Florida Travel Guide
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Why Travel to Florida?
The 'Sunshine State' offers tourists one of the best climates in the country for year round activities, though the summer's is hot and sticky and storms arrive just when you started to relax.
Many of the best white sand beaches in the USA are to be found along Florida's extensive coastlines, though not many south of Miami with the exception of Key West. Watersports are well catered for on warm surrounding seas while increasingly limited wildlife can be found in the Everglades wetlands.
Where nature has not provided for the tourist, man has done so, with a selection of hi-tech entertainment and the world's most attractive theme parks in the Orlando region.

Downsides:
- Developers are doing their best to cement over everything green. Read Carl Hiaasen's novels for a satirical look at the rape of the state by Big Money.
- Florida did have a problem with crime aimed at tourists, though this has improved recently. You'd still be well-advised to conceal your 'just visiting' status in Florida's cities.

Florida's climate:
Best: Dec-March, warm, dry, very busy.
Worst : June-Oct, hot, humid and hurricanes [OK, maybe just the occasional storm, but they do stuff up beach holidays! n.b. the northern parts of the state get chilly during winter.

Main Attractions:

Beaches: one of Florida's prime attractions, with clean seas [the Atlantic Ocean in the east, Gulf of Mexico in the west and Caribbean down south, around the lower Keys], more-or-less year-round sunshine, fine sand and plenty of it, and a warm climate to dry you off after a dip. More information: East Coast | West Coast | Florida Keys

South Florida
The southern part of the peninsula is dominated by Miami and the wetlands of the Everglades. It all terminates with the Florida Keys chain of islands leading to Key West at the end.

Florida Everglades

Everglades National Park [south - centre]: is a massive swampy wilderness reserve, America's largest subtropical area and a World Heritage Site offering a well-organised wetland experience. The Everglades is terrific for bird watching though not massive amounts of wildlife apart from 'gators and rare manatees [an endangered 'sea cow'].
Getting around by noisy air boat is a thrilling experience but canoeing/kayaking is the best way to explore the place in a tranquil, eco-friendly manner, allowing travellers to creep up on wild things instead of blowing them away with a V-8 driven propeller. More.

Miami South Beach

Miami [south - east]: this cultural melting pot blends Art Deco buildings, a vibrant atmosphere, a little vice, a lot of nightlife, wacky, swanky, fashionable people, dramatic ethnic cuisine and white beaches to make a truly great city, open all hours - and it's 's the gateway to the Florida Keys. More Miami.

Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale [south-east]: known as the 'Venice of America' for its extensive canal network, the city's star attraction is Fort Lauderdale Beach, known as 'the Strip', especially the section between Las Olas Blvd and Sunrise Blvd, where lively bars, restaurants and casinos compete for trade alongside the beach road.
For more action downtown, head to East Las Olas Blvd for up-market shops while West Las Olas Blvd attracts younger crowds with hip clubs and restaurants.

Palm Beach [south-east]:a plush residential area as well as a posh beach resort, Palm Beach reclines on the 'Treasure Coast' with sugar-white sand and some of world's best beaches for celebrity spotting, especially immaculate Lantana Beach near the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Palm Beach's primary sights include The Breakers Hotel for architecture, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum - a 73 room mansion and art collection, the Four Arts Gardens - an arts society library with fine sculptures and botanical gardens, and finally Worth Avenue for up-scale shops.

Captiva Island

Fort Myers [south-west]: located along the scenic coast, this is a centre of inventive genius with the Edison Estate Museum, the Henry Ford Home and other museums.
Nicknamed the City of Palms, Fort Myers is proud of its elegant palm-lined McGregor Boulevard and many sandy beaches such as sporty Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island and on the barrier islands of Sanibel and Captiva, resorts and nature reserves that are very child, cycle and canoe friendly; this area is extremely anti-development. e.g. there's no fast food or traffic lights.

Naples [south-west]: although not as ritzy as Palm Beach, Naples is a fancy beach community with up-market shops, sophisticated country clubs, arty-farty entertainments and a buoyant nightlife. If you love shopping, head for Tin City, a large waterfront market place where you can buy just about everything; it used to be a fisherman's wharf.

Florida Keys

Florida Keys [far south]: a superb destination for fishing, sailing, diving and modest beaches, this chain of 1,700 islands, stretches for over 100 miles south of the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. The Keys are home to Florida Keys Reef Tract, North America's only living coral barrier, the world's third largest.
The islands [keys] are connected by a series of bridges [the Overseas Highway] along route US 1, allowing tourists to drive all the way to the most southerly island, Key West. The keys' prime attraction is marine activities, especially for fishing and scuba diving due to the swarms of migrating fish using the channel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida Keys map

The islands/Keys running south from Florida City, the USA mainland's most southerly metropolis:

- Key Largo, the northernmost island, is a 90 minute drive from Miami and a excellent place for diving/snorkeling, especially at John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park [undersea park], known for its Coral Reef Theater with 30, 000 gallon saltwater aquarium and reconstruction of a living reef.

- Islamorada is composed of six islands - Plantation Key, Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lower Matecumbe Key and the offshore islands of Indian Key and Lignumvitae Key. Regarded by many as the world's Sport Fishing capital, most visitors come for fishing, but there's also diving and snorkeling. The Theater of the Sea, a marine mammal park, where you can swim with dolphins, sea lions and stingrays, is great fun for families.
- Marathon a friendly community on Vaca island, home to the Dolphin Research Centre and the Turtle Hospital, offers wildlife, eco-tourism and encounters with dolphins.

- Big Pine Key and the lower keys are home to one of America's best white sand beaches in Bahia Honda State Park. The area also offers land based wildlife, albeit slightly dull National Key Deer Refuge.

Key West

- Key West is the southernmost city in the continental USA as well as the last island of the Keys. It is Ernest Hemingway territory, so it's an artsy environment, Historic District of 'Old Town' particularly Mallory Square and Duval Street with many bars and restaurants in the evenings. Also check Fort Zachary Trylor and Truman Annex for classic architecture. The Key West has no shortage of activities ranging from water sports to eco-tours throughout year, though it's magnificent sunsets could be the island's main attraction.

Central Florida

Orlando

Orlando: One of world's major tourist destinations and best known as the home of amusement parks such as Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort, though they are actually located outside the city in Greater Orlando or Metro Orlando. A few attractions can be found in the city, such as the Orlando Museum of Art, the Science Centre, Planetarium and American Folk Museum, but the really big attractions are outside the city limits:

- SeaWorld: a marine life park specialising in stadium shows featuring killer-whales, shark tanks and penguin encounters, as well as wide range of rides like the flying 'Manta' coaster and spectacular 'Journey to Atlantis'. More.

- Discovery Cove: this popular water park offers an all-inclusive, artificial tropical marine environment in which tourists may participate, including swimming with dolphins and around a coral reef. There are a mass of shows and entertainments as well, for all ages including adults.

- Universal Orlando: encompasses two movie oriented theme Parks: Universal Studios with more than 40 movie related rides, shows, shops and diners in movie sets; Island of Adventure simulates Jurassic Park, Comic book heroes with adrenaline-rush rides for teens, particularly 'the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man' and 'Incredible Hulk Coaster'. More.

- Walt Disney World: the world's largest and most visited amusement park. 'The World' contains four theme parks; Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios, as well as two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, along with resort hotels, a shopping centre, sport and entertainment complex in 25,000 acres. It's 35 km southwest of Orlando. Although they are mainly kid oriented, adults can have a fun, too, for instance try 'Cirque du Soleil', a mystic and theatrical acrobatic circus. It is essential to plan in advance how to make most of Walt Disney World without hassle as there are all sort of offers, package deals and information online - you will be exhausted before you go!
- Holy Land Experience: a biblical theme park in which visitors can experience the time of Jesus Christ, life-size biblical scenes with musical, a kind of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' mated with a Sunday Mass.

Kennedy Space Center [NASA], Cape Canaveral: With its superb exhibitions, space vehicles, media presentations and all things for all space cadets, this is a must-see, especially for children. It's well worth watching a Space Shuttle launch if its schedule meet your itinerary, or why not have lunch with an astronaut?

Clearwater: one of the state's most celebrated beach communities with iconic 'Pier 60' and a couple of America's best beaches - Clearwater, offering sophisticated city beaches and Caladesi Island State Park's natural beauty.

Daytona beach

Daytona Beach: hard partying and fast racing in the city of speed. Explore the huge, hard beach and see the top action at the Daytona International Speedway during the Indy 500 race or wait for the Harleys to turn up during Bike Week [end of February].

Cocoa Beach: a lively surfing beach along the Space Coast, close to Orlando and Kennedy Space center so an ideal destination for a break from visiting amusement parks. Look for lively sunset events at Pier 60 daily.

Tampa: although a large and uninspiring city, Tampa is a lively place and hosts some excellent tourist attractions such as the Florida Aquarium, the animal-packed African-theme park rides of Busch Gardens, Adventure Island Water Park with exhilarating water rides, and MOSI [Museum of Science and Industry], featuring Florida's only IMAX theatre. The Gasparilla Pirate Festival, known as the 'Mardi Gras of Tampa' on the last Saturday of January is a fun time to be there.

St. Petersburg: a lively and cultured city housing the University of South Florida as well as many fine museums and galleries: Surrealists love the Salvador Dali Museum, home to the largest collection of artist's works outside of Europe. The city is also famed for its superb beaches nearby, such as North Beach in Fort De Soto Park.

Citrus County: based around the Crystal and Homosassa rivers are protected areas rich in wildlife such as manatees.

North Florida

Jacksonville

Jacksonville: the state's largest city, houses the USA's largest urban park system including Kids Kampus, Hemming Plaza, Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens, and the classy Riverwalk along the south bank of St John's River.
Jacksonville has some excellent museums and galleries such as "MOSH' Museum of Science and History, Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, two good nature parks; Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park and Little Talbot Island State Park, plus decent beaches such as Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach that are popular but not as crowded as those in the south of Florida. The city hosts a number of notable festivals for instance, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival with various contests, Springing the Blues, the state's biggest outdoor blues concerts and sporting events such as Gate River Run and the Players Championship [PGA golf].

St Augustine: real history is to be found in the oldest house [Dow Museum of historic Houses], the oldest fort [Fort Mose] though no building remains and the Oldest Wooden School House in this, the oldest city and the oldest port in the USA. About 45 minutes drive form Jacksonville.

Amelia Island: a skinny barrier island off north-east Florida, 53 km from Jacksonville, is one of the state's most popular holiday islands, and includes the historic city of Fernandina Beach, known as the 'Isle of Eight Flags' as it's the USA's only city to have flown eight different national flags since its long history began. The island offers some Victorian-era architecture, first-class golf resorts, great outdoors in Fort Clinch State Park, and more than 20 km of exquisite beaches.

Florida Panhandle also known as West Florida, the Panhandle is not on the Florida peninsula but west of it and looks like the handle of the peninsula pan.

Tallahassee: the low-key, little-known capital city of Florida, is home to not much of touristic interest except a few good museums such as Tallahassee Automobile Museum and Wakulla Springs nature reserve - the longest, deepest freshwater cave system in the world.

Pensacola is an historic naval city, base of the Naval Air Station and gateway to several fine white beaches such as Pensacola Beach [an independent community] and Perdido Key, southwest of the city, one of Gulf Coast's best beaches.

Panama City Beach: adjacent to Panama City, Panama City Beach is a separate city in both culture and business, and a popular vacation spot on the Emerald Coast, with lengthy stretches of soft sand and laid back communities. The area is sometimes called 'the Redneck Riviera' as it's not exactly upmarket.

Apalachicola: Taste oysters at Florida's 'Oystertown', where 90% of the state's oysters are produced, especially at the Seafood Festival in early November.

Destin beach, Florida Panhandle

Destin: together with nearby Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island, Destin is another superb beach destination, with fast-growing, lavish resorts on pristine sand. Apart from getting a death-defying tan visitors come to Destin to play golf and all kinds of watersports - sailing, diving, but particularly fishing for its famous fishing fleet, the state's largest.

Activities:
Fishing: One of must-dos as Florida is 'Fishing capital of the World' with its vast variety of marine species and regular year-round sunshine. The State has sensible, responsible management, run by The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission [FWC], with well-setup system and regulations as well as detailed information to do the sport and to protect the resources. Fishing licenses are required by law and instant licences are available online: MyFWC.com/license. Out of more than 7,700 lakes, 10,550 miles of rivers and 2,276 miles of shoreline, some of the best fishing can be found at: the Keys for deep-sea, big game fish such as tuna, marlin and sailfish: at Destin with Florida's largest fishing boat fleet; and Lake Okeechobee and St. Johns River for freshwater fish.

Looe Key reef shark, Florida Keys

Diving and Snorkelling: the Florida Keys, especially Key Largo and the Shipwreck Heritage Trail are brilliant for scuba and sometimes OK for snorkelling; also Bahia Honda State Park, Bahia Honda Key; Orlando parks for artificial environments; Crystal River, Citrus County.

Wildlife and Aquatic Mammal Watching: swim with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Centre, Marathon and at Ismoralda, Florida Keys; endangered West Indian manatees at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and Blue Springs State Park are especially visible during winter months as it is a winter manatee refuge.

Scalloping and seashell collecting: try this Florida tradition in the summer open season. Head to the coast from Homosassa Springs to Cape San Blas and especially at Steinhatchee.

Canoeing and Kayaking: this is the the best way to explore this aqueous state, with more than a couple of thousands miles of waterways and designated trails. Get free Paddling Trails Guide online or from the Tourist Office.

The Everglades Wilderness waterway is for those who love adventure as well as nature, while the Keys are great for sea-kayaking, especially John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

Most of Florida's waterways are for beginners and intermediate paddlers, but if you're experienced and like a challenge, try Suwannee River's Big Shoals rapids. Or for calm flat water, try Peace River; for unspoilt beauty, head to Honeymoon Island or Caladesi Island. Florida water is chilly in winter and the air too hot in summer so the best time to paddle are spring and autumn/fall.

Surfing: good swells from the Atlantic can be found at: the Space Coast, with consistent breaks at First Peak and Monster Hole, Sebastian Inlet State Park and the pier at Cocoa Beach; The Poles also know as Mayport Poles near Patrick Air force Base, though sometimes not accessible; Fishing Pier at Jacksonville Beach or nearby Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach; St Augustine and Anastasia State Park; St. Andrews Jetty near Panama City Beach. Head to Daytona Beach for surf lessons or if you are advanced, try Ponce Inlet just south of Daytona, one of Florida's best breaks and Palm Beach's Reef Road for big waves.

Cycling: As a winner of 'Bicycle Friendly Community', Florida is one of USA's great cycling states, with more than 35 paved and off-road trails on offer, such as Tallahassee's St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail; Munson Hills & Tall Pine Off-Road Trails; Withlacoochee State Trail; and Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. Cycle rental is readily available.

Amusement parks: Florida is the mecca for thrill-rides. Read above for individual parks. Check best deals and special offers and get the right ticket in advance. Generally in-site hotels offer good packages with priority access for the attractions. Early arrival is essential for parking as well as for attractions and try to avoid major vacation periods.

Major Festivals and Events:
January, 2nd weekend: Art Deco Festival, Miami Beach Art Deco District, 1920's-30's style music and parades.
Late January: the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, an annual carnival to celebrate a legendary Spanish pirate who terrorized the sea of West Florida in late 18th century, attracts more than 400,000 people.
Mid February: Daytona 500, Daytona Speedway racing cars, trucks and bikes the American way, round in ovals.
Late February to early March: Bike Week, Daytona Beach, a festival of motorbike passion.
Late April: FMF, Florida Music Festival in Orlando, an annual 4-day music event, nicknamed ' the Biggest Music Bar Crawl in Southeast'.
Late May: Folk Festival at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs, a 3-day celebrations of Florida's culture and heritage, with music, dance, stories and art crafts.
Sept, Surf Festival, Cocoa beach, near Orlando.
Early November: Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola, a great day for seafood lovers with loads of fun activities such as Blue Crab Races, Oyster Shucking contest, a Cooking Contest, as well as arts and music.
Also look out the fruits and vegetable festivals throughout year, for example the Citrus Festival in late January, and Strawberry Festival in Plant City in May.

For more information check the state's official Visit Florida web site.

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