Road trip round Florida

[SidB]

I've gone into planning overload. I had planned on 2 weeks in Orlando and a week on the coast. I've been reading messages on this board and surfing galore (underworked, overpaid etc.).

I am now in a quandrary (spelling ?). I quite fancy the idea of a road trip round Southern Florida. I'd like to take in the Dolphin Research Centre on the Keys, and a visit to the Everglades, possibly staying in a lodge. I'd also need to spend some time on the beach to satisfy the females in the pack. The wife fancies snorkelling too.

I'm flying back from Tampa so I'd like to finish the holiday somewhere reasonably close by.

SO, opinions please.

What do you think ?
Where would you suggest we visit ?
Where are the best beaches ?
Hoiw easy is it to get rooms (this will be during the Easter holidays next year) ?

Etc, etc. Any input gratefully accepted.

Forgot to mention. 3 adults, 2 daughters 7, almost 8 and 11 almost 12.

 

[signtalker]

A beach called honeymoon island, there was hardly anybody on here, it was clean, the water crystal blue, good amenties for changing/toilets etc and a drinks machine for ice cold drinks a few feet away,up the other end of the beach was a small cafe which was excellent, we would definately do this again, and when you get fed up with the beach you can drive round the reserve and look at the wildlife.

jules

 

[keith&carol]

Hi,
We've been lucky enough to go round most of Florida and it's all great so it's hard to choose.
If you're starting with a week at Disney you could drive down to Key Largo for a few days. You can snorkel and dive there and you could do Dolphin research as a side trip. Then you could drive thru the Everglades and maybe take in an airboat ride, then carry on to anywhere on the west coast which is all beautiful and chill out there for your beach days. That would put you in easy distance of Tampa Apt.
One word of advice, Easter is usually very busy in Florida because it coincides with the Colleges Spring Break and on the Keys & West Coast prices can be quite high and Hotel Rooms hard to come by so book ahead.
Regards,
Carol

 

[richard3330]

Hi,

Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands are two glorious beaches situated on the west coast of Florida near Clearwater.

Caladesi Island is a national state park and is voted as one of the top 10 best beaches in the U.S.A. You get there by taking the 5-10 minute boat ride from Honeymoon Island which leaves regularly. Honeymoon Island is free to enter - you just pay for parking. It has great shelling, but the beach isn't as nice as Caladesi. The boat journies to Caladesi fill up fast - make sure you get there early. When you arrive in to the marina on Caladesi there is a shop and cafe to the left and a barbecue area on the right. Then you follow the path over one of the big bridges on to the stunning beach (which even had dolphins swimming in right up close to the shore - amazing!). There are also many bird and nature walks and guided tours on the island to enjoy - we had such a fantastic time here we visited twice and still didn't want to leave. As it is on the gulf of mexico the water was also not too cold.

Richard.

 

[DizneyDaze]

I don't know if this will be of any help but this is what we did a few years ago

We flew into Miami with Virgin stayed four nights at the Sheraton Yankee Trader in Ft Lauderdale, we spent a day in and around Miami, and a day in the Ft Lauderdale area, and a day in the Everglades from there we travelled down to Key Largo (on the way down we called in at a place called Flamingo - fantastic Dolphin and Nature Cruises if you like that sort of thing, really wild though so make sure you have plenty of insect repellent!

We stayed at the Howard Johson, basic but cheap and depending on when you are going they have a resident Manatee! We stayed here two nights, this gave us time to spend a full day travelling down to Key West and exploring - it wasn't enough if you want to do the Dolphin research centre and the Keys I would suggest three nights.

From there we headed north along the west coast to Naples. Another suggestion if you like dolphins, on the way up you must visit Everglades City - fantastic boat ride, firstly takes you to see the local manatees and then further out the Dolphins the boat is quite small, like an old speedboat and we were lucky enough to be first on so we headed straight to the back, when he put his toe down the dolphins played in the wake of the boat it really was something, but bear in mind we did this a few years ago so things may have changed but it is worthing stopping off to check.

In Naples we stayed at the Park Shore Hotel which is really nice, lovely rooms we had a two be suite courtesy upgrade Freq Virgins. We only stayed in Naples one night as a stop off but I would suggest a little more if you have time to spare.

Then off to St Petes and the Tradewinds Sandpiper not impressed at all, we wouldn't return there although lovely location on sea front. We stayed two nights just enough to see the basics and then we ended with 12 nights at All Star Sports and flew home from MCO.

It was fantastic but very busy, a lot of travelling, it's not for everyong but its the kind of thing we like to try to see as much as possible and have that Disney Magic.

Have fun whatever you do.

 

[Shuttle Fan]

We decided to see a bit more of Florida this year (Easter), but with only 2 weeks to do it in. With 3 weeks I'm sure you'll be able to fit in most of the things you want to do.

All we booked before we left the UK was the first 4 and last 3 nights in Kissimmee and made the rest up as we went along, with a basic idea in our mind of where we wanted to go.

Nights 1-4 we spent in Kissimmee, going to the parks etc.
Nights 5-6 in Miami
Night 7 in Key West
Nights 8 & 9 in Fort Myers Beach
Nights 10 & 11 in St. Petes Beach
Nights 12-14 in Kissimmee for a final couple of days at the parks.

Apart from in Kissimmee we stayed in a Holiday Inn. We took the details and phone numbers with us and booked them via phone the day before (checked out the prices on the internet before we left). The only time we had a problem was in the Keys as it was the last weekend of the US Spring Break.

Although it was a lot of driving we had a great time, and if you want to see a bit of Florida I'd say go for it.