Ten Days in Florida - Road Trip

[Mazdarese]

Y'all

The wife and I are planning to go to Florida in September. We've been before and spent most of our time in Orlando, save for a few days in Miami.

This time, we'd like to fly into Orlando and drive straight out and maybe head down the West coast before coming back up the east coast for a few days in Orlando before flying home.

So, something like this:

Orlando
Tampa
Cape Coral
Naples
Miami
West Palm Beach
Orlando

Has anyone ever done this trip before and have any recommendations? Where to stay? What to see? We toured California for our honeymoon last year and it was amazing, so looking to have as much 'fun' as possible.

We're hoping to hire a C6 Corvette

[Mazdarese]

Brilliant, thanks chaps.

Are Key West/Largo definitely worth a visit? An ex-colleague went last year and he said it was a bit 'meh', and it's quite a trek down there.

[Mazdarese]

Thanks Chaps, that looks fantastic. Mrs A is a bit of a petrolhead too so I'm sure she wouldn't mind us popping into Don Garlits.

[Mazdarese]

chopper602 said:

alfa pint said:

I wouldn't have missed Key West for the world. Top place. Really nice feel about it all and Hemingway's house was well worth a visit. The drive across all the bridges was pretty memorable too.

+1 on the Keys, well worth the trip when we went

It's a really nice drive down the east coast, we avoided Miami, but think it's a lot better now than it was 20 years ago!

We've been to Miami before and were not completely impressed with it, but we're going to give it another go.

[Mazdarese]

tim0409 said:

You will have a great time! We have done this trip four times, the last being in January when we flew from Edinburgh to Miami and picked up a Mustang (the last time I upgraded to a Shelby which was fun!) for 10 days.

A few things we found -

1) We love Naples - it's a nice, quiet place especially if you have been to Miami and want to take it easy for a bit. It also has best steak restaurant I have ever been to (Chops) although it's not cheap.
2) Driving down the Keys with the roof down is a great experience although I don't think I could have spent more than a night at Key West (it's also an expensive place to stay). A better option for us was to stop at Key Largo and drive down in a day and back - we found a great place to stay in Key Largo (Hampton Suites) which had great service and a nice pool (we originally stopped for 1 night but ended up staying for 3 after OH cut a good deal [she works in hotels]) There are restaurant nearby, but having eaten out for a week we got some salad/ribs from nearby Winne Dixie and ate it on the balcony.
3) This was the third time I have went without a suitcase/clothes - well worth buying Levis/Polo etc (and a samsonite suitcase!) stuff there (although I was questioned about this on the way in!) Also bought a Macbook Air as well!
4) I am jealous!

Thanks Tim, all noted!

Just booked the flights

[Mazdarese]

Ok, here is our proposed route and itinerary:


1 Orlando St Augustine
2 St Augustine St Augustine
3 St Augustine Ybor City
4 Ybor City Tampa/SP
5 Tampa/SP Sanibel
6 Sanibel Naples
7 Naples Miami
8 Miami Orlando
9 Orlando Orlando
10 Orlando Orlando
11 Orlando

We've had to cut a few places out because those ten days soon get swallowed up

[Mazdarese]

[Mazdarese]

Very much enjoying St Augustine. Staying at the Casa Monica which is very nice.

Had our first full day here today, and heading off west tomorrow towards Tampa. Not sure where we will be staying, but Ocala is about 100 miles away which is fine, but there doesn't seem to be much there...

[Mazdarese]

Right, booked tomorrow night at Pine Island

[Mazdarese]

Ross1988 said:

P.S The shooting range at east orange sports shooting was awesome, In Orlando. If that is your thing.

Yeah quite fancy that, will look it up if we get time!

Just having lunch in Ocala. Saw a bear earlier, crossed the road in front of us!

[Mazdarese]

So, it seems there are two "Pine Islands" in Florida.

The one we had booked accommodation at, and the one 200 miles further north that we travelled to

We ended up diverting to Clearwater, where it is now raining, thundering and lightning.

[Mazdarese]

Yeah, real sthole.

[Mazdarese]

Matt Harper said:

This, from a travel writer?
What a plonker.

We are hoping to get to the drag strip in Orlando on Friday night

[Mazdarese]

Adenauer said:

Mazdaarse, go and check out Cape Coral for me please, we have a Villa with a speedboat booked for two weeks there next year

Nice! We're currently about ten miles west of there, on Pine Island.

[Mazdarese]

Last night's rather nice sunset.

[Mazdarese]

Matt Harper said:

Mazdarese said:

We are hoping to get to the drag strip in Orlando on Friday night

Cool - Friday nights are RWYB, but they won't let you race a rental car. Keep an eye on the weather, needless to say, they don't run in the wet - and finally a quick note on the environment.
Orlando Speedworld is out east of the city in Bithlo FL. The area is a little 'back-woodsy'.
After you're finished at the track, I would advise against hanging-around for a beer/dinner out there. Head back a little closer to civilization and folks with multiple teeth and footwear.

If you're lucky, you will see some terrifyingly fast street cars. Sadly, I'm working in CA this week and won't get home until late Friday - I'd have taken a ride up there myself, otherwise.

Let me know if you'd like any non-tourist oriented tips on places to see/drink/eat in the area, while you are here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX6fvC7NL-E

Edited by Matt Harper on Monday 12th September 16:50

Thanks for your help with this Matt. We took a detour on our way back up to Orlando from Miami, and popped into the raceway at about 17:00 to see what time it all started (18:00 apparently). By the time we'd got into Orlando and checked into the hotel ( Grand Bohemian, very nice), we couldn't be bothered driving back out to Bithlo

We had dinner at Urban Flats that night, which was a bit 'meh' to be honest. We were both knackered though so didn't fancy anything too extravagant. However, the next day on the way to the airport we needed some lunch. Golden Corral looked ok from the outside, but Sweet Jesus why didn't you warn me about this place?! $7.99 for an eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet? We could have guessed what it would be like I suppose!

I'm too tired to do a full write-up of the trip for those that are interested, but highlights were:

• San Augustine - nice for a day
• Ocala National Park - we took a detour down a backroad and saw a bear
• Pine Island - quiet, ace.
• Marco Island, less quiet, also ace.
• Boat trip at Clearwater - saw dolphins playing in the wake of our boat, ace.
• Airboat ride at Everglades City - ace, drifting fun. Didn't see any gators though
• St Petersburg - Vinoy resort hotel nice, cool city, nice restaurants and bars
• Miami - still not convinced, but had nice lunch
• Palm Beach - an unreal amount of money around there.
• Naples - not sure really. Mrs A had bad toothache so we didn't see much of it.