V-Flyer

We have a family reunion happening in July 2019 in Florida, Orlando to be exact. Given the cost of getting to Florida at peak summer time we are therefore looking to combine this reunion with our annual summer holiday. Looking for ideas on where to go from Orlando for about a week?

Our criteria is somewhere fairly relaxed and not too far? We are also probably not too keen on a road trip to multiple places. My initial thoughts were New Orleans or maybe Bahamas? Naples has also been suggested but no idea of whats there. All suggestions appreciated.

Thanks always,
FLYERZ

Florida Keys immediately springs to mind?

We did Orlando followed by New Orleans and we loved it, though it was quite a few years ago now. New Orleans is a fantastic place to visit, especially if you like the old jazz/blues scene on an evening when the place really comes alive. Food is fantastic as well and we ended up consistently ordering far too much! During the day we found it a little quiet and there’s not an awful lot to see to be honest once you’ve toured the city and done the paddle steamer trip etc. We were there for four days, staying in the French Quarter, which we found was more than enough to see everything.
D.

Obviously depends what you enjoy, but we often visit Cape Coral on the gulf. The houses are beautiful and you can hire your own speedboat for the week (circa 30ft) and travel out to the gulf and explore the area by water. It’s quite cheap too. Decent villa will be $2,000 and the boat around $1,400. Gas to fill the boat on the other hand...

We normally pair Orlando up with a visit to Anna Maria Island (we’re here now) nice laid back barefoot feel and loads of lovely beach houses to rent! It’s about a 2 hour drive from Orlando, we also like to visit Naples but it doesn’t quite have the same laid back beach feeling we get in Anna Maria

Going back quite a few years now but we had a very nice stay on Marco Island.
It's only a short drive into Naples, or the Everglades National Park.

Dick D

no need to travel far as anywhere on the Gulf coast will give you warmth and beautiful sandy beaches with sigthtings of pelicans, rays etc. St Pete's Beach, Anna Maria Island, Sanibel ..... we always rent a home, usually beachfront and chill out. With only a week, a trip down the Keys would be possible for sure and it is certainly a great drive but not as relaxing and accommodation in Key West is more expensive.

If the OP is looking for somewhere laid back and not far from Orlando, then you can't go wrong with the Gulf Coast in the Tampa Bay Area. We have stayed in Treasure Island a number of times and laid back is what you will certainly get there, as well as things to see/do, amenities and a great beach, though the other beaches and islands in that area are similarly laid back. What's more, that area is no more than 2 hours drive from MCO and easy to get to along Interstate 4, so it's perfectly possible to go straight from MCO to the Gulf Coast or end your holiday there and drive back to MCO late-morning before your flight home - both scenarios we've done before. You might prefer to go there after your reunion in Orlando as it's a nice place to wind down and to have a "holiday" to recover from the parks if you know what I mean!

Someone mentioned the Keys and Key West. It's a great drive and definitely a bucket list-type road trip, so I recommend going there at least once. What I will warn you though is that you're effectively giving up a day to go there as it took us 8 hours to drive from Key West to Orlando 2 years ago including stops as there's long stretches of single lane carriageways along the Keys and we did get stuck behind a lorry or bus or slow driver a number of times. You can halve the driving time if you stop over in the Miami area. Key West in particular is expensive and, at that time of year, it may end up being unbearably hot down there. You could see what flight options exist to avoid an all-day drive (something I might consider doing if I return to Key West in the future having done the drive twice), but bear in mind most airlines limit your luggage allowance due to EYW's short runway so look into that very carefully.