travelling to other parts of florida ??

[bex7583]

has anybody aqdded a florida road trip at the end of there orlando stay ?? we want to drive to miami and then back up the west coast

do you think its better to book all your accomodation at each stopover in advance ? how easy is it to just walk in and get a room

also not sure how to best divide our time , our orlando stay dont want to waste money by been in the disney hotel but off site most of the time

my initial plan was 2 week disney with no car ( disney parks only
collect a car and move to international drive ( sea world and universal )
then either 1 or 2 week driving from daytona to miami and back up ending with a 3 nite stay in clearwater ( busch gardens )

 

[dixonsontour]

We've done road trips in the past before we had DD.

Never used to book unless we wanted to stay somewhere specific.

Used to use those roomsaver books you pick up over there with coupons in - go into the hotel and ask if they had a room and could do that rate.

We liked Miami and i'd recommend doing the keys if you can - maybe a day or two north keys and a day or two key west.

We then used to drive across through everglades to Naples and up that copast. some beautiful places on that coast - particularly like Anna Maria island.

Sounds like a great plan.

 

[chmurf]

I would book every hotel on the way.

There is nothing worse than spending hours trying to find a decent hotel with vacancy.
You never really fully know what kind of convention or local festivals you might get caught into. Or you may not be fully aware how safe the neighborhood is.

I've seen some pretty bleak hotels and motels in the past 20 years, and now there is no way I hit the road without a hotel reservation at the end of the highway.

I would stick to the "big" hotel chains (if available) and you might even get a "prepay" discount, sometimes much better than coupons you can find in books.

I agree with PP
plan at least a night in Key west (if you hit the keys). You have to be aware that key west is at the end of one and only one road (US 1) from Florida city and all the way down to KW. It's a long 1 lane road (1 lane in each direction) with lots of bridges, so any congestion will get huge delays. There is no way you can safely plan a one day trip to the keys.

Do the glades, Naples, and then up to Tampa, maybe clearwater.
The coast along the gulf of mexico I like better. Atlantic coast is a bit overrated in my opinion, but you may want to see cape canaveral as well

Driving through central florida is plain boring if you go with the turnpike. Set cruise control and here are some 4 hours of plain boredom.
You can also go through backroads, and depending on the season, you might see some cotton fields, citrus farms (there is one to visit and pick in Clermont just outside of WDW btw), or even find a plantation to visit (there are less and less of them)

You may want to do something like :
day 1 - Orlando to Daytona, then all the way down to Ft Lauderdale. It's doable in one day,
day 2 - one day in Miami (keeping fort lauderdale as a base camp)
day 3 - ft lauderdale down to key west, spend a night there,
day 4 - key west
day 5 - key west - key largo or florida city/homestead,
day 6 - do the southern part of the glades for the day, then back at florida city or homestead
day 7 - do the north part of the glades along US41 to Naples, spend the night there,
day 8 - Naples - tampa, (clearwater is a great spot)- 2 hours drive back to orlando in the evening

if you have more time, add some days here and there

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

Apologies for piggy backing on this thread, but does anyone have any advice on the toll roads in Florida & the best way to deal with them when using a hire car.
My understanding is that they are nearly all cashless now & you need to have something fitted in the car to make the payment?
We will be spending a few days in Miami, then plan to pick up the hire care on the day we drive to Orlando (Staying at the Swan) & then back to Miami at the end of our holiday.

 

[chmurf]

Apologies for piggy backing on this thread, but does anyone have any advice on the toll roads in Florida & the best way to deal with them when using a hire car.
My understanding is that they are nearly all cashless now & you need to have something fitted in the car to make the payment?
We will be spending a few days in Miami, then plan to pick up the hire care on the day we drive to Orlando (Staying at the Swan) & then back to Miami at the end of our holiday.

I'm a big alamo fan.
With them you are automatically opted in for the e-pass program.
You will be charged $2 for each day you drive through a toll (max $6 per rental period). Then only pay the toll charge each time you drive through one. You don't even need to stop or use cash/receipt lanes, just drive through epass lanes at highway speed

beware of other rental agencies like Dollar, some people ended up with huge bills.

have a look here : https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

I'm a big alamo fan.
With them you are automatically opted in for the e-pass program.
You will be charged $2 for each day you drive through a toll (max $6 per rental period). Then only pay the toll charge each time you drive through one. You don't even need to stop or use cash/receipt lanes, just drive through epass lanes at highway speed

beware of other rental agencies like Dollar, some people ended up with huge bills.


Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Have travelled all over Florida and can highly recommend it.

Would definitely plan/book your accomodation before you go.

As already mentioned Fort Lauderdale is an excellent base for a stay down the east coast, especially as Miami/Palm Beach and Boca Raton are all within easy reach.
If you can find a nice hotel close to the beach you have a good start.
Whilst I like Miami I would personally like I say stay at FL - it's quieter, I would rather stay at FL and visit Miami than the other way around (if you get me!).

The Key's are worthwhile but depends on how much travelling you want to do, it's a fair old drive, and again just an opinion I actually preferred some of the smaller places on the way than Key West itself - which whilst nice is not everyone's cup of tea.

Naples is the best place in Florida for me, it's fab - classy & refined but...very quiet, not much going on.
Further up the coast with Anna Maria Island, Clearwater and St Pete's the beaches are glorious.

The important thing is not to do too much, seeing all the above would be hard and also again just my opinion, I would rather have 3 or 4 nights in one place than hop here there and everywhere.

I would do some research on where you really want to go and revolve your plans around that, we have done countless 2 or 3 centre holidays.

 

[bex7583]

wow all sounds great , i have had a brief look at rooms and think it will be definatley better to book in advance as we are 2adults plus 3 kids so it li

 

[UKDEB]

Apologies for piggy backing on this thread, but does anyone have any advice on the toll roads in Florida & the best way to deal with them when using a hire car.

I posted details in a recent thread (posts 13 and 15 here).