Getting out in the car

[Cochise]

Within this holiday I am planning to possibly get out for two days on the two Sundays for a drive somewhere away from Orlando. I have two girls and I cant see them enjoying the Space Centre or Daytona etc.

So what I was looking for was coastal or Inland towns, nice pleasant places to stop for a few hours, take a look round. Anyone got any ideas ?

 

[allie5]

Anna Maria Island (about 2 hours from Orlando on the Gulf Coast) is lovely. Wonderful beaches, piers etc. Makes a really nice day out.

There isnt much in the way of "towns" to visit near Orlando, but St Augustine (about 3 hours north) is historic and is meant to be very nice.

 

[Cochise]

Just taking a gander at it now, not alot of sites show all of it

 

[Miffy2003]

A trip to Daytona Beach/ Cocoa Beach? I don't think the beaches are as nice as the Gulf Coast ones but they are only about an hour's drive from Orlando

 

[Pootle]

Mount Dora, about 40 miles north of Orlando, is a pretty little town by a lake with pavements, shops, tea rooms (including an English one with 'real' tea for the desperate - as I sometimes am after 2 weeks of 'hot' tea ) and a railway which operates scenic trips on certain days.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Winter Park is quite nice, very close to Downtown Orlando.
Full of small shops, art galleries etc - wouldn't say it's a full day but quite pleasant to walk around for a couple of hours and a change from the busy theme parks.

The beaches on the west coast are much nicer, Clearwater in particular.
People tend to visit Daytona or Cocoa because they are nearer but on the west coast Clearwater,Tampa and St Petes offer better alternatives.

 

[lorbs]

Would agree with Winter Park, well worth a visit.

 

[Tron[ADS]]

I say definitely go for West coast beaches rather then East Coast. Clearwater or St Pete's are very nice, lovely warm clear sea, and very easy to get to. Clearwater has one of the only 2 roundabouts I have ever seen on my Orlando travels.
I wasnt over impressed with Cocoa Beach when I went....its the Atlantic so its cold water, and when we went it was quite windy so there was a lot of sand getting in eyes etc....we had to hire a wind-break type thing.....and off the beach, it all looked a bit run-down, and pretty much all that was there was the 24hr RonJon's surft shack. Of course just down the road you have the space centre that your girls wont be interested in.

If you go to the East coast, you can stop by Tampa, and go play Malcolm Glazier a visit, thank him for causing so much misery to so many Moanchester United fans ;-)

 

[JohnnySharp2]

yes, thanks Mr.Glazer from all us Liverpool fans.

Agree that Cocoa Beach is not worth a visit, shame RonJon didn't open his store in Clearwater.

 

[Mumof2]

St Petes is a fantastic beach - the girls will love it - I took DD on a day trip when when she was three and she had a ball (as did DS - though he wasn't as keen on the waves )