florida road trip

[mumlel]

Hi, does anyone have any advice for a Florida road trip?
We fly to Miami, then was thinking of hiring a truck to drive down to key west?
Any car hire recommendations or places to stay or visit?

6 days isn't very long. You could stay in Miami, do beach, little Havana, day trip to Everglades and then head north.

If you've got money to burn, I think you can get a seaplane tour from Miami to the bottom of the keys and do a snorkeling trip, looked amazing, can't remember price but was vv expensive I think

Could your Kennedy trip be done during your 10 days in Orlando? If experiencing Miami Beach (bear in mind Miami Beach is a separate city from Miami - they're next to each other, but still 2 distinct places), I'd then recommend doing the Gulf Coast beaches as well. Do you need to return your car to Miami at the end? You could then head west out of Miami, hit Everglades as you drive over to Naples/Marco Island, then travel up the coast (Sanibel/Captiva, Ft Myers, Sarasota, Anna Maria, Siesta Key, Clearwater, Tampa - you absolutely don't need to do the all, but lots of options along the way. It's about 1.5hrs' drive from Tampa to Kissimmee (Disney side of Orlando).

The Keys are absolutely beautiful, but plan your itinerary carefully so you're not just sitting in a car for your 6 days.

It's a 3 hour drive from Miami airport to Key West if you don't stop. There is an ordinary road as well as a toll road . It's not a massive distance!

"
The city of Miami is giant, sprawling and takes hours to drive N-S or vice versa."

I have been going to Miami since 1980. It's not LA big. Yes there are times of the days and certain roads which are busy but it doesn't take hours in normal situations. Miami airport to Fort Lauderdale takes about 45 mins up I 95.

As well as the Alison Hammond show on BBC, Jane MacDonald has also done one for Channel5 which is a big road trip. Lots of good recommendations for things to do in that too.

We did a FL road trip this October just gone. We started off in Fort Myers and Naples, drove down to KW via Everglades, back up to Marathon, and finished off in Miami.

A couple of things to note about KW: it's very expensive in terms of accommodation. Parking is difficult; look for a hotel a bit further out on Stock Island that has a free shuttle. A lot of accommodation in downtown KW is adults only, which leads me on to my second point.

Check the calendar carefully for events in KW. We've been before, and loved it, but our stay this time coincided with a 'Fantasy Fest' for more mature adults. Think sagging genitals enclosed in willy stockings, and nipple tassles etc. It was awful. Not family friendly at all. KW has a wonderful laid back vibe usually, with an active gay and drag scene, but this was on another level. There were quite a few families around, and I think KW lost of lot of future customers that weekend.

If you do go, do visit Fort Zachary Taylor State park. The beach and water is stunning.

Miami is one of our favourite cities; once there you won't need the car (we stay at South Beach).

@Oriunda we were there in October 2023 Halloween and saw the festival. It is allegedly more light weight now and the hard core have moved elsewhere 🤷‍♀️ but yes there were people walking about naked other than body paint but you're not allowed to show nipples or genitals.

The Keys where the best part of our trip, we went snorkeling with the kids at several places , right from the beach you can see beautiful fish. We also fed the tarpons on Marathon.
I would do Kennedy space centre as a day trip from Orlando. Cocoa beach wasnt that special to us.
Maybe squeeze in an airboat trip if you get near the Everglades, my kids loved that.

We flew to KW from Orlando and then drove back to Orlando with a 3 night stop in KE and a couple of overnight stops en route through the keys. We wanted more relaxed visit. We then drive from the keys to Orlando as one long journey just to get back.

KW is big for adult visitors but there are stuff for younger ones too, including boat trips and the beach.

We aren't particularly keen on Miami itself.

We liked other places down the coast though such as areas around First Lauderdale.

The space centre is definitely worth a visit.

For only 5 days I think you'd need to chose one or the other - the keys or the coast down to the space centre.

You can do the space centre as an easy day trip from Orlando.

Gulf keys are great we went to Sierra key after doing Universal, cocoa beach and Everglades airboat ride (bucket list stuff definitely recommend)

Teens loved the Village at sierra eating out watching the funky cars and we walked down to the drumming circle which I think is on a Sunday.

In case anyone is looking it's Siesta Key and yes Sunday at sunset is the gathering session. The best beach on Siesta is away from the centre. It's called Turtle Beach.