<p>I’ve done the “drive around in Florida and see some different things” trip, and I wouldn’t advise it. It’s a big state and it’s not always a direct route to get from A to B due to the way the roads are laid out. We flew into Orlando, drove to Daytona and St. Augustine, then drove to St. Pete Beach on the Gulf side to see friends, then drove down to Sanibel Island, then back to Orlando to the airport. Way too much driving! It’s like trying to see all of CA in a week.</p>
<p>I haven’t been to the Keys, but if I were in your shoes, I’d just do that area and enjoy a more relaxing trip.</p>
<p>You have off how many days?
Look to see if the best deals for flights are into Miami or Orlando. …could do the trip easily by reversing directions. </p>
<p>Orlando
Epcot= day
spend night in Cocoa Beach.
Swim/walk on Cocoa Beach.
I’d start with dry shorts at Kennedy Space Center…then meet guide for Merritt Island Refuge/dayaway folk for an afternoon sunset kayak=day there.</p>
<p>Miami.
With a teenager, you can easily drive after a day at Epcot or Space Center to Miami. Once I hit West Palm; the traffic, billboards, lights brightened up the night.
Getting in here late is okay because actually people watching in South Beach really begins at midnight and avoids the morning rush hours.</p>
<p>First stop: Key Largo=John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Full day.</p>
<p>Next day= Islamorada for Robbie’s and the Dolphin Research Center. Islamorada is not a full day, unless going out on water, from the marina or into the water at the Dolphin Research Center.</p>
<p>Key West is a day if you do the museums (Audubon, Shipwreck, Pirate, and Hemingway’s ) and the sunset circus at Mallory Square Pier.</p>
<p>Take or leave some time where you want for wave running, kayaks, snorkeling.
Just remember when planning: South Beach is a nightmare to get into and out of on a Saturday morning, not to mention that it is way off the trail to The Keys… so it could be axed or added on your way back to an airport. </p>
<p>Key Largo is less than 50 miles (90mins) from South Beach, 220mi (4.5 hours) from Cocoa Beach or 280mi (5hours) from Orlando.</p>
<p>Oh, gosh, thanks for this thread. I have got to get to Merritt Island.</p>
<p>I live in New Orleans area, so spent many summers in the Panhandle. Pensacola Beach, Santa Rosa Island, just beautiful. White sand, clear water. Will go there for our anniversary in a couple of weeks now that the nest is empty.</p>
<p>I went to UMiami and majored in biology. There are tons of great places to enjoy nature, birdwatch, in South Florida. I just saw a reference to Shark Valley, highly recommend. A nice paved walk through the Everglades.</p>
<p>If you’re closer to Naples, Corkscrew Swamp is great. A boardwalk through the swamp.</p>
<p>While in Miami for a wedding several years back, my husband and I drove Highway 1 all the way down to Key West to see the Hemingway House and his cats. Stopped on the side of the road to dip our toes in Key Biscayne and the Atlantic on the way down.</p>
<p>I have never been to Cape Canaveral, but that is on my bucket list, although I really want to bring my son as well. He’s majoring in engineeing at Bama now, and I know he’ll love it.</p>
<p>I will definitely check out Merritt Island now.</p>
<p>I’m surprised few have mentioned the Everglades, especially for science-minded people; I took my teens last February, and we found it fascinating. We went to both the eastern entrance (lots of wildlife, birds, reptiles, not so many mammals; very good trails, with interpretation) and the western, where we took a kayak tour into the swamp. If I had to choose one entrance (they’re pretty far apart) I would go to the eastern one, but you can’t go wrong. Sanibel Island also has a good wildlife preserve, and you can kayak there too. And snorkelling off the keys is amazing.</p>
<p>Jym - tarpon Springs, Caladesi Island park and Fort Desoto are my absolute favorite places on the West Coast of Florida. When we visited, we stayed at the Innisbrook Westin ( I researched it since I did not want to end up with the spring break crowd), and we loved the place. There was a small nature park inside the hotel grounds accessible by a boardwalk. We spent hours there watching birds and other critters.</p>
<p>Wow, Bunsen, thanks for that tip! I’ll have to check that out as well! The Everglades are amazing. Highly recommend a trip there if you have time.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that it is a 7 hour drive from Cocoa Beach to Key West. Part of the way you can take I-95 or the turnpike, , but after Homestead, it’s all US Highway 1. If there’s a hurricane and they have to evacuate, there’s one road out - US 1, so come after hurricane season!!</p>
<p>I would recommend going to Triple A, if you’re a member, and getting a TripTik for your different destinations. We went to Seattle last summer, but spent a few days in a more northern area of Washington for a whale watching trip. I googled different attractions I wanted to see, from a lot of help on CC, and went with the addresses to my local Triple A office. I got TripTiks from one location to another, from the hotels to the different locations. I was able to fit in a lot more activities in one day because I knew where I was going, how long it would take me to get there. It took a lot of advanced planning, but it was well worth it!</p>
<p>If you are an AAA member you can print a triptik on line. I prefer the pages you get from the AAA office, as they show the mileage on the side margins and have notations for food,gas, lodging, distance between exits, and enlarged maps of the area on the back of the pg. and the AAA staff will tell you where the speed traps are. I also love their verbal description of the areas (rolling hills with rows of orange groves…" quite charming). But they said they are getting away from these spiral bound triptiks and going towards the computer based one. Ahh… the price of change…</p>
<p>DS & I loved our trip to Florida - he still talks about swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove! We did Epcot & Sea World and the Space Center too. All were great, but swimming with the dolphins was the best, along with seeing manatees in the wild.</p>
and avoids the morning rush hours.</p>