On this information, we cowl the most effective issues to do in Florida past the theme parks, from historic cities, wildlife, and all issues historical past. Florida will be the undisputed international capital of theme parks, however lowering the Sunshine State to rollercoasters and chateau turrets does it a exceptional disservice.
When you’re on the lookout for the most effective issues to do in Florida past the theme parks, enterprise additional afield, and also you’ll uncover a land formed simply as a lot by cattle ranchers, pioneering architects, endangered wildlife, and house exploration as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
Between Orlando and Miami, you’ll discover a number of the finest issues to do in Florida: stress-free in subtropical gardens designed a century in the past with wellness in thoughts, watching cowboys compete in a Saturday evening rodeo, crusing waters the place Spanish treasure fleets as soon as got here to sticky ends and standing beneath the rocket that carried people to the Moon. When you’re on the lookout for non-touristy issues to do in Florida, the stretch between Orlando and Miami has many hidden spots I feel you’ll love.
When you’re prepared to rent a automotive, the state is fast and straightforward to navigate. Whether or not you’re after a shorter weekend escape or a full Florida highway journey, we’ve acquired all the things you’ll must know right here. In doing so, Florida rapidly reveals itself as one of many USA’s most diversified highway journey locations and doubtless one with the largest shock issue. It’s additionally an effective way to find extra of the most effective issues to do in Florida, away from the standard vacationer path.
How To Get To Florida
Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO) is probably the most handy gateway for many guests, notably if you happen to’re combining Central Florida with the Atlantic coast. It receives common direct flights from the UK and presents quick access to the state’s important highways.
Tampa, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide and Miami Worldwide are additionally good bases (and sometimes have cheaper fares than Orlando) for accessing the sights described right here. Whichever airport you select, hiring a automotive is by far the simplest solution to expertise travelling round Florida.
Greatest Time To Go to Florida
Spring (March to Might) strikes the most effective stability of heat temperatures, decrease humidity and fewer afternoon storms, making it excellent for spending lengthy days outdoor – prices are sometimes decrease too. Autumn, notably October and November, is one other glorious time to go to, with quieter seashores and sea temperatures that stay pleasantly heat.
Summer season delivers intense humidity and dramatic afternoon downpours, whereas winter is peak season, providing reliably nice climate that pulls actually thousands and thousands of ‘snow birds’ escaping colder climates. With this comes elevated customer numbers and better resort prices.
The place To Keep In Florida
Lakeland makes a superb base for exploring Central Florida past Orlando. With a rising restaurant scene and a lovely lakeside setting, it’s inside straightforward attain of Bok Tower Gardens, Florida Southern School, and Westgate River Ranch.
Additional south-east, Stuart offers an excellent base for exploring the Treasure Coast. Its historic downtown, waterfront eating places and relaxed environment provide a refreshing various to Florida’s bigger seaside resorts, whereas close by Jensen Seashore is ideal if you happen to’d reasonably keep inside strolling distance of the Atlantic Ocean.
Getting Round Florida
Exterior Miami and a handful of bigger cities, Florida is designed for driving. Roads are large, well-maintained, and easy to navigate, making a rental automotive the apparent selection.
Orlando – Fort Lauderdale – Miami are linked by Brightline rail, with a cease in Stuart on the Treasure Coast mooted however not but confirmed. However for off the crushed path points of interest, you want a automotive.
Prime tip:
When you begin or end your journey in Miami, keep away from rush hour (16.00 – 19.00) except aggressive drivers and mile-long tailbacks kind a part of your American dream.
Nonetheless planning your USA journey? We’ve acquired lots extra guides that will help you work out the place to go subsequent. Listed here are a couple of of our favourites:
You don’t anticipate finding considered one of Florida’s most memorable experiences on the prime of considered one of its highest hills – don’t get excited, it barely tops 100ft. But that’s precisely the place Bok Tower Gardens has been quietly delighting guests since 1929.
Created by Dutch-American writer Edward Bok as “a sanctuary for the human spirit” in response to his issues concerning the enterprise of recent life a century in the past, the Nationwide Historic Landmark centres across the exceptional 205-foot Singing Tower, house to one of many world’s best carillons – successfully an organ of bells.
Every day concert events drift throughout 250 acres of landscaped gardens designed by Frederick Regulation Olmsted Jr., whose father created New York’s Central Park. Relying on the season, winding paths traverse azaleas, camellias, magnolias and towering reside oaks draped in Spanish moss, whereas the Pine Ridge Path reveals a rarer facet of Florida’s native panorama. It’s the form of place you are feeling calmer and extra relaxed in, just by being there – excellent in case your nerves have been frayed by one coaster queue too many!
Don’t miss El Retiro, the superbly preserved Mediterranean Revival mansion constructed for industrialist Charles Austin Buck. Collectively, the home, gardens and tower provide an unexpectedly peaceable glimpse into the ambitions of early twentieth-century Florida and a haven of calm you by no means knew you wanted.
Expertise Florida’s Cowboy Nation at Westgate River Ranch
Lengthy earlier than Florida grew to become synonymous with household holidays, it was cattle nation. Actually, the state’s ranching traditions predate the Wild West by a number of centuries, tracing their roots again to Spanish settlers who launched cattle throughout the 1500s.
Westgate River Ranch retains that heritage very a lot alive. Its Saturday Night time Rodeo, the longest-running weekly rodeo in the USA, options bull driving, barrel racing, trick driving and group roping, all launched with loads of native character reasonably than vacationer spectacle.
Come a bit earlier, and you’ll saddle up for horseback rides throughout the prairie, take an exhilarating airboat journey in the hunt for alligators or go discover the close by swamps on a buggy with the largest wheels you’ll ever see. Or simply cease on the on-site bar and seize your self a beer served in a cowboy boot glass!
Staying in a single day is an possibility and a part of the enjoyable. Luxurious glamping tents resembling teepees and Conestoga wagons sit beneath remarkably darkish skies create an expertise that feels nearer to Montana than Mickey Mouse however one which stays true to a stunning a part of Florida’s historical past.
Florida’s Atlantic shoreline seems very completely different when you’re viewing it from the deck of a crusing boat. Not like airboat rides, no earplugs wanted right here – simply the sound of waves slapping towards the hull and – if you happen to’re particularly fortunate – the occasional splash of dolphins surfacing alongside.
The perfect of all excursions lies in Stuart, the place Treasure Coast Crusing presents a unique perspective on one of many state’s most intriguing stretches of shoreline. The area owes its identify to the notorious 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet, when eleven ships carrying gold, silver and treasured jewels have been wrecked offshore throughout a hurricane. Greater than three centuries later, cash and artefacts are nonetheless sometimes recovered after main storms…with the anticipated myths and legends connected.
The wildlife at sunset is simply as compelling. Brown pelicans plunge headfirst into the water with astonishing accuracy, ospreys patrol overhead and bottlenose dolphins continuously seem to escort boats via the Indian River Lagoon. The crew hold cool bins of water and beers to quench thirst, and because the calm waters tackle a copper glow, you realise life is significantly better upon the water.
Tour A Frank Lloyd Wright Masterpiece
Structure lovers journey hundreds of miles to go to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces throughout the US, but many overlook his largest single assortment of labor anyplace on the planet.
Unfold throughout the campus of Florida Southern School in Lakeland, Wright designed an entire campus right here of twelve buildings between 1938 and 1958, collectively referred to as his “Youngster of the Solar”. Guided excursions clarify how he used repeating geometric types, rigorously positioned gentle and modern building strategies to create a campus in contrast to another on the planet. Highlights embrace the dramatic Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, the putting Esplanades that join a lot of the campus and his mannequin ‘Usonian’ house, which nonetheless feels fashionable ninety years after it was designed.
Even guests with little curiosity in structure typically depart impressed and with newfound information of house décor – the volunteer guides strike a superb stability between being informative and never extreme.
Get On Board An Airboat
If Florida had a nationwide car, it might be the airboat.
The shallow-draft boats, powered by large aircraft-style propellers (you’ll be supplied with earplugs of 1 kind or one other), have been developed to journey via marshes too shallow for standard engines, opening up landscapes that may in any other case be virtually unattainable to discover. Whereas alligator sightings are by no means assured – particularly within the warmth of summer season – they’re widespread sufficient that your digital camera needs to be inside straightforward attain.
For a traditional Everglades expertise, head to Everglades Vacation Park, west of Fort Lauderdale. You’ll weave via the well-known River of Grass, the place sawgrass prairies stretch to the horizon, and nice blue herons, anhingas, turtles and alligators thrive in one of many world’s most exceptional wetlands.
For one thing quieter and much much less developed, head as an alternative to Grape Hammock Fish Camp on the northern fringe of Lake Kissimmee, near Westgate Rover Ranch. Fairly than following a well-trodden vacationer route, you’ll discover the headwaters of the Everglades ecosystem, gliding throughout lily pads, cypress timber and reed beds the place limpkins, snail kites, osprey and bald eagles are common sightings alongside alligators…plus the odd cow knee deep within the water (for some purpose, that is the spotlight for lots of tourists). The panorama that has modified remarkably little over generations, which makes it all of the extra attention-grabbing.
Be part of an Eco Seashore Stroll on Stuart Seashore
At first look, Stuart Seashore seems very similar to another stretch of Florida shoreline: golden sand, rolling Atlantic surf and the occasional pelican gliding overhead. However look again inland, and also you’ll discover what’s completely different – an entire lack of high-rise condos and glitzy developments which can be staples of the coast round Miami.
This isn’t accidentally. Spend a few hours with the naturalists from Discover Pure Martin, and also you’ll perceive why this stretch of shoreline is so particular.
Their guided Eco Seashore Walks, which occur all year long, give probably the most compelling crash-course in coastal ecology you’ll ever expertise. You’ll study to differentiate ghost crab burrows from turtle nests, establish shells deposited by completely different tides and uncover why the Treasure Coast helps one of many world’s most essential nesting grounds for loggerhead, inexperienced and leatherback turtles.
Relying on the season, you’ll spot tracks left in a single day by hatchlings, learn the way dunes defend each wildlife and coastal communities, and perceive how a feminine turtle can return to the very same stretch of seaside the place she hatched thirty years in the past to put eggs of her personal.
It’s the form of expertise that completely modifications the way you have a look at a seaside.
Discover Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors
Heading south, Miami might dominate the headlines, however neighbouring Fort Lauderdale presents a extra relaxed introduction to South Florida. Nicknamed the “Venice of America”, its 300 miles of navigable waterways are finest explored aboard the Water Taxi, hopping between marinas, eating places and neighbourhoods whereas million-dollar yachts drift previous impossibly costly waterfront properties.
Las Olas Boulevard types the town’s social coronary heart, lined with impartial boutiques, galleries and pavement cafés that may hold you for at the least one night. It’s a world away from the stereotypical seashores and neon glitz many affiliate with Florida (and way more attention-grabbing because of this).
Only a quick drive or Uber away, Wilton Manors has quietly change into one of many USA’s most welcoming LGBTQ+ locations – not what many count on in Florida. Centred on Wilton Drive, the compact neighbourhood is stuffed with impartial queer-owned cafés (pop into Cake Daddies for the most effective pastries within the state), neighbourhood bars, breweries and eating places the place inclusivity feels completely pure and the place all are welcomed. All year long, guests are warmly welcomed to neighborhood occasions, and it additionally hosts considered one of Florida’s largest Satisfaction celebrations. For anybody wanting an orientation and the chance to satisfy different LGBTQ+ travellers and locals alike, Trentravels organises excursions of the town and surrounding area.
Fancy exploring extra of the USA by highway? Try our highway journey guides for extra routes, hidden gems and locations value pulling over for:
Have you ever been to Florida?
What are the most effective issues to do in Florida? Something you’d add to this Florida bucket checklist?
World Traveller Phil Thomas is a contract journey author, primarily based in UK, with over 110 nations beneath his belt. You’ll be able to comply with Phil’s adventures via his weblog, Somebody Else’s Nation and through Instagram, Fb and Bluesky.