How long?

[Mick-H]

We are in Orlando in March for 3 weeks this is our 4th trip and we've decided it's time to see further afield.
Could anyone give me any tips on...........
How long to drive to the Keys?
Best place to go in the Keys?
Should we stay overnight?

Is their anywhere else you would recommend as a 'must do' within say a 4 hour drive.

We have planned.
Daytona for a day or 2 during bike week. (lifetime ambition )
Space centre.
Couple of days at Celebration.
Loads of days at Universal.
Couple at Disney.
Day or two on a beech, not sure which.
Thanks in advance [msnsmile2]

[pieman790]

The keys are a long way from Orlando almost certainly 6 hours or so drive away. Key west is suppose to be nice but haven’t been myself.
One of my favourites is Busch Gardens which is about 1.5 hour drive from Orlando. It is generally less busy than the parks in Orlando and has something for everybody as well as some big roller coasters. You can combine it with other theme parks Ie Seaworld and universal to make it cheaper. As for the beach we really like Clearwater Beach. Has loads of white sand and is never too busy other than some weekends. Again about 1.5 hours from Orlando. Done Daytona as in the beach but like Clearwater better.

[Magical Dreams]

I have a chart of drive times if you are interested but it is in PDF format.

Drop me a line if you want it!!

[blott]

How long to drive to the Keys? Around 4 hours or so to Miami and then another 3 - 4 hours to Key West (the other Keys obviously won't take so long as they're on the way to Key West!).

Best place to go in the Keys? We stopped at Key Largo which has boat, fishing and diving trips (as well as the boat used by Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in the film African Queen). Also you can't miss Key West with its Conch train, Mallory Square and sunset ceremony, amazing architecture with gingerbread houses, Duval Street for shopping, lots of art shops, Ernest Hemingway's house with the 6 toed cats, etc, etc!

Should we stay overnight? I think you'll have to, given the distances! You might even want to make it more than one night.

Couple of days at Celebration - whilst this is a really interesting township, I don't think you'll need anything like a couple of days to look around it, more like half a day.

The other places you mentioned sound a great idea and, for the couple of days on a beach, try the Gulf Coast as you'll already have visited the Atlantic coast with Daytona and the Kennedy Space Center. You could combine these days at the Gulf Coast with a visit to Busch Gardens.

It sounds like a great holiday and I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time!

[DMC]

Hi Mick

As far as places to see and things to do in and around Orlando, you already have a good idea from your previous trips.

The drive down to the Keys will take you the best part of a full day ( 10 - 12 hrs depending on which Island you aim for ) I would suggest that you might want to stay overnight in Miami to break up the journey.

Plus it will be a good opportunity to see South Beach etc.

As for what to see and do on the Keys then the drive across the bridges to each Island is as much of an adventure as the Islands themselves.

Each one has its own unique atmosphere and it depends on you own personal tastes.

You may wish to take a different route down and back, say take the East Coast road down to Miami and then the west coast on the return taking in places such as St Petersburgh and Naples agian an overnight stop will assist with the long drive.

[langley]

Hi

We just got back from our trip to Orlando and we had a few nights near Naples and had a Day Trip to Evergaldes City State Park. This was a really good day we took a boat trip ourt towards the Gulf Coast and saw Dolphins and all other wildlife and not forgetting the mangroves.

We also did an Airboat Ride which was Brilliant, My Five year old even had a go at driving the Boat. We saw Lots of Alligators too. Something we will never forget.

Also Clearwater as mentioned before is a lovely beach.

Hope you have a great trip and enjoy the planning of it.

[andrewmckay5]

Hi Mick,
if you haven't already booked accommodation, think about a villa on the Gulf for one of the weeks and explore the area from Naples upto Tampa; great beaches among many other things. There is a boat trip from Fort Myers to Key West, about 3 hours I think but check out The Gulf section on this forum where there is a link to the boat company aswell as a few other links.
Good luck,
andrew

[CarolAnn]

Just to add my bitIf you go to Cocoa Beach as your beach visit, it is near to the Space Centre, possible to combine depending on what time you wanted to spend at each, also there is the BIG Ron Jon's Surf shop there which is 24 hours[8D]It is an amazing place[msnwink]We spent 3 days in Fort Lauderdale this year ( wanted to go to the Swimming Hall of Fame there) the beach was lovely, wasn't completely taken aback by the place itself(bit tacky we thought) But different from our Orlando experiences, so glad we did it[msnsmile2]
I think would pick THE KEYS as an option, evrything I have seen and read(some here) seems absolutely wonderful[8D]
Don't forget a trip report when you return[msntongue]
Happy hols

[Cruella DeVilla]

We have done the drive to Key West via the Everglades as it was somewhere I had wanted to see but we did it from Miami and it took what seems like forever! It is 4 1/2 hours from Orlando to Miami plus add on another say 4+ hours, it is a long journey as the speed limit drops to 35 mph in places. Maybe you could stay over in Miami first.

[Lynnes]

I agree Busch gardens is a great place to visit, also in Clearwater there is a speed boat called 'the screamer' takes you out into the Gulf, closely followed by Dolphins, a leisurly trip up the Gulf and then a wham as you head back down in this fabulous SPEED boat.
have a great trip