My Recommendations for a holiday to Florida
WARNING DUE TO RED TIDE TOXIC ALGAE MANY BEACHES ARE SOMETIMES CLOSED. This problem happens most years and you should check your location before booking.
WARNING DUE TO RED TIDE TOXIC ALGAE MANY BEACHES ARE SOMETIMES CLOSED. This problem happens most years and you should check your location before booking.
Introduction Video
When you think of Florida, you think of pristine beaches and sunshine, well that is true, but there is a rainy season too. The best time to visit is springtime, where temperatures will be in the mid to high twenties. Avoid the hurricane season if possible which is roughly July-October, although August and September are the worst months. The winter months can sometimes be chilly, check the weather forecast before leaving home. There is more information available on this website.
My favourite places to stay are Naples and Sarasota. There are lots of beaches and golf courses, cycle trails and just an hour from Miami. This area has quite an upmarket feel to it, where as Fort Myers is more for Students and young people. Below is a street in Sarasota. On the Atlantic coast The Palm Beach and West Palm Beach area are also good bases to stay and venturing a bit further South, Fort Lauderdale is quite nice too, especially for taking a cruise from! The Atlantic coast is better for surfing than the Gulf coast.
Miami Miami gets it's name from a Native American word meaning Many waters. Miami was once the haven for south American drug lords and the crime associated with that if you remember Miami Vice? But now it is much safer, except the area around the airport. I feel as safe in Miami nowadays as any other city of it's size. I have been to Miami many times and stayed around Miami Beach area. South Beach is also nice with lots of clubs and restaurants, for those of you who like to stay up until dawn. - Little Havana is a nice place for a Cuban feel, with authentic Cuban restaurants. You can do a food tour there. - If you like street art, then Wynwood Walls is a great experience! There are art galleries a children's museum and a science museum in Miami too. - Bayside Marketplace is a popular place for restaurants and bars. - Tropical Park is one of the nicest parks. It would be very useful if you can speak Spanish in Miami. Use Tripadvisor to find accommodation that suits your budget. It is by far the best site to chose something which has approval rates. For families, Hilton suites, Hampton Inn and suites, Homewood Suites, Embassy suites have been a great service to us. You get a suite, free wifi and free breakfast in a comfortable suite with large TV's and if needed washing machine and dryer. All are functional, clean and excellent value. The beauty of hiring a car means you don't have to be in tourist area and pay top buck, Florida is large and has large and easy to drive roads If you want something more luxurious instead of being around The International Drive area of Orlando or in a Disney hotel and pay top dollar (as our cousins across the pond say) try to search tripadvisor further a field, a five minute drive can get you a much nicer hotel for less. Parking is free in almost all areas so you can have a choice of restaurants or bars when ever you fancy something different in the evenings. My favourite petrol station is WaWa. You can get nice drinks and snacks in there! South Beach, Miami.
Shopping
The largest Mall in Florida is located near Fort Lauderdale called Sawgrass Mills. In Orlando the Mall at Millenia has beautiful designer shops if you want to spend a few dollars. This is my personal favourite mall! It is a gorgeous mall to visit, with the popular Cheesecake Factory on the outside. Other malls for the price conscious, are Premium outlets (at either end of International Drive). If you fancy to travel a bit further north of Orlando for even bigger bargains away from the tourist areas, There is "Altemonte Mall". (Altemonte Mall has almost everything "Florida Mall" has, but you can actually walk around without fighting your way through the crowds!) and most times sales are on so you can get your shopping even cheaper. Check on their website here if they have the shops you like. Altamonte Mall If you like TK Maxx in the UK, make sure you try TJ Maxx, Ross and Burlington here in Florida for amazing bargains!! Don't forget that tax is added at the till as it is different in different states, so take this in to account when you see a price tag.
Orlando
Orlando is a popular family destination in Florida that you could spend a week there, then a week at a beach resort. The main night life places are in Downtown Orlando. I would recommend Tier nightclub for an every day night club and Vanity or Grey Goose Lounge for somewhere a bit classier. There are so many bars, restaurants and night clubs in this area, so it is best just to explore the area and find somewhere that suits you. I am not really a night club person, I have left these recommendations to my nieces and nephews! Theme Parks
There are many theme parks in an around Orlando and of course they are the best in the world. A good place to buy tickets from is Floridatix. Our favourites are the Disney theme parks, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom and you shouldn't miss Universal Studios if you are into movies. The water parks are great in the summer.Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Aquatica are pretty good. The newest water park is volcano Bay, but I haven't been to that one. SeaWorld has dropped off our visiting list since we watched the movie "Blackfish", but that is my personal view so you need to make your own decision, admittedly it does have some good rides. Above is the newly refurbished Disney Springs shopping area.
You can combine your Florida holiday with a trip to the Caribbean, Central or South America or with a cruise. Miami has connecting flights to all the major South American cities and Fort Lauderdale has cruises all over the Caribbean and beyond. In fact at certain times of the year you can even take a cruise over from Europe instead of flying.
Eating out Florida doesn’t have the best food in the world, but there are healthier choices now than a few years ago. Keke's is great for breakfast. ( a better version of IHOP) There are lots more smoothie bars and Panera Bread is a favourite of mine for lunch. BurgerFi is my favourite Burger place and even sells wine with your burger! The best restaurants in Orlando are in the Doctor Phillips area of Orlando and Downtown Orlando. Head towards "W Sand Lake Road" and you can find fabulous restaurants like the Cedars (great Lebanese food), Amura (Sushi) just to name a couple. The best fine dining restaurant in the Disney area is Victoria and Albert. The main tourist areas in Orlando do have some nice restaurants, but my family like the ribs and steaks so Red Rock Canyon Grill (Or Copper Canyon I think it is now called) or Tony Roma's on International Drive were always a favourite with my children. Out of the chains I quite like the Orlando Ale House. The most famous food grown in Florida is Oranges and other citrus fruit. The Orange even features on the car number plate. You can get freshly picked oranges everywhere. The most famous dish is key lime pie, which is a sort of cheesecake made with limes. Florida is also home to a huge number of people from the Caribbean, Mexico and South America and elements of their food are noticeable all over Florida. Spanish is therefore very widely spoken as well and it would be of great benefit to you if you speak Spanish here. |
*All work including photos and writing on this page is my own, except the link to the Tourism video, freely available on Youtube.
Places to visit in Florida
Key West is Florida's most southern city and is absolutely beautiful with a Caribbean Flavour, and it is a must see place if you have enough time during the holiday, it is certainly worth a few hours drive from Miami. The Everglades are also a fun trip on an airboat. St Augustine, The oldest settlement in Florida and really the only cultural entertainment we have found in Florida. Mount Dora, just an hour from Orlando is a sweet town on a lake. Pictured below and nearby Altamonte Springs Mall is good to combine a day trip with. Blue Springs State Park, where you can swim with manatees at certain times of the year.
Melbourne Beach, Just an hour’s drive away from Orlando is another lovely little beach area which is great place to unwind in the sun if you don't want to drive too far with a Starbucks and Coldstone ice cream shop right on the beach you don't need anything else to unwind for few hours in the sun. Other beaches I would recommend are Clearwater (The main beach area if you want beaches with shops and restaurants) and if you want somewhere quieter then go to Anna Maria Island , (We like Bradenton beach there), Madeira Beach (pictured below) or Caladesi island which are near Tampa.
And to get some nice food and drinks and dance the night away Tampa city is a nice place too. Also visit the little Greek town of Tarpon Springs. It feels as if you are in a real Greek fishing village!
If you want to experience the theme park experience for free without the rides, Then Disney Springs and Universal City Walk, both in Orlando are great for a stroll, for cafes and restaurants and although Universal does charge for parking, Disney Springs does not currently charge for parking. In Florida you need to hire a car, the public transport is practically none existent and the place is so big and shops, restaurants and attractions are so widespread you just can't get around without one.
We use Alamo car rental but it is completely your choice, there are more than a dozen companies so get yourself a good deal and book from the UK before you travel the sooner the better, we usually book at least 6 months before we travel as it is much cheaper than closer to travel date. One tip to give you, when you go to the car park compound to choose your car (because that's what you do, there is no one to tell you which one you have to take but a big collection of cars / mini vans and you choose the one you like), head straight to a car that has out of Florida state number plates, especially the ones with New York plates, as these people will have driven long distances and are more likely to have paid for extras such as DVD players (to keep the children quiet) in the mini vans, we do this every year and usually manage to get one with a DVD player in (to keep our kids quiet), which the Florida registered cars usually don’t have. Safety
Florida does have a lot more crime than the UK. Orlando is safer than Miami, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Rape and child abductions are high in Orlando so just like any where you go, make sure you are aware of your surroundings. The main Orlando tourist areas are quite safe due to a highly visible police presence, but do keep an eye on children at all times (especially in Theme Parks.) North side of Orange Blossom Trail (AKA OBT), further North past Florida mall, has a seedy presence and my personal recommendation is to give it a miss, especially at night. Muggings and vehicle crime are actually quite low, I have never heard of these crimes while we have been there but that's no proof of any statistics. Although shootings are common I think they are mainly drug related and away from tourists areas. Insects
There are poisonous snakes and spiders so be careful. Take insect sprays to protect yourself from mosquitos in the summer as there are some nasty diseases you can catch from them. Any lake could have an alligator in it, so don’t swim in a lake. SPORT Golf is probably the most popular sport in Florida, with Golf courses everywhere you look! Basketball is also popular and they have some good teams. Football is becoming popular with stars like David Beckham having promoted it in Miami and with so many people originating from South America, it is a sport Florida could do very well in.
Above is a typical waterfront home in Miami.
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