First Visit to Florida - Travel Advice please!

[I have to admit I do love living in Florida, and with two international airports an easy drive away it's no problem hopping on a plane when I do want to see someplace, or some one else!

Wow - very jealous of that statement.......and the weather, of course y)

Wow - very jealous of that statement.......and the weather, of course y)

the weather pah...it rained today !

all joking aside-during all of January we have been able to jump in the pool and have had a good few days at the beach. the 'winter' is the best time of the year here, coupled with living and eating outdoors.
it cost us a good few bob to move here but its been so worth it, the lifestyle is wonderful. y)

the weather pah...it rained today !

all joking aside-during all of January we have been able to jump in the pool and have had a good few days at the beach. the 'winter' is the best time of the year here, coupled with living and eating outdoors.
it cost us a good few bob to move here but its been so worth it, the lifestyle is wonderful. y)[/quote]

Mmmmmm We spend most of our holidays somewhere in the USA and have always fancied a move over (especially when Mrs P's sister lived in Philly) but haven't quite got around to it yet

snickr. you are looking at a drive of around 300 miles, which if you wanted to you could do in a day.
the quickest route is the turnpike or I95 to Melbourne the across on the 192. both will be pretty boring and unspectacular with really only the coastaltowns to stop at.

personally i would look at taking 27 North to the southern point of Lake Okeechobee.Ive done that drive and its much more interesting.you then have the option of a few towns to stop at, Clewsiton is one. now these towns are certainly not Disney, in fact some some are back in the 'old ages' but worth a look.

from there you can go slightly more direct round the east side of the lake , which is the shorter route through Okeechobee itself or west via Lake Placid (yup).
then back on 27 into orlando via haines City and Davenport.....

i would suggest one night stop somewhere around the lake would be enough

Wow thanks for the advice and to the other recommendations too.

Having re-read the whole thread we might now have to venture over to the west coast of Florida. I love a nice beach or two! I've been recommened Anna Maria to visit. Any others over on the west coast that are a must? Would you recommend Alligator Alley or the 41 to get from Miami to the west coast. We love the thought of doing some alligator spotting!

We'll have two nights to kill between Miami and the west coast so where would be the best places to stop?

ok Anna Maria is up FFgs way so I am sure she will be your 'guru'
from Miami you have 3 choices. I75/Alligator Alley -boring. 41 across to Naples then up the coast of 27 which goes up to Okeechobee. you could then head west to Fort Myers or go round the lake and then west to Arcadia.

if you choose the 41 option i would suggest Naples/Marco as an overnight option.to be honest i would only do one night then head to Anna Maria.
if going via 27 stop at Clewiston or Okeechobee itself but again for one night

Another recommendation for the '41.

If you are looking for alligators & other local wildlife try Turner River Road on the '41. It is not tarmaced but frequently graded so easy to drive along with frequent pull-outs to stop.

For beaches Lover's Key takes some beating but be warned - it is addictive: we went there over 25 years ago and been back almost every year since; now staying on the island for at least 2 months each year.

Another recommendation for the '41.

If you are looking for alligators & other local wildlife try Turner River Road on the '41. It is not tarmaced but frequently graded so easy to drive along with frequent pull-outs to stop.

I'll definitely second that - we stumbled across Turner River Road, but what a find!!! Really brilliant - and free too!

Hi,

just to quickly add that a lot of the car rental companies have changed their toll programme again recently.

The details are all here: https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

At least Alamo have limited the convenience charge to $6 max now, and the charges are the same as what you would have paid in cash.

I think there had been some problems with trying to register hire cars with the sunpass boxes you can buy at the supermarkets, as the number plates were already registered, so they seem to have dropped that part now and just go with the toll-by-plate method.

We've used it last week to drive back from Florida City to Clermont - took us approx 4 hours 15 mins. We did drive all the way back from Key West a couple of years ago too, in about 6 hours. Great if you just want to get somewhere, but as others have said, there's so many other place to go and see on the way.

Hope this helps.