Over the Sea Highway. Although I have not stayed in them (I always stay in the hostel), it seems to have a nice collection of hotel/motel accommodation.

When you're done with this trip, are you going to write us up a brief report to let us know how it all went... and show some pics of the places you visited?

Lifey

[Charlie H]

If you drive US 41 from Evergaldes to Naples, you might enjoy this: Erv's Airbapt Tours

[N_76]

thx...

Also looking at
Blue spring state park or Ocala National forest or Silversprings....
Wich one is "best"?

I have borrowd a travelguide I will go through just to see what there is to do and see.


Sure I can write something when we are back from the trip.

[Charlie H]

Silver Springs, which is Florida's original tourist attraction, is not to much compared to today's theme parks but it's still worth a visit.

You might also consider the Ringling Mansion, Circus Museum and Art Museum in Sarasota is a great stop.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Have you looked at the Florida routes that we've published here on RTA?

They take only a few minutes and there's a wealth of information therein.

Here's a quick sampler:

Tallahassee to Ocala, Florida: Football Dynasties to Real Life Fiction

Gainesville to Tampa, Florida: A State Parks Extravaganza

Titusville to St. Augustine, Florida: From the Space Age to USA's Oldest City

Orlando to Lake Wales, Florida

Naples to Miami, Florida: Along the Tamiami Trail

Pensacola to Apalachicola, Florida: A Quintessential Beach Drive

Jacksonville to Silver Springs, Florida

[N_76]

Thx! will read that later today :)

Damn what it is hard to find hotels in Key West.........many are already fully booked :(
and most B&B required minimum stay of 3night and dont allow kids :(

[SpencerH]

We went to Florida last year, in March. The first week we spent on the Keys and the second 2 weeks we took a road trip round the coast of Florida. We went from Miami across the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades and up the west coast round the Panhandle as far as Apalachicola. From there we travelled across to Tallahassee and then to the east coast. We stayed on Amelia Island for a couple of nights then drove down the east coast to Orlando and from there we flew home to the UK. The road trip round the coast took 2 weeks. It was quite tiring but well worth it. We stayed in some very out of the way (and odd!) places and did all our 'must do's' :
- drive down Ocean Drive at dusk, walk on Miami Beach
- travel the loop road off the Tamiami Trail - where there are lots and lots of aligators
- take an airboat ride in the Everglades
- See Tallahassee
- drive down Daytona Beach
- Kennedy Space Centre

Including the Keys we drove about 3,500 miles and it was wonderful. One night we stayed at Harbour Masters Suites in Cedar Key in the north west - very different. Also worth visiting is Homosassa Springs. We liked seeing the more out of the way places, and bypassed the cities. St. Augustine is worth a visit and the 'forgotten' north east Florida is lovely. Lots of history there.

We went to Sanibelle but it was very busy with standing traffic so we just took a couple of photos, turned round and drove back to the mainland.

March is an ideal time to go as it is before the mosquito season - we didn't see any at all.

Enjoy your trip. I'm sure you'll have a brilliant time.

[N_76]

Well, flight tickets are booked :)

27march we will arrive in Miami and then spend a night in florida city, then we have 2nights in KW.
Then we dont have any direct time schedule but plan to drive Tamiami Trail to west coast, then up the coast and then to Orlando for a few days of fun, then depending on how much time we have maybe drive up to savannah or Pensacola, before we drive down the east coast to Miami.

Rental will probably be a FFAR (full size suv) sinze we will bring along a roller and some "sunchairs" ;)