Florida

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Hey guys,

I'm pretty sure lots of you have been to Florida so I'm confident of some useful opinions.

The second part of my trip to the US at the end of next month is to be spent in Florida. I'll be arriving into Jacksonville and collecting car, which I will be dropping off at Miami airport 11 days later.

How to spend those 11 days is something I'm after suggestions and advice on. Usually, I enjoy seeing fantastic scenery and great cities. With somewhere like California, obvious routes jump at you taking in all sorts of fabulous landmarks but I am having trouble doing the same with Florida. To the uneducated like myself it just all looks a bit... samey. My stereotype based uneducated and hopefully misguided opinion is that its jammed full of Brits bumbling around on Freeways and annoying the locals.

I'd like to visit Key West and it's essential we spend 2 days in Orlando for some stuff the GF wants, but other than that, I'm stumped on the route to take. We are not into theme parks, Disney etc (Yes, the obvious question is 'Why Florida' but it's done now!).

Any suggestions on great things to see or suggested routes? I was wondering about Jacksonville > Daytona Beach > Orlando > Tampa > Everglades > Key West > Miami but this is based on nothing more than a glance at google maps. Not sure how long to stay at each place. We usually stay only one or two nights and travel round - is this the best idea? Or perhaps 5 days in Orlando (Though tacky English-centric touristy stuff doesnt appeal) using it as a base to travel out to places like Tampa? Long drives are not an issue.

I've no idea.

Please fill me with inspiration :p
 

Ysmalari

Ysmalari

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Definitely visit the Kennedy Space Center if you're at all interested in space, it was by far the highlight of my visit.

Key West is a beautiful place so you won't regret going there, other than that enjoy the beaches as there are some truly gorgeous ones there - Clearwater is particularly nice and lives up to it's name!
 

toshj

toshj

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As part of a 4 month road trip a couple of years ago, we had no intention of going to Florida but ended up staying for 3 long, long weeks.

Unfortunately I can only say it was my least-liked state in the US, but there are a few decent places depending on what interests you. We were there in April, so most places were quite quiet but there are some nice little beach towns (Delray Beach) and a few up market places (West Palm Beach).

Miami was ok, had lots to see and do, and the Keys can be quite fun. Apart from alcohol, I found there was little else fun to do in Florida as there's not a whole lot to see. I'd probably recommend trying your hand at deep sea fishing whilst in the Keys, having a look round the Art Deco areas of Miami and heading out toward the Everglades.
 

Youstolemyname

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i worked in Melbourne, FL for a while. Up and down that East coast are lots of little seaside towns that are all fairly similar. West Cost is a much nicer part for scenery and things to do- Tampa, Treasure Island etc.

Roads are pretty dull to drive in comparison to the PCH but you will already know that :)

Possibly check out Cape Canavarel, St Pete's Beach (West Coast near tampa) on your route but you have pretty much covered all of the main tickbox visitor spots there on your route around Florida.

Give me a few days, will speak to my colleagues based in Florida still and ask them for any local tips/places to visit.

Be interested to hear your views of the trip as we are looking at doing an East coast road trip next summer. Do you start up in NY etc?
 

cm1179

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you will depise orlando. it's tacky and a nightmare to drive around in certain areas. on my very first day there, i went to epcot, i did plan on visiting epcot but not on my first day, i was simply driving around, getting to know the area and before i knew it, i was on a road i couldn't turn around on and at the gates to epcot.
 

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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toshj said:
Apart from alcohol, I found there was little else fun to do in Florida as there's not a whole lot to see.
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This is pretty much my worry. California was amazing - one day we were driving across a desert in 100f heat, the next we were in Death Valley, a day later in the mountains of Yosemite and after that San Francisco - so much variety. I just cannot see how to acheive the same thing in Florida but perhaps I'm missing the point.
 

toshj

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[TW]Fox;19888040 said:
This is pretty much my worry. California was amazing - one day we were driving across a desert in 100f heat, the next we were in Death Valley, a day later in the mountains of Yosemite and after that San Francisco - so much variety. I just cannot see how to acheive the same thing in Florida but perhaps I'm missing the point.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the issue I had with Florida was that wherever you are in the state, you have to go back the way you came in order to get out. We even got so bored that we spent a week in Jamaica as we couldn't face three days dirving in the opposite direction just to get out of the place!

There are plenty of quite charming places on the East Coast of Florida, hoever my wholehearted opinion would be to pick the car up in Jacksonville and then head north to Savanna, Beaufort, Charleston and then NC if you have time. Georgia and South Carolina were amazing, beautiful and full of charm whereas Florida is found wanting in all those departments (IMO)
 

iamtheoneneo

iamtheoneneo

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florida is a great place if you can be assed to explore, far to many people go there and basically stay in Orlando which is awful.

so with that in mind, do check out these places. They are great for a day trip lots to do etc:

st petersburg (east coast) - nice pier and great little town.

St Augustine - 100% go here, amazing and really nice to spend a day in. very historical, nice castle that run all day tours etc.They have a seriously impressive art gallery on main street, + brilliant little burger place aswell.

clearwater - day out on the beach here, lovely water , great vibe - better then venice and cocoa


BTW please dont go to cocoa - its really not that great and depending when you go will be covered in love bugs :(
 

Prophet

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[TW]Fox;19888040 said:
This is pretty much my worry. California was amazing - one day we were driving across a desert in 100f heat, the next we were in Death Valley, a day later in the mountains of Yosemite and after that San Francisco - so much variety. I just cannot see how to acheive the same thing in Florida but perhaps I'm missing the point.
Click to expand...

I'd forget about any part of the driving experience being interesting in Florida and concentrate on getting to your next destination. I really liked Miami so it's well worth staying there for a couple of days. An airboat ride on the Everglades is a must!
 

cm1179

cm1179

cm1179

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people seem to forget that before disney entered florida,no one went there. that being said, i thought tampa was magical and driving around the bay over all the link bridges felt like i was in outrun!
 
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