best places to visit in florida
Uncover the unexpected variety of the USA’s Sunshine State.
Florida. That means Disney, right? In 1959, Walt Disney chose the city of Orlando to be the location of his new holiday resort, although he did not live to see Walt Disney World open its doors to visitors for the first time in 1971. Since then, The City Beautiful has become the global capital of theme parks. From pirates and princesses to wizards and whales, there’s an Orlando theme park to suit every taste. Millions of visitors each year choose between the gargantuan complexes of Disney, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and Legoland. If such vast and hyperactive theme parks aren’t your thing, try the smaller and more manageable Gatorland or Fun Spot America. Or maybe the Holy Land Experience, a Christian-based theme park, is more your thing?
Theme park fanatics who are prepared to go slightly further afield should also consider the African-influenced Busch Gardens, 128 kilometres (80 miles) west of Orlando in the outskirts of Tampa, while many drive 80 kilometres (50 miles) east to Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral to get up close to Space Shuttle Atlantis and a Saturn V rocket. For a peek behind the scenes, book one of the special tours of the launch complex.
It’s possible to spend weeks hopping from one theme park to another across Florida’s central belt and many do but such an itinerary ignores Florida’s many and varied other attractions. Miami, probably the state’s most famous city, combines an American metropolis with Latin flair imagine the child of New York and Rio de Janeiro. The central district of Little Havana is probably where the Cuban influence is at its highest. Watch the locals play cards and dominos on fold-up tables in Gomez Park, and take an edible journey down the best cafes on Calle Ocho with a food tour.
The museums of Downtown Miami are worth a visit, as are the hip and vibrant northern districts of Midtown and Upper Eastside; but most visitors actually spend a lot of their time on Miami Beach, a separate city located on a reef across Biscayne Bay. Here you can soak up the Art Deco architecture of Ocean Drive at the same time as soaking up the rays. Take time to wander the South Beach district, as busy at night as it is during the day, with hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants, boutiques and hotels, and a number of quirky, colourful lifeguard stands.
South Beach may be among the most famous of American beaches, but there is no shortage of alternatives for those who want to avoid the crowds. With 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) of coastline, the Sunshine State nestles between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Those who want to try a spot of surfing could do worse than Laguna Beach on the strip of non-peninsula Florida known as the Panhandle. On the Atlantic coast, the hard sand of Daytona Beach was once used as a racecar track. Races ended when an internationally renowned racetrack was built in the city, but the beach is one of the few remaining that are still open to motorists albeit The historic heart of St Augustine is a fine place to soak up Spanish architecture at a slower speed. Further down the coast, West Palm Beach sits directly west of Grand Bahama and enjoys a similar reputation for snorkelling and sea life.
Off the southern tip of the state, the Florida Keys is an archipelago of 1,700 islands stretching into the Gulf of Mexico. Many of them are linked by US Highway 1, which begins in Key West an island city at the tip of the Keys and stretches all the way to the Canadian border with Maine. Most will drive only the picturesque 260 kilometres (160 miles) section to Key West from Miami. If hiring a vehicle, try to get a convertible and, when you hit the first overwater section at Key Largo, let the roof drop and the sea breeze whistle through your hair. But don’t press too hard on the accelerator. The speed limit is strictly enforced and, anyway, the pace of life in the Keys is slow and steady. What’s the rush? Just don’t forget the fuel: gas for the car and local speciality Key lime pie for the driver.
Another fine road trip from Miami is to take Highway 41 across the state. Once out of Miami’s urban sprawl, you’ll spend an hour traversing Everglades National Park. This vast tropical wilderness of wetland and forest is the result of slow-moving river water flowing into Florida Bay. Stop at the Shark Valley or Gulf Coast Visitor Center for a chance to take a ride on one of the iconic airboats that skim across the grass swamp. This spectacular ecosystem is home to crocodiles, manatees, plenty of snakes and the Florida panther. Also keep an eye on the sky for ospreys and the national animal of the USA, the bald eagle.
Geographically, Florida is part of the Deep South, but it shares a relatively short land border only with Georgia and Alabama. It means that, conversely, Deep South culture is strongest the further north you go in the state. Here you’ll find traditional southern food, politics and values. Although both Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, and biggest city, Jacksonville, can be found in the north, a better place to explore the region from is St Augustine. This small settlement was founded by Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565, making it the USA’s oldest city. It’s chock-full of Spanish-influenced historic buildings around a picturesque bay and lighthouse. Speaking of lighthouses, with such a long coastline to oversee, Florida is home to a surfeit of them, and visiting lighthouses has become a hobby akin to trainspotting. Key West and Ponce de Leon are home to two favourites beyond St Augustine.
By all means fly to Orlando for a fix of Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter, but be sure to explore further afield. Florida is not an unfamiliar destination to holidaymakers, but those who escape beyond the theme parks will discover a surprising variety of riches in the Sunshine State.