Florida Official Travel Guide 2024

FLORIDA OFFICIAL TRAVEL GUIDE

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You’ve only scratched the surface.

Surrounded by warm, clear water and blessed with picture-perfect weather, The Florida Keys offer every adventure under the sun. From fishing, diving and snorkelling to kayaking, hiking, boating and swimming with dolphins. You’ll also discover endless ways to recharge and relax, from upscale waterfront dining to luxury resorts and quaint B&Bs. Think of it as a little yin and yang, for you and yours. fl a-keys.co.uk 0208 686 2300

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WELCOME • 3

O

n behalf of Florida’s entire tourism industry, welcome to the Sunshine State!

As a sixth-generation Floridian and President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA, I know the wonderful adventures available in this amazing paradise I call home.

Our beautiful weather, vibrant mix of cultures, and endless array of outdoor wonders are just a few of the things that make us a top destination for travellers from all over the world.

No matter if you’re a first-time or lifelong visitor, Florida offers unlimited potential that makes no two holidays here the same. As Florida’s official source for travel planning, VISIT FLORIDA has assembled a wealth of information in this guide to help you maximize your holiday experience.

Explore things to do and see by each region, or search for a specific topic, with insider knowledge and tips from local experts. From hotels and

restaurants to beaches, events, and attractions, VISIT FLORIDA’s Official Florida Travel Guide is the ultimate tool for discovering the best of the Sunshine State. In Florida, we know that there is a fantastic experience awaiting everyone.

Whether you’re looking for an epic night on the town or a quiet escape into nature, we’ve got you covered year-round. The wide array of activities and destinations at the tip of your fingers here in Florida allows for your holiday to meet every one of your needs, making Florida a dynamic destination unlike any other.

As you plan your trip, I encourage you to check out VISITFLORIDA.com and follow us on social media @VISITFLORIDA for more travel inspiration and guidance. When you get here, be sure to share the sunshine with future travellers with the tag #LoveFL. We cannot wait for you to come join all the fun and magic of our wonderful state.

Sunny regards, Dana Young VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO

WELCOME

Welcome to Florida

I n dulge in a sense of inn er a n d o uter well - b eing .

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29 Pensacola International 10 Airport Pensacola Perdido Key

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Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport Destin

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Marian

Santa Rosa Beach

Fort Walton Beach Seaside South Walton

T I A

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Pensacola Beach

Panama City Beach Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport Mexico Beach

Port S

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CONTENTS

Plan your happy

Florida is the top choice for Brits heading Stateside – and it is little wonder!

From Pensacola in the far northwest corner to the Florida Keys at its southern tip, there are enough attractions to warrant multiple visits. This inspirational guide will help you devise the perfect Sunshine State trip. So get reading and start planning!

Plan Your Trip......................4 Be Inspired ........................... 6 Twin- & Multi-Centre...8 PLANNING MADE EASY Look for this icon at VISITFLORIDA.com to connect to our online trip planner. Find holiday ideas based on your interests, customize your itinerary, and even map your route.

Culinary & Gastronomy ...................... 20 Outdoor Adventure............................ 30

Download the VISIT FLORIDA app before you go. Take your plan with you!

Families ..................................40 The VISIT FLORIDA GUIDE Official Travel Guide Dana Young / VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO Jennifer Rominiecki / Chair, VISIT FLORIDA, Board of Directors

@VISITFLORIDA

Accessibility ..................... 52 Pre- & Post-Cruise.....58

#LOVEFL

Crystal River

Calendar of Events....65 © BMI Publishing Ltd 2024 • www.bmipublishing.co.uk Although every effort has been made to achieve accuracy, the publishers and VISIT FLORIDA do not accept responsibility for any mistakes or omissions.

Images in this guide are courtesy of VISIT FLORIDA unless otherwise stated.

Printed on paper made from sustainably certified forestry sources and manufactured in accordance with ISO certified standards for environmental, quality and energy management. Writers: Peter Ellegard & Steve Hartridge, Designers: Neil Jones & Caitlan Francis.

Recommended Tour Operators............... 66

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CONTENTS • 5

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Marianna

a Beach

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Tallahassee International Airport

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High Springs Gainesville Regional Airport

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New Port Richey

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New Smyrna Beach Orlando Sanford International Airport

Winter Park Orlando ORLANDO Orlando International Airport

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301 Dade City

Lake Buena Vista

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Winter Haven Tampa Lakeland Tampa 275 International Airport 98 St. Petersburg

Anna Maria Island Bradenton

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Flo

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Crystal River

Flagler Beach

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Lake George

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St. PeteClearwater International Airport

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Gainesville

Suwannee

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Port St. Lucie

Okeechobee

Arcadia Venice

Port Charlotte

Naples

West Palm Beach Palm Beach Palm Beach International Airport Delray Beach Boca Raton

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Southwest Florida International Airport

Sanibel Island

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Lake Okeechobee 98

Fort Myers Captiva Island

Stuart

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Punta Gorda Airport

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Naples Fort LauderdaleHollywood Airport International Airport

Marco Island

BOCA RATON

FORT LAUDERDALE AVENTURA

Miami International Airport

Everglades City

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MIAMICENTRAL

Coral Gables

Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Miami Beach Miami

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Marathon Key West International Airport VISIT FLORIDA

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DAYTONA BEACH AREA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU EMERGENT MEDIA

Water works: Rent a kayak or canoe to explore backwaters throughout the state or paddle its crystal clear springs. Visit pristine islands and remote beaches, paddling along serene waterways. Dive or snorkel to see the colourful tropical fish and corals of the reefs off Florida’s southeast coast.

DISNEY

BE INSPIRED

Fast Rides: Reaching speeds of 76 mph, Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is Florida’s fastest roller coaster. Busch Gardens duo Montu and Kumba, SeaWorld Orlando’s Kraken and the Incredible Hulk, at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, all send riders upside down in a series of dizzying loops.

Beaches: Standout beaches include St. George Island State Park, on a barrier island off Apalachicola in the Panhandle; Caladesi Island State Park, Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park in Naples; and Grayton Beach State Park, Panhandle,

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Nightlife & Shows: The fun begins when the sun goes down, whether on a dreamy rooftop bar or at a dinner show, comedy club, live music concert, or theatre performance. Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Daytona Beach and St. Petersburg are cities with a vibrant night scene.

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Sports: Catch live action at a Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Jacksonville Jaguars NFL American football match, or see the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays hit it out of the park at a Major League Baseball game. Florida also has pro basketball, ice hockey and soccer teams.

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Wildlife Encounters: Crystal River is the only place in the U.S. where it is legal to swim with manatees. Also, look out for alligators on an airboat ride, take a cruise to spot dolphins or pack your binoculars for birdwatching in a state park. Visit the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, a non-profit rehabilitation facility that rehabilitates and releases injured wild birds.

Golf: Play a host of

SPARK

top-notch courses such as the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponta Vedra and Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor. Or tee it up at Central Florida’s Reunion Resort and Streamsong, and the King & Bear course at St. Augustine’s World Golf Village.

SPARK

Family: From Walt Disney World Resort to Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando, LEGOLAND and Peppa Pig Theme Park, theme parks offer thrill rides, shows and a host of shared experiences. Or come face to face with denizens of the sea at facilities such as Tampa’s Florida Aquarium.

Art & History: Leading centres include the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, St. Augustine’s Lightner Museum, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota and the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg,

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KEVIN MCGEEVER

Retail: Great shopping is on offer at malls, luxury shopping centres, discount outlets and flea markets, Sawgrass Mills is the largest outlet and value retail shopping destination in the U.S. while high-end luxury fashion venues include Orlando’s Mall at Millenia and Worth Avenue in Palm Beach.

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TWIN– & MULTICENTRES

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Mix-and-match holidays are a great way to enjoy Florida and the possibilities are limitless, whichever ways you want to experience the Sunshine State

Express yourself…

Hit the open roads to explore Florida on the 200,000 miles of highways and byways that criss-cross the state.

Getting around is easy thanks to an excellent road system, with more than 700 miles of express toll roads helping drivers make short work of getting between key cities as well as between the state’s various regions.

Or take life in the slow lane

Find the real Florida on a journey through backroads and byways. The Florida Scenic Highways programme is a comprehensive network of 27 scenic highways, including half a dozen National Scenic Byways, that showcase the cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, natural and scenic wonders found across the Sunshine State.

3

High life to beach time

HIGHLIGHTS

Be a city slicker and enjoy the nightlife and culture of a vibrant metropolis before winding down with a relaxing beach stay. There are numerous options, whether staying at an inland city or on its Atlantic or Gulf coasts, together with a beach destination on either coast.

A family kayak tour on the waterways of Cocoa Beach

Innisbrook Golf Resort, Palm Harbor

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8 Heavenly matches

From the romance of Lovers Key and Honeymoon Island to experiences such as a gondola ride in Fort Lauderdale or a night below the waves in Key Largo, Florida is the ideal destination for starry-eyed holidaymakers. Combined with a theme park or city stay, they’re a match made in heaven.

Get close to nature

Enjoy natural highs in the state’s many protected areas on land and at sea.

Conservation lands span more than 3,000 federal, state, local and private managed areas. National parks, state forests, wildlife management areas, local and private preserves are examples of the managed areas. Biscayne National Park, John

Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are among Florida’s extensive protected marine areas.

5 Get on the fast track

If your Florida trip takes you to South Florida from Orlando, or vice versa, ditch the rental car by riding the new Brightline intercity express rail service.

There are 16 round-trips daily, running between downtown Miami and Orlando International Airport via Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Aventura.

6 Stately stays

Step back in time at some of Florida’s historic hotels – from grande dames that sprang up in the Gilded Age to venerable former hotels that have regained their grandeur – where guests over the years have included presidents, royalty and stars of the silver screen.

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Buckets of fun

Take the kids on a Florida family holiday where they can enjoy two holidays in one by combining the fun, thrills and characters of its theme parks with a beach-based stay on one of the Sunshine State’s coasts: the Atlantic Ocean to the east or the Gulf of Mexico to the west.

10 Tee’s up

No other U.S. state has as many golf courses as Florida. Walk in the spike marks of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and other stars of the golfing world on the same courses where they battle it out in leading tournaments – and stay at resorts across the state where the fairways are on your doorstep. •

The Pearl, South Walton

Fort Pierce Inlet State Park

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SUMMER GILHOUSEN

The aquamarine waters of Sugarloaf Key

Events for all

Whatever your passion, Florida has an event for you. Fairs, in abundance.

Festivals, of every stripe. Celebrations.

Concerts. Boat shows. Plant sales.

Historical tours. The Sunshine State has all that – and even more – with a vast line-up of annual and monthly events that can be found absolutely nowhere else.

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DOUBLE TAKES Florida’s delights include sun-kissed beaches, cosmopolitan cities and funfilled theme parks, So why not turn your trip into a feast of different destinations?

T

he Sunshine State is made for exploring on twin-centre stays or stopping off in multiple locations – and you don’t even need a car as you can now take a multi-centre rail trip.

You can even enjoy a whole range of experiences in one stay, combining a city, a beach and theme parks as well as getting back to nature in a national park or state park.

EXPLORING FLORIDA BY CAR In the driving seat Florida is easy to explore by vehicle.

There’s an excellent network of interstate freeways, U.S. highways, state highways and other well-maintained roads that criss-cross the state and travel along its coasts.

If time is tight, Florida’s Turnpike is a 511-mile system of toll highways and expressways linking Miami in the

south with cities on both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Central Florida and Pensacola, Tallahassee and Jacksonville in the north. Some other highways and local bridges also have tolls.

Most tolls use an electronic collection system. SunPass is a statewide prepaid programme you can top up, with transponders available to buy at supermarkets and pharmacies across Florida.

Visitors flying into Orlando International Airport can pick up a free Visitor Toll Pass on arrival via a downloadable app and drop it off when they leave.

It guarantees they pay the lowest toll rates. Major rental car companies offer customers a service where tolls are automatically charged to the credit card used to rent the car.

Driving the Sanibel Causeway

Typical driving times in Florida: Miami - Orlando

4-5 hours

Orlando - Tampa

1.5 hours

Tampa - Fort Myers

2 hours

Fort Myers - Key Largo

4hours

Orlando - St. Petersburg

2.5 hours

Orlando - Daytona Beach

1 hour

Fort Lauderdale - Naples

2 hours

Miami - Cocoa Beach

4 hours

Cocoa Beach - Jacksonville

3.5 hours

Orlando - Jacksonville

3 hours

Orlando - Panama City

7 hours

Pensacola - Tallahassee

4 hours

Pensacola - Tampa

9 hours

PETER W, CROSS

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Take the roads less travelled

A selfie in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

To really appreciate the natural, historic and cultural splendour of the state, take a slow trip along some of the 27 designated Florida Scenic Highways, which together cover more than 1,500 miles.

Six of them have also been federally designated as National Scenic Byways

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“There are more than 1,500 miles of designated scenic roads in Florida, eclipsing the total distance of interstate highways”

while two have earned All-American Roads distinction: the 72-mile A1A Scenic & Historic Byway from Jacksonville to Flagler Beach and the 110-mile Florida Keys Scenic Highway from Florida’s mainland to Key West.

Driving those non-stop would take about two hours and four hours respectively, although you would undoubtedly want to stop off and see some of the sights along the way.

The six National Scenic Byways in Florida are: • Scenic Highway 30A: a 28.5-mile route along the Gulf Coast in the Panhandle’s Walton County that passes through small residential communities. Time your visit to see migrating Monarch butterflies in October.

• Big Bend Scenic Byway: 220 miles of rural beauty south of Tallahassee that goes along the coast as well as circling through the Apalachicola National Forest.

• Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail: a double loop of roads spanning 34 miles of diverse natural scenery that hugs the Atlantic coast north of Daytona Beach and takes in three state parks.

• Florida Black Bear Scenic Highway: centred on the Ocala National Forest, it stretches 123 miles of roads through sand pines and scrub oaks between Ormond Beach and Silver Springs where wildlife to be seen includes black bears and deer.

i

DID YOU KNOW?

• River of Lakes Heritage Corridor: encompassing 156 miles, this route takes travellers through the cities, towns, culture, heritage and nature around the St. Johns River and the series of lakes it connects.

• Indian River Lagoon National Byway: linking the Space Coast with the Treasure Coast along Florida’s central Atlantic coastline, this 233-mile route weds nature and 500 years of history, from the Juan Ponce de Leon Landing Park, where the Spanish explorer is said to have first disembarked, to the rockets at Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex.

A map brochure detailing all 27 of Florida Scenic Highways can be downloaded at floridascenichighways.com and includes QR codes for each route.

FAMILY MULTI-CENTRES It’s a family affair From toddlers to teens, a family holiday in Florida is just the ticket – particularly if you mix things up by staying in

In addition to its 11 national parks, Florida has nearly 200 state parks, preserves and recreation areas besides numerous protected marine areas.

A H I D D E N PA R A D I S E I N T H E H E A R T O F D E L R AY B E AC H

Enjoy all the comforts of home in our beach house-style suites at Crane’s Beach House, located within a meandering tropical courtyard, steps from the beach and downtown Delray.

Book now at cranesbeachhouse.com 82 Gleason St, Delray Beach, FL 33483 (866) 372-7263

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Treasure Coast spots Vero Beach and Hutchinson Island, Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Beach, Miami Beach, Key Biscayne and Key West’s Fort Zachary Taylor Historic Park.

Fun Facts

The Treasure Coast is named for the treasure-laden fleet of 11 Spanish galleons wrecked in a hurricane between the St. Lucie River and Cape Canaveral. The McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach tells the story of the ill-fated 1715 Plate Fleet and its gold, silver and gems, much of it salvaged in the 1960s but which still sometimes wash ashore today.

Meanwhile, the calm Gulf Coast waters and soft, expansive sands of Pensacola Beach and Fort Walton Beach make them family favourites, along with those of Anna Maria Island, Siesta Key, Fort Myers Beach and Naples.

CITY AND BEACH Thrill and chill Fancy the bright lights and nightlife of Florida’s cities but also want to relax on

Antarctica: Empire of the Penguins at SeaWorld

a beach? You can do both at the same time in several places or you can live it up for a few days in a city then unwind with a stay on the coast.

For action day and night, head to Miami and its sibling by the sea, Miami Beach. Go shopping and sightseeing or visit museums by day and head out on the town in the evening.

The nightclub scene here is among the best you will find anywhere, with venues both in downtown and in South Beach pumping out grooves from salsa to hip hop and house.

There’s also a huge selection of bars in which to enjoy a sundowner and have a pre- or post-dinner drink, with the golden sands of Miami Beach just steps away from the bars and hotels lining Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue.

Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach and Key West have great bars and lively nightlife right

by Atlantic beaches, while Tampa, Clearwater, St. Pete Beach and Fort Myers all have rooftop bars overlooking the Gulf Coast.

And if you want to get away from it all and just chill after your allaction city stay, take your pick from a host of laid-back beachside resorts and communities dotted around Florida’s coasts, where the sound of the sea lapping on the shore is as loud as it gets.

Head for Hollywood Beach

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several locations to give them different experiences.

Orlando’s theme parks are a huge draw for families, of course, whether staying at hotels on-site or nearby, or renting villas in Kissimmee.

For younger ones, there’s Peppa Pig World and adjacent LEGOLAND Florida in Winter Haven, while kids of all ages will enjoy the thrill rides, animal encounters and shows at Busch Gardens Tampa. There are also zoos, water parks and other family attractions all across Florida.

Having “done” the theme parks, give yourselves and the youngsters a chance to unwind by adding on a few days or a week or two on a beach.

Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and Cocoa Beach, all popular with families for their wide, gently-sloping beaches, are just an hour’s drive from Orlando. They also offer plenty of fun things to do for the whole family.

Clearwater and St. Pete Beach are separated from Orlando by a two-hour drive and have wide, safe beaches and lots of activities to please kids of all ages.

Further afield, there are excellent family-friendly beaches with activities galore on all of Florida’s coastlines.

Atlantic coast beach destinations with kids’ appeal include Amelia Island and St Augustine in the northeast,

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Bahia Honda State Park, in the Florida Keys

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Marion-

Advertorial Feature

13

Treat yourself to an unforgettable outdoor adventure in Florida’s Natural Wonder, conveniently located in North Central Florida.

A true escape into nature, home to many stunning parks, this destination surprises, delights and welcomes you.

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Discover the breathtaking beauty of crystal-clear springs, where you’ll find refreshment in the 22°C water. Guests can float on a tube down the Rainbow River, ride on a famous glass-bottom boat at Silver Springs and indulge in the fresh springs of the Ocala National Forest.

Explore endless scenic nature trails – like the Cross Florida Greenway – on horseback and find tranquility among the palms and oaks. Or embark on the internationally recognized bike trails at Santos Trailhead which offers a variety of winding paths that cater to beginners and experts.

Even the places to stay are remarkable – whether an intimate cabin tucked away in Start planning the wilderness or a luxury suite your adventure overlooking an equestrian show.

Ocala/Marion County offers a wide variety of options for all.

The stunning landscape and local charm of the Horse Capital of the World® will deliver a vacation full of moments to remember.

For more information, visit OCALAMARION.COM

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Among them are Big Pine Key’s Bahia Honda State Park, Gulf Coast spots Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Marco Island, Boca Grande, Englewood Beach, Cayo Costa State Park, St. George Island, Santa Rosa Beach, South Walton, Perdido Key and Seaside, and Atlantic coast favourites such as Vero Beach, Canaveral National Seashore, Sebastian Inlet State Park, Blowing Rocks Preserve, Amelia Island and Atlantic Beach.

ROMANTIC GETAWAYS Love is in the air

Charter a boat for a romantic cruise for two

it is a state park, but it is a short drive from picturesque and historic Dunedin and just half an hour from Clearwater Beach.

Pristine neighbouring Caladesi Island, another state park with equally stunning beaches and nature, is only accessible by boat from Dunedin. The two islands were once joined until a hurricane split them a century ago.

Voted the most romantic hotel in North America by TripAdvisor, the Henderson Park Inn is a secluded and intimate getaway perched on the unspoilt shores of Destin.

Henderson Beach State Park

SPARK

VISIT FLORIDA

Florida is made for a romantic getwaway. Throughout the state you can find places and experiences offering the perfect escape for two once they have visited the theme parks or enjoyed an upbeat city stay.

Spectacular sunsets usually make the heart beat faster and the Gulf Coast serves up some of the very best – nowhere more so than on Anna Maria Island, where no buildings taller than three storeys are allowed and where you can stay right on the beach.

Lovers Key in Bonita Springs, which is a state park, lives up to its name. An island, it’s a perfect secluded great escape for two.

For newlyweds, Honeymoon Island is a must-visit for its dreamy four miles of beach encompassing sheltered bays, soft sands and warm, clear waters.

You can also rent bikes and kayaks for a romantic exploration of the island and see some of its abundant wildlife, including turtles, tortoises, armadillos and ospreys.

You can’t stay on the island as

Florida is a leading LGBTQ destination

Little Palm Island, America’s only private resort island, offers a true escape. Reached by private boat or seaplane, this exclusive, four-acre adults-only paradise off Little Torch Key in the Florida Keys has thatchedroof bungalows and a spa – but no phones or TVs. And you can even have a romantic dinner à deux on the beach.

Also in the Keys, you can cosy up to your loved one in the company of fish at Jules Undersea Lodge, the world’s only underwater hotel where you have to dive to get to your room.

A former marine research laboratory, it sits in five fathoms (30 feet) of a protected lagoon in Key Largo and has two bedrooms, although you can book the entire lodge. You can even have pizza delivered to it!

After your sub-sea stay, emulate silver screen stars Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn by taking a 90-minute cruise through Key Largo’s canals to the Atlantic on the veteran African Queen steamboat made famous in the 1951 movie of the same name.

And if those don’t float your boat, how about a 75-minute trip in an authentic Venetian gondola through

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“Travel Florida’s East Coast by rail all the way down to Miami” the canals of Fort Lauderdale – the “Venice of America” – or a carriage ride through the cobblestone streets of St. Augustine?

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FLORIDA IS FOR THE BIRDS Unique sightings for twitchers

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Whether you’re a fledgling birder or a seasoned expert, Florida is a must-visit.

The Sunshine State is home to more than 500 species of birds and boasts five birds you won’t see anywhere else in the country.

The Florida scrub jay is regularly seen on the Scrub Ridge Trail in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Archbold Biological Station south of Lake Placid, and Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

They are noisy, hang out in groups,

and aren’t shy around people.

The Everglades snail kite is a midsized raptor that perches where they can scan vegetation for snails.

They swoop low over the water, use one leg to grab a snail, and return to their perch to open it.

Look for them in high branches in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes area and the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in the Delray Beach area.

Apple snails make up most of their diet, so limpkins prefer the edges of freshwater lakes and wetlands with lots of vegetation.

Spot them in Sweetwater Wetlands Park near Gainesville, lakes and streams in the Kissimmee area, Audubon Corkscrew Swamp

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Advertorial Feature

AUTHENTIC FLORIDA AWAITS ON AMELIA ISLAND Tucked away just off Florida’s northeast coast, Amelia Island is a hidden gem enveloped by Southern charm.

Those looking for a laid-back, genuine Florida experience will relish the pristine beaches, unique ecoadventures and small-town feel you won’t find among the more well-known destinations in Florida.

Enjoy pristine, Atlantic Ocean beaches – shelling and fossilized shark-tooth hunting make for great souvenirs. This is one of a few places in Florida where you can horseback ride on the shore.

Ancient oak trees draped with Spanish moss are another Florida rarity and Amelia Island is home to miles of canopied paths where you can hike or bike beneath them.

Dining on Amelia Island is a feast for the senses, with over 90 independent restaurants serving everything from fresh seafood and farm-to-table, to fine dining and Southern specialities.

The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island and Omni Amelia Island Resort offer oceanfront rooms, endless amenities and legendary service. Spacious vacation rentals are a popular way to stay while several top-brand hotels offer the amenities you expect. For a more intimate getaway, choose a bed and breakfast in the historic district.

Less than a three-hour drive from Orlando and 30 minutes from Jacksonville, Amelia Island is easily accessible and car rentals are available from these international airports.

With uncrowded beaches, an elevated dining scene, a range of accommodations and proximity to major airports, Amelia Island is not only a best-kept Florida secret but also great value for international travellers.

The warmth of the sun on your shoulders. An entire afternoon floating on cloud nine.

The getaway you deserve begins at AmeliaIsland.com

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Public mural in Fort Lauderdale

Sanctuary, and the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Florida. A very shy bird that nests exclusively in mangrove forests, it prefers small islands off the mainland, and can be seen in Flamingo in Everglades National Park.

Try also Kendall Indian Hammocks Park, A.D. Barnes Park, Key Largo, Key West, and Biscayne National Park.

Related to the cuckoo and roadrunner, this bird is most commonly found on the southeast coast into the Florida Keys.

Everglades National Park has an established population at Eco Pond; they’re also regularly seen in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park and Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

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FRANCESCA MURRAY

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Championship golf courses abound in every region of Florida

Fun Facts

Spanning more than 65,000 square miles (over 170,000 square kilometres), Florida is larger than England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined. To drive from Pensacola in the northwest to Key West, a distance of more than 830 miles, would take at least 14 hours by car non-stop.

of the Sunshine State. You can also follow in the footsteps of the stars with a round on PGA Tour venues.

For example, The Players Championship, unofficially known as the ‘Fifth Major’, is staged at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, which has an on-site hotel.

The PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, home to the Honda Classic, also has its own hotel and has previously hosted the Ryder Cup and the U.S. PGA Championship.

Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor is the setting for the Valspar Championship on its Copperhead Course and Orlando’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge hosts the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The Blue Monster course at the Trump National Doral Miami resort held PGA Tour events for 55 consecutive years.

With more than 1,250 golf courses, Florida has more places where you can tee it up than any other U.S state.

For serious golfers, a twin- or multicentre golf holiday could take them to every region of the state.

Many of the top golf courses are part of resorts, so you can stay onsite and enjoy a round right on your doorstep.

There are always other golf courses to play within a short drive, which provides the opportunity to test your game on fairways and greens in different parts

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GOLF AROUND FLORIDA Go clubbing

Longboat Key Club, Sarasota

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Wherever you choose go clubbing in Florida, you’ll walk off to the 19th hole with a smile on your face.

The Don CeSar, known as the ‘Pink Palace has been a St. Pete Beach icon since 1928

a hotel - which was reborn as the Belleview Inn in 2018.

In the Tampa Bay area, the oncederelict Mediterranean-style Hacienda Hotel reopened as a hotel in 2022 following a multi-year restoration.

The pink stucco property was a haven for silent movie-era stars, including Gloria Swanson, after its 1927 opening in New Port Richey – dubbed the “Hollywood of the South” – and is said to have been a bolt hole for infamous mobster Al Capone.

Another timeless wooden grande dame is the Gasparilla Inn & Club, a classic ‘old Florida’ resort open since 1913 in Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island.

Other historic beauties include

CYCLEHERE

Florida boasts a collection of historic resorts and hotels that still exude the glamour of yesteryear and where you can stay in elegant grandeur today.

They are dotted around the state, so you can hop from one gracious home to another.

Some date back to the days of the railway pioneers, whose vision brought the first tourists to Florida. Industrialist Henry Flagler built a network of opulent hotels down Florida’s Atlantic coast during America’s Gilded Age, two of which still welcome guests.

The Casa Monica Hotel, dating to 1888, is just one of three Flagler properties in St. Augustine still a hotel, having reopened as a luxury hotel in 1999 after previously being used as the county courthouse.

The Breakers, on the Palm Beach waterfront, first opened in 1896.

Modelled by Flagler on Rome’s grand Villa Medici, the hotel has hosted presidents, royalty and celebrities, although the present building dates to 1926 after fires destroyed two previous incarnations.

Fellow railway magnate Henry Plant also built and boughtd a series of grand hotels across Florida.

Of the eight he constructed in the state’s centre and west, the Belleview Hotel, which opened in 1897 near Clearwater, is the only one that remains

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ICONIC HOTELS History-filled stays

The Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine

Tampa Bay’s Vinoy Resort & Club, 100 years old in 2025; the Colony Hotel & Cabana Club, in Delray Beach, that opened in 1926; the Don CeSar, aka the ‘Pink Palace,’ that has graced St Pete Beach since 1928; and Miami Beach Art Deco landmark the National Hotel, which also boasts the region’s longest outdoor lap pool at 205-feet long.

FLORIDA BY RAIL Let the train take the strain Visitors can now travel between Miami and Orlando by train following the completion of the latest section of Brightline’s intercity Florida rail operation to Central Florida in September 2023.

The 235-mile journey takes under three and a half hours, with stations at Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach, allowing carfree travel to those destinations as well.

Brightline’s Orlando station is at Orlando International Airport and is situated in the new Terminal C, where international flights arrive and depart from – making it easy for visitors to travel by rail to Florida’s East Coast and down to Miami, and to return directly to where they will fly out from.

A new Brightline station is scheduled to open in downtown Stuart, on the Treasure Coast, in late 2026. •

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St. Pete-Clearwater

LET’S SHINE! St. Pete-Clearwater, located along Florida’s Gulf Coast, is home to 35-miles of award-winning beaches, and so much more Arts & Culture Impressionist prestige can be found at the Dali Museum, where the largest collection of the artist’s work outside of Spain is housed (over 2,500 pieces and growing), which has garnered threestars on the Michelin Guide! Fine art, Western history, Chihuly’s blown glass marvels, and far more can be found in downtown St. Pete alone, which has turned the area into a hotspot for an alternative arts scene that spills into the streets through over 600 commissioned murals. St. Pete Pier even has a permanent art installation!

Food Paradise Seasoned foodies will find a culinary adventure along each avenue in St. Pete-Clearwater. Try Central Avenue, a 30-block long street dedicated to the independent food scene that can be found indestination. In one day you can taste the Med, East Asian delights, and fresh catches of the day straight off the Gulf.

In fact, our seafood is some of the freshest! Try a ‘Grouper Sandwich’ at Frenchy’s on Clearwater Beach – it is a popular spot for a reason with excellent bites.

Natural Wonders With a yearly average of 361 days of sun, natural beauty and wildlife is always blossoming, allowing you to get out and about to experience it all year‑round.

Whether it’s adrenaline seekers looking for kitesurfing, or those wanting to take it slow with paddleboard yoga, there is something to suit. We recommend trying glassbottomed kayaking around untouched islands in the north, or getting on the water to meet our playful dolphins – just craft it any way you see fit.

Blissful Beaches St. Pete-Clearwater is home to 35 miles of award-winning white-sugar sand beaches that meet the warm and calm Gulf Coast waters. St. Pete Beach was named the World’s #5 Beach in TripAdvisor’s Traveller’s Choice Awards!

In 2023 Clearwater Beach was voted ‘Best Beach in the South’ by USA Today!

Beach lovers will feel at home on Clearwater Beach, sun-seekers love the chilled vibe on Pass-A-Grille, nature enthusiasts flock to Caladesi Island, and those wanting small town charm stop off at Indian Rocks Beach.

Drive in any direction along this picturesque coastline and you’ll find a beach to suit everyone, kept spotlessly clean by monthly clean-ups by the ‘Keep Pinellas Beautiful’ Ocean Allies.

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CULINARY & GASTRONOMY Florida’s gastronomic delights will set your taste buds tingling – whether pairing great food and wine on a culinary tour, dining in award-winning restaurants, eating fresh seafood or trying some of the regional staple favourites

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Vintage wine

It surprises some to know that Florida was the birthplace of wine in America more than 450 years ago and today has around 35 wineries. The vineyards are spread around the state and most are open for tours and tastings by the public. Many of these are located in the Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and Orlando areas.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Award-winning food

Some 60 Miami, Orlando and Tampa restaurants have now gained Michelin stars or been recognised for their excellence and great value, while Florida also had a winner and several semi-finalists in the 2024 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards.

This continued the trend of other establishments across the state being honoured in previous editions of the prestigious annual awards.

Hit an ale trail

Taste craft beers in microbreweries and taprooms on craft ale trails. Try brews in funky venues such as a former ice-making building or one surrounded by memorabilia and vintage cars harking back to the earliest days of motor racing – or perhaps enjoy Trappist-style beers.

Airstream Row, Seaside, South Walton

Bites Restaurant and Bar, Orlando

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CULINARY & GASTRONOMY • 21

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Homemade comfort food

For when only comfort food will suffice, Florida has that in spades too.

Try home-made smoked sausages from an old-world store near Tallahassee and multi-ethnic dishes in Gulf Coast sponge town Tarpon Springs. And join the queue of those waiting to buy a pie cooked at an Amish restaurant in Sarasota.

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Fresh oysters in the Florida Keys

Being surrounded by water on three sides means that the “Fresh Catch of the Day” in Florida is about as fresh as it gets and can be served in a variety of ways: grilled, blackened, or fried.

Popular choices include flounder, snapper and drum. Or try shrimp and grits that comes from the Creole culinary tradition and is often on the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Get festive

Florida has plenty to shout about when it comes to its seasonal produce. Food festivals take place every month of the year somewhere in the state, which offers visitors the chance to sample local specialities, fruits such as blueberries and kumquats, seafood and more. There are also wine and beer festivals.

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BITES & BUBBLES

You don’t have to have your food sourced or prepared for you. Do it yourself by cooking pancakes on a griddle set into the table of a restaurant that was once a watermill or farming scallops and taking them to a restaurant where they are cooked and served to you. •

Foodie tours

Work up an appetite on a three-hour walking food tour in many locations around the state, learning about the history of the destination as you amble from one restaurant to another to sample great cuisine. Alternatively, sit back and relax in an electric vehicle on a chauffeur-driven guided foodie tour to discover more out-ofthe-way diners.

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10 Cook it yourself

Food and Wine festival, Fort Walton

Florida favourites

Get your teeth into some of Florida’s favourite treats. Familiar items on the menu are delicacies like oysters and boiled peanuts in the Panhandle region, stone crabs in Miami and shrimps known as “Pink Gold” in the southwest. Then there are gator bites and chocolate-covered bacon and crisps. And don’t head for home without sampling the official state dessert, key lime pie.

Enjoy a Florida cocktail

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Fresh seafood

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Celebrity specials

Book a table at some of Florida’s most celebrated restaurants. Tampa lays claim to the state’s oldest restaurant, Columbia Restaurant, which first opened its doors almost 120 years ago, and Bern’s Steakhouse, with a wine cellar holding over 500,000 bottles. Or there’s Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the Key West bar and restaurant once frequented by Ernest Hemingway.

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ALL YOU CAN EAT From wineries and award-winning restaurants to culinary favourites such as oysters, stone crabs, shrimps and key lime pie, Florida is a gourmet’s delight

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herever you head for in Florida, tasteful and tasty adventures await! There are Michelin-starred restaurants in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, while others have also been honoured in the U.S’s prestigious James Beard Awards. Stop off for a traditional roadside snack or gourmet fare served from retro food trucks or enjoy dockside seafood dinners cooked straight off fishing boats. Also, search out Florida’s own craft beers, wines and cocktails.

NORTHWEST Southern Caviar

UNION PUBLIC HOUSE

Boiled peanuts are a traditional Southern snack that are particularly popular around Pensacola and in other areas of northern Florida. Boiled in the shell in salty water, they can be found in farmers’ markets, on roadside stalls, in stores and direct at peanut farms.

Blake Rushing, chef and owner of Pensacola restaurant Union Public House, creates his own take on Southern dishes with a twist, including boiled peanuts.

Cajun-inspired boiled peanuts

“I grew up eating boiled peanuts from roadside stands on trips to the hunting camp or visiting family across the Gulf Coast,” he says. “When you pull green peanuts from the Southern soil and simmer them for hours and hours with salt and spices, they become a rich and flavourful delicacy! I guess that’s why we call them ‘Southern Caviar’.”

Apalachicola is known as “Oystertown” for its wild oysters – which once accounted for 90% of all those harvested in Florida.

A five-year moratorium on the wild oyster harvest from Apalachicola Bay imposed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help the depleted oyster beds recover lasts until 2025.

However, oyster farms still provide the delicacy, and the annual Apalachicola Oyster Cook-Off takes place each January on the riverfront of its historic downtown, featuring oysters galore and locally-caught shrimp and smoked mullet as well as live entertainment, local beer and children’s activities.

Oysters are a symbol of Panama City’s maritime heritage and feted in the Panama City Oyster Trail, which takes diners on a culinary adventure. Panama City is also home to Honor Allen, “the fastest oyster shucker in the U.S.”.

And while National Oyster Day falls on August 5 each year, it is celebrated throughout the entire month.

Dewey Destin’s is a chain of three seafood restaurants in Destin owned and run by the fishing family descendants of Leonard Destin, who founded the Panhandle town known as “the world’s luckiest fishing village”

Al fresco dining in Miami

in 1835 after surviving a hurricane that claimed his father and brother off Florida’s east coast while sailing in three ships from Connecticut.

Dewey Destin is Leonard’s great, great grandson.

The Seeing Red Wine Festival, held in Seaside over four days each November for the past 31 years, takes over the town by pairing wine tastings from global wine producers with cuisine from local chefs and restaurants.

Retro-style food trucks serve up gourmet fare year-round in Seaside’s Airstream Row, a collection of vintage Airstream trailers along Highway 30A.

NORTH CENTRAL Drink to Tally State capital Tallahassee offers everything from a raft of fine dining establishments to brew pub snacks.

Join the 200th anniversary celebrations for Tally, as it is nicknamed, in 2024 with a speciallyconcocted Bicentennial Cocktail at

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“26 Tampa, Orlando and Miami eateries gained Michelin stars in 2024, with nine new one-star awards”

its only distillery, Ology, made using its own Royal Lavender Gin. Proof Brewing Company, the first craft production brewery in Tallahassee, features a refined tasting room and an outdoor beer garden. It has won a host of awards since being founded in 2012.

Twelve miles from Tallahassee, along a country road beneath a canopy

of Spanish moss-laden oak trees, Bradley’s Country Store has been trading since 1927 and is run by the third and fourth generations of the Bradley family.

The old-fashioned store is famed for its home-made smoked sausages, served by several Florida restaurants, as well as its signature grits and cornflower ground on the premises.

In Gainesville, sample the brews from the seven breweries that make up the Sippin’ Seven Alachua County Ale Trail. They include Daft Cow Brewery, Alachua’s first craft brewery, which offers 10 beers brewed on-site, and Cypress & Grove Brewing Company, built in an old ice plant and using water drawn from its own 386-foot-deep artesian well that was originally used for ice‑making.

How about catching your own scallops in northern Florida’s shallow Gulf waters?

Some restaurants will cook your catch, including Fiddler’s on the River and Roy’s Restaurant in Steinhatchee.

Or you can order them at many

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DID YOU KNOW?

eateries in the area. For crab lovers, Steinhatchee’s three-day Fiddler Crab Festival takes place in February and features food booths, a beer and wine garden, entertainment, a car and truck show and a parade.

North Florida’s climate is ideal for growing blueberries. Its crop is the first to ripen in the country and many farms allow visitors to pick their own during the April-May harvesting season.

Wellborn has held an annual Blueberry Festival each June since 1994. Blueberry produce is on sale along with blueberry pies and pancakes.

NORTHEAST Learn while you taste Join a foodie tour in St. Augustine, to enjoy tastings and wines in some of the city’s top restaurants and to learn about its3 past.

Companies offering walking tours of its historic district include City Walks, which has run them for over 18 years, and The Tasting Tours and Feast of St. Augustine, both of which also offer tours in open-air electric vehicles.

Florida has more than 5,000 registered beekeepers and the state is the third-highest honey producer in the U.S.

Orlando’s Only Ultra Elevated Boutique Hotel

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For a cool setting, the Ice Plant in St Augustine was built as an ice storage plant in 1927 and is now a farm-to-table restaurant and bar. Above the bar is the original bridge crane on rails that would pick up huge blocks of ice to be broken up and sold to locals and shrimp boats.

Also in a notable location is San Sebastian Winery, founded in 1996 in one of Henry Flagler’s old East Coast Railway buildings close to downtown St. Augustine. It has won over 950 awards for its premium, sparkling and dessert wines produced from vineyards in central Florida and the Panhandle.

There are daily wine tours and tastings, and the rooftop Cellar Upstairs Bar and Restaurant serves its wines accompanied by live music.

Savour Jacksonville’s culinary scene on a three-hour walking tour of historic San Marco neighbourhood with Taste of Jacksonville Food Tours, sampling food and drink in five local restaurants.

Or take a self-guided tour of 22 craft breweries on the Jax Ale Trail.

Amelia Island is the birthplace of the modern shrimping industry, when boat builders and other craftsmen in Fernandina Beach introduced innovations in the early 20th century that revolutionised commercial shrimping. The town’s Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival commemorates its heritage each May with food stalls, a parade and decorated shrimp boats.

Diners can win prizes by taking part in the Amelia Island Shrimp Challenge

all year, visiting participating island restaurants and ordering their signature shrimp dishes.

CENTRAL Quality dining Orlando’s culinary scene is gaining recognition and winning plaudits. Seven of its restaurants gained a star in the Michelin Guide for Miami, Orlando and Tampa, first introduced in 2022: Natsu,

Fun Facts

The first wine grapes in the U.S. were grown in Florida by Spanish missionaries in the 16th century.

St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish on the state’s northeast coast and America’s oldest city, is acclaimed as the birthplace of American wine, first producing it around 1565 as sacramental wine for religious ceremonies.

Papa Llama, Kadence, Camille, Victoria & Albert’s, Capa and Soseki in Winter Park. Another 11 Orlando restaurants gained Bib Gourmand awards for serving quality food at moderate prices.

In addition, Kaya was a semi-finalist in the 2024 James Beard Awards for Best New Restaurant, while Jennifer Berdin and Mark Berdin, from Kadence, and Henry Moso, from Kabooki Sushi,

The Sarasota Modern

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Congaree and Penn, a farm and restaurant in Jacksonville

were nominated for the Best Chef: South title. Other eateries recognised by both James Beard and Michelin include Prato and the Ravenous Pig in Winter Park, Sear + Sea at the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, Bacan at the Wave Hotel in Lake Nona, and Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs.

Enjoy a free 45-minute tour and tasting at Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards, Florida’s largest winery, in Clermont. Offered several times daily, the tour takes visitors through the entire wine-making process and the history of Florida wine, followed by views of the 75 acres of vineyards where the grapes have been grown and harvested since 1988. Lakeridge produces awardwinning wines that range from dry to sweet to sparkling.

Try craft brews at more than two dozen breweries in and around Orlando, most of which also offer food, or hit one of the many bars and wine bars in Orlando and other Central Florida towns and communities.

Wine Bar George in Disney Springs is Florida’s only master-sommelier-led wine bar, headed by George Miliotes.

More than 200 wines are available by the glass or bottle, accompanied by a full brunch, lunch, dinner, cheeseboard and charcuterie menu.

Winter Garden is a former citrus town –you can still find some of Florida’s best oranges and other citrus fruits besides other produce and gourmet foods at its acclaimed weekly farmers’ market.

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MICHAEL PISARRI

EMERGENT MEDIA

Italian restaurant Prato, Winter Park

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Pensac

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Visit Pensacola

VISIT PENSACOLA Located in Northwest Florida, Pensacola is a coastal city with endless sunshine, spectacular beaches and a rich history America’s first

The way to beach

Pensacola is a city with a past that stretches back more than 460 years when Spanish explorer Don Tristan de Luna y Allerno was lured to its pristine shores in 1559, establishing Pensacola as the first European settlement in North America. This rich history comes to life on America’s First Settlement Trail in beautiful Downtown where old meets innovative restaurants, cool bars, beautiful boutiques, great coffee and unique hotels.

Beach lovers should look no further than Pensacola, a spellbinding destination with over 40 miles of walkable sugar-white beaches, endless sunshine, clear emerald waters and two magical islands – Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key. Pensacola Beach is home to a wide range of accommodation and just about every beach activity going, including kite surfing, scuba diving, sailing and dolphin tours.

Festival city of the south From large-scale food and art festivals to intimate dinners, shows and markets, there is a range of events for all travellers.

Signature events include food festivals such as the Pensacola Seafood Festival and Taste the Beach, culture festivals including Mardi Gras, Foo Foo Festival and the Frank Brown Songwriters’ Festival. Don’t miss out on the Blue Angels – who perform twice a year and practice every week.

Savour the flavour

Outdoor experiences

Make your holidays memorable and tasteful in Pensacola with a range of restaurants, bars and eateries suitable for families, couples and travellers of all ages.

Enjoy seafood on the deck overlooking the Gulf Coast, discover spicy Cajun soul food, homestyle Southern Cooking or a fusion of just about everything in between.

And be sure to try Pensacola’s infamous boiled peanuts and a Bushwacker cocktail, a legendary drink since 1975.

Endless sunshine means endless adventure. Pensacola offers an array of diving experiences ranging from firsttime excursions to professional dives that include exploring the depths of the Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail. On the water, nighttime kayak tours are a must as LED lights illuminate the plentiful marine life below. Or why not take to the skies and parasail above or enjoy the longest zip rail in Northwest Florida.

Nature’s paradise Perdido Key is a protected natural paradise where wildlife, flora and fauna provide the backdrops to all accommodation, restaurants and bars. Start any visit with time at Johnson Beach at Gulf Islands National Seashore, where nature puts on a show. Watch out for pelicans, dolphins, bald eagles, ospreys and herons. Then head over to Big Lagoon State Park for trails and shorelines that are ideal for hiking, biking or kayaking.

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CENTRAL EAST Revved up

SUMMER GILHOUSEN

Sip craft beers and artisan spirits from 17 microbreweries and seven taprooms on the Daytona Beach Ale Trail. Among the venues is Ormond Garage, a craft brewery and American-style eatery that highlights its links to the early days of car racing on Ormond Beach, with vintage racing cars and other memorabilia on display.

More motor racing history is on tap in the rooftop bar of restored Art Deco icon the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, where a landmark meeting in 1947 led to the founding of NASCAR motor racing.

Restaurants in and around Daytona Beach are flying the farm-to-fork flag, sourcing ingredients sustainably and locally. Among them is Rose Villa Southern Table & Bar in Ormond Beach, which buys its organic produce from small Florida farms and wild fish caught around the state’s waters.

Watch sweet delights being made at Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory in downtown Daytona Beach, sampling treats such as bacon and crisps covered in chocolate. At The Old Sugar Mill Pancake House in De Leon Springs State Park you can rustle up your own pancakes on griddles set into each table in the historic former watermill.

For those still craving something sweet, the Florida Key Lime Pie Company next door to the famous Ron Jon’s Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach serves up several versions of the state’s official state pie, including its signature Key Lime Pie in a Cup. You won’t find sailfish on the menu in Stuart, the sailfish capital of the world, but you will find a cornucopia of locally-caught seafood in its restaurants – from the huge, family-run Twisted Tuna waterfront establishment

Fruits of the sea in Pensacola

Boathouse Riverside, Fort Lauderdale

that seats 600 diners to other eateries including Shrimpers Grill & Raw Bar, Gettin’ Crabby, King Neptune’s, and Fresh Catch Seafood Grill.

And tuck into fresh seafood sitting on the docks of former fishing village St. Lucie in waterfront restaurants.

CENTRAL WEST Florida’s oldest restaurant Five Tampa restaurants – Lilac, Koya, Rocca, Ebbe and Kõsen – now sport Michelin stars while Webb’s City Cellar in St. Petersburg was a James Beard Awards 2024 semi-finalist for Outstanding Bar. Tampa has long been a foodie destination. The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City is Florida’s oldest restaurant, first opening as a small café in 1905 serving immigrant Cuban cigar

Dave & Buster’s, Orlando

factory workers and now specialising in Spanish cuisine with dishes including a Cuban sandwich and 1905 Salad.

Andrea Gonzmart Williams, fourth generation caretaker of the Columbia Restaurant, says: “The Cuban Sandwich is a true representation of all the heritage that came to Ybor City in the early 1900s: The Spanish, (ham) the Cubans (mojo roast pork), the Italians (salami), the Germans and Romanian Jews (pickles and mustard). The Swiss cheese on the sandwich represents the melting pot that Ybor City became.”

Meanwhile, Bern’s Steak House boasts one of the world’s largest wine collections, its cellar housing over half a million bottles and 6,800 labels from around the world.

More than 40 breweries form St. Petersburg and Clearwater’s aptlynamed Gulp Coast Craft Beer Trail, including Dunedin Brewery, Florida’s oldest microbrewery that is now one of nine breweries in Dunedin.

Founded in 1995. Tampa Bay Beer Week is a nine-day jamboree of tastings, events and entertainment in early March. Navigate a world of food in St. Pete-Clearwater sidewalk eateries, from casual Italian dining

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at BellaBrava to French brasserie Cassis St. Pete, gelatos from Paciugo Gelato & Caffe, Lebanese and Greek food at Baba, schnitzel and sausages in The German Knodle and al fresco Greek food in Tarpon Springs, settled

by Greek sponge divers in the early 1900s, at Hellas Restaurant & Bakery.

Taste the Gulf Coast’s bountiful harvest from hundreds of local seafood vendors in January’s threeday John’s Pass Seafood Fest, held in Madeira Beach since 1981.

Dade City’s Annual Kumquat Festival, also in January, lauds the tiny citrus fruit with a farmers’ market and the chance to try pies and other foods made with kumquats.

Florida Orange Groves Winery in St. Petersburg is the state’s original tropical fruit winery and now produces around 33 varieties of tropical wine, with visitors welcome to join daily tours and tastings.

SOUTHEAST Miami nice...

Miami’s restaurants lead the way for Michelin Guide honours, with 13 establishments now displaying one star and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon awarded two. The late Joël Robuchon was a well-known chef who accumulated 32 stars from Michelin in his lifetime.

Miami also has 18 restaurants that have received the Bib Gourmand distinction, which recognizes restaurants that offer outstanding food at more affordable prices.

In the 2024 national James Beard Awards, Valerie Chang, from Maty’s in Miami, was named Best Chef: South.

Semi-finalists from the city were: Zak the Baker, for Outstanding Bakery; Macchialina (Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages); and as well as Tristen Epps, from Ocean Social (Best Chef: South).

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THE RODRIGUEZ GROUP

Ravenous Pig, Winter Park

Pancakes at Old Sugar Mill in De Leon Springs State Park

There’s a thriving craft beer scene across Greater Miami. Venues include Abbey Brewing Company in South Beach, which brews Trappist-style beers such as Father Theodore’s Stout and Brother Dan’s Double.

Stone crabs are a Florida delicacy: 99% of all stone crabs harvested in the U.S. are landed in the Sunshine State.

In season from October-May, they have been served at Joe’s Stone Crab, a legendary Miami Beach institution, for over a century.

Once endangered, alligators are now plentiful and you can find gator meat on many menus in the state, supplied by alligator farms. Snap them up at eateries such as Coopertown Restaurant alongside an airboat tour operation in the Everglades, where gator tail and frogs legs are a speciality, and the Everglades Gator Grill in Homestead, which offers gator bites, kebabs and sandwiches.

Try some of South Florida’s best cuisine on food tours of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Key West and Miami’s Little Havana and South Beach districts. And mark your calendar for the four-day Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival in December.

The Florida Keys are said to be where key lime pie originated. Conch fritters are another Keys favourite. Find them both on the menu of Key West’s most famous watering hole and restaurant, Sloppy Joe’s – where author Ernest

Cheers to some Florida sunshine

Fun Facts

Beer lovers can sate their passion at more than 350 craft breweries that have sprung up across the Sunshine State in recent years.

Follow craft ale trails in several parts of the state or tour individual breweries to sample flights of their different brews.

Hemingway spent many hours during his eight years living in Key West – along with its signature dish, the Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich.

SOUTHWEST Fresh off the boats Cortez, on a peninsula in Bradenton’s Sarasota Bay, is one of the last remaining traditional working fishing villages on Florida’s Gulf Coast, with a history that goes back to the 1880s.

Enjoy some of the freshest seafood and scallops straight off fishing boats at casual dockside restaurants such as Tide Tables, Swordfish Grill, Star Fish Company and the Seafood Shack.

Dock-to-table seafood cooked fresh from being landed is also served up at Everglades City rustic waterfront eatery City Seafood, where huge stone crab claws are a highlight of its simple menu. Locally-sourced food

is the anthem of other Naples area restaurants, too, among them The Local and Sea Salt in downtown Naples.

After feasting on local dishes, round off the evening with a nightcap.

Sarasota’s downtown bars brim with mixologists blending their own craft cocktails as well as classics.

Sarasota is also home to an Amish community, primarily snowbirds who return to the Gulf Coast city’s Pinecraft neighbourhood each winter from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other northern states. Traditional homecooked fare is served in a handful of Amish restaurants, among them Yoder’s Restaurant in Yoder’s Amish Village, a Sarasota tradition since 1975.

Yoder’s regularly sees long queues of customers eager to try chicken fried in a deep-pressure cooker and over 100 different pies. A favourite is the Peanut Butter Cream pie, with whipped cream.

Let’s Eat, Englewood is a fortnightlong restaurant promotion held each September that sees many Englewood restaurants serve lunch and dinner menus at good-value prices.

The Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Festival, staged over two days each March since 1959, celebrates the pink Gulf shrimp, or “Pink Gold”, that the area is known for. Events include shrimp crawls at local restaurants, a shrimp-eating contest, a parade, the blessing of the shrimp fishing fleet and a Pink Gold Shrimp Celebration. •

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Tampa

29

Visit Tampa Bay

TREASURE AWAITS Discover the warm world-class hospitality of this hip city on Florida’s Gulf Coast served by daily direct flights from the UK Eat, drink and be happy

Water, water everywhere

From MICHELIN-stars to rooftop bars with views across the skyline, world-class food halls and farm-to-table restaurants, fresh seafood and authentic Spanish dishes, the food scene has something for all tastes.

Food represents the innovative melting pot that is Tampa Bay, where old meets new and the cuisine is as rich as the culture. With 30 restaurants included in the prestigious MICHELIN Guide, you’ll never go hungry!

Get out on the water and see the downtown cityscape with a kayak or paddleboard tour.

Captain your own adventure and rent your own eboat, or let someone else take charge of one of the fleet of popular yellow-andblack Pirate Water Taxis that run up and down the Hillsborough River.

For an extra adventure, experience 180-degree spins and turns on an adrenalin fuelled jet boat thrill ride from the Bay Rocket.

Indulge your passion Whether it’s art, sport or wellness, Tampa Bay will satisfy your passion. With four professional sports teams including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (American football) and Tampa Bay Lightning (ice hockey), it’s game day, every day. Or why not take in the 40-plus beautiful murals and incredible art spread throughout the destination – starting with the huge pink flamingo at Tampa International Airport. Find your inner peace with free Yoga in the Park.

Discover the Downtown

Higher and faster

Start with the 2.6 mile-long Tampa Riverwalk which links together some of downtown Tampa’s most popular attractions, hotels, museums and parks like gems on a string and is bookended by two food halls.

The Tampa Riverwalk Attraction Pass is a terrific way to discover history, culture, fun and adventure at seven unique attractions – they include The Florida Aquarium, Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children’s Museum

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has some of the world’s best roller-coasters including Iron Gwazi, the tallest, steepest and fastest hybrid roller coaster in North America, and Serengeti Flyer, a new 105-foot swing ride.

And 2024 has seen the opening of “Phoenix Rising”, the park’s tenth coaster.

It features not just an exhilarating array of twists and turns but also on-board audio with a one-of-a-kind soundtrack – a first for the park.

Culture and history The historic heart of Tampa Bay lies among the brick streets of Ybor City, built in the 1880s by Cuban, Spanish and Italian immigrants drawn to the booming cigar industry.

Take a trip down Seventh Avenue as skilled tabaqueros hand roll cigars, savour a cafe con leche or sample the official sandwich of Tampa Bay, the original Cuban Sandwich invented for Ybor City cigar rollers. But watch out for the roosters that roam freely!

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1

OUTDOOR ADVENTURE From getting out and about discovering its epic nature to thrill rides above and below the waves, Florida is perfect for outdoor adventure seekers

Oarsome escapades

Whether it is enjoying a gentle paddle along quiet backwaters, discovering hidden bays and coastal islands, heading off on a long-distance paddling trail, tackling white-water rapids or getting away from it all in the Everglades, you can go on a waterbased adventure in every region in Florida by kayak and canoe.

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Under the sea

Explore Florida’s spectacular wonders under the waves on a scuba diving or snorkelling excursion. Options include colourful coral reefs off the Atlantic coast and in the Florida Keys, shipwrecks sunk as artificial reefs off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and underwater sculptures in 58-feet of water in Grayton Beach State Park in northwestern Florida.

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On two wheels or two legs

HIGHLIGHTS

Tackle the Sunshine State’s network of paved and off-road cycling trails or ride a beach cruiser bike along hard-packed sands in some seaside destinations. Alternatively, get out and about to enjoy relaxing ambles on boardwalks and paths or step out on one of Florida’s many hiking trails.

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park

Exploring the USS Oriskany, 22 miles off the coast of Pensacola

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OUTDOOR ADVENTURE • 31

8 Horse power

Saddle up to enjoy a horseback adventure in many regions across the state. Ride along wooded trails and pastures in Ocala, the “Horse Capital of the World”, canter through the surf on expanses of golden sands and ride out into the sea and remain sitting on your steed as it swims.

Leading a horse to water on Amelia Island

4

Up, up and away

5 Springs eternal

Get high on an airborne adventure.

See Florida’s delights from the air by helicopter or float serenely overhead in a hot air balloon. Enjoy hands-on thrills flying in a seaplane, biplane or wartime fighter plane. Take a tandem hang glider or a powered paraglider flight, or leap from a high-flying aircraft on a tandem freefall skydive.

There are more than 1,000 springs across Florida: swim, snorkel and dive in them, including with manatees. See the secrets of their crystal-clear waters from above and below on a glass-bottomed boat tour, from an underwater observatory and on a diving or snorkelling excursion.

Natural attractions

Discover a plethora of natural wonders among Florida’s great outdoors. Delve into deep sinkholes, explore caves full of stalagmites and stalactites, see towering waterfalls, paddle below lofty cliffs or simply soak up the peace, quiet and glorious nature of the many pristine, and undeveloped coastlines.

10 Get sporty

Learn to surf and hang ten on the rollers that pound Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.

Soar into the air on water-propelled jetpacks and flyboards on both coasts and on inland lakes. And if you feel the need for speed, lap up the thrills of a NASCAR ride on a famous race track. •

SPARK

6 Get hooked

Reel in a catch of the day on a fishing adventure in Florida. Its seas and inland waters are an angler’s dream, whatever you’re hoping to land.

Whether bass, tarpon, sailfish, snook, mahi-mahi, wahoo or blackfin tuna, there are bountiful opportunities to snag “the big one”.

BARRY SHIVLEY

7

Wild encounters

Experience Florida’s animal attractions by getting up close and personal in its many wildlife-stocked natural reserves and preserves.

Enjoy a thrill ride on an airboat or swamp buggy through primeval freshwater Everglades marshes, kayak amidst scores of alligators, glimpse the unique and tiny Key deer, see manatees and dolphins, and venture into protected preserves to see other spectacular fauna and colourful flora.

Cycling in St. Augustine

An airboat ride near Orlando

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PATRICK FARRELL / PETER W. CROSS

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32 • OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

PIECE OF THE ACTION The great outdoors doesn’t come much greater or more adventurous than it does in Florida. Wherever you head, there are experiences to excite the senses

E

xhilaration, wonder, awe, thrills – these are just a few of the emotions visitors experience when they sign up for an outdoor adventure in Florida. It’s known as the ‘Sunshine State’, but it could just as easily be called the ‘State of Excitement’ for the many pulseracing experiences it serves up - from breathtaking natural wonders to spinetingling sports and activities.

NORTHWEST Paddle your own canoe

KIKOR

Florida’s Panhandle has some of the best freshwater paddling in the state, while there are also sheltered saltwater bays that seem made for exploring by kayak or canoe.

With rental equipment available, take your pick from several long-distance State Designated Paddling Trails, Among them are the 51-mile Chipola River, fed by 63 springs, which runs through swamp and hardwood forest to the Florida Caverns State Park.

Sights include limestone bluffs and caves with stalactites and stalagmites;

Different strokes in Islamorada

the 100 miles of mapped trails along the Apalachicola River including local favourite Graham Creek and Grayton Beach State Park’s Western Lake, a rare coastal dune lake bordered by towering beachside dunes.

Manatees are often spotted yearround by paddlers on the Wakulla River’s four-mile trail that starts at Wakulla Springs State Park.

The clear Gulf of Mexico waters off Fort Walton Beach and Panama City Beach offer a plethora of activities, including diving and snorkelling, kayaking, paddleboarding, kiteboarding, parasailing, jet-skiing, surfing and sailing, with dolphinwatching and sunset cruises also very popular. Enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the white-sand beaches and turquoise Gulf on a helicopter joyride.

Learn to surf at locations that number Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach and Okaloosa Island, off Fort Walton Beach.

Cycle and hiking trails wend through the National Seashore’s Fort Pickens, Naval Live Oaks, Perdido Key and Santa Rosa areas.

Hiking and biking, both on paved paths and off-road, are popular at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, Point Washington State Forest and the adjacent Deer Lake State Park, where the Eastern Lake Bike/Hike Trail meanders through a sandhill habitat under a canopy of longleaf pines.

Keen anglers can try their luck surf fishing from the region’s many beautiful beaches, casting from piers or by nearshore and offshore fishing on charter boats that leave from Destin, Panama City and Port St Joe.

Activities in the clear waters of Ginnie Springs include kayaking, swimming, and snorkeling.

In Destin, soar over the sea via a flyboard or a water-propelled jetpack.

NORTH CENTRAL White water and sinkholes Big Shoals State Park claims Florida’s largest white-water rapids. The Suwannee River flows between limestone bluffs that tower 80 feet above its banks; when water levels are high the rapids gain a Class III classification. Only experienced canoeists and kayakers should attempt to navigate the shoals then.

The park also offers more than 28 miles of wooded trails for hiking, biking and horse riding.

White Springs is the head of the 170mile Suwannee Wilderness River Trail and a popular starting point for paddlers exploring it by kayak and canoe. Pedal along a 100-mile road biking loop or head off on fishing and canoeing trails on the Aucilla, Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers in Madison.

Visitors to Ichetucknee Springs State Park can go swimming, kayaking, tubing, paddling and even diving in the crystal waters of the Ichetucknee River, which is fed by nine springs and gently winds

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OUTDOOR ADVENTURE • 33

“Ride horses across pastures and along wooded trails in Ocala, the Horse Capital of the World” acre refuge offering hiking trails and boardwalks for wildlife observation along the Suwannee River.

Around 60,000 bats live in the reserve and they can be seen at dusk from an observation deck over the river and along the adjacent Bottomlands Boardwalk that runs across a cypress swamp.

Venture down 120 feet into a limestone sinkhole at Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, a National Natural Landmark popular with visitors since the 1880s.

The bowl-shaped cavity leads down to a miniature rainforest amidst North Florida’s sandy terrain and pine forests, the lush vegetation thriving in the shade of the walls even in dry summers.

NORTHEAST On your bike through shaded hammocks and forests of cypress, maple, oak and pine.

The 2,669-acre wildlife haven is also home to beaver, otter, gar, softshell turtle and wild turkey.

Designated Trail Town Gainesville offers more than 30 miles of biking and hiking trails, with opportunities to spot wildlife such as bison, wild horses, alligators and birds in seven Florida State Parks.

The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge near Cedar Key is a new 40,000-

Amelia Island has been recognised as a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists and has a network of more than 50 miles of routes for every level of rider, from bike lanes and paths below moss-laden live oaks to its wide, sandy beaches.

Hire traditional bikes, fat-tyre bikes, beach cruisers, electric bikes and

i

DID YOU KNOW?

mountain bikes from rental shops across the island. Trails include the new three-mile Amelia River to Sea Trail and six miles of mountain bike trails through Fort Clinch State Park.

If those don’t float your boat, try renting floating hydrobikes to pedal on the Amelia River’s calm waters.

Ride horses on Amelia Island’s beaches with Amelia Island Horseback Riding, trotting and cantering at the water’s edge. Rides are tailored to riders’ equestrian levels. Alternatively, fly high over Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island and Cumberland Island in a tandem paramotor – a powered paraglider – with Barefoot Flyers PPG. Or hike through 46,000 acres of coastal wetlands, salt marshes and hardwood forests in Jacksonville’s Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve.

Pack for camping, hiking, surfing, kayaking and swimming at oceanside Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park. Its 20 miles of mixed-use trails are also great for mountain biking.

Take a surfing and kiteboarding lesson, rent a kayak or paddleboard and fish along Jacksonville’s 22 miles of white-sand beaches. Less than

Only accessible by boat, most of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge’s islands are left wild to accommodate nesting birds

Leave the regular world behind and explore incredible Crystal River.

From swimming alongside manatees, paddling across pristine waters, diving for scallops, hiking through tranquil nature, to fishing the best rivers and lakes in Florida. Capture moments and memories that leave you awestruck. Plan your getaway now at DiscoverCrystalRiverFL.com

BEYOND LAND.

BEYOND WORDS.

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34 • OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

three miles from the beaches, enjoy an airboat ride on the Intracoastal Waterway and see wildlife such as dolphins, manatees and hundreds of bird species. You can also rent boats from jet-skis to live-aboard houseboats.

Florida’s Historic Coast is nirvana for anglers. The St. John’s River is well known for its bass fishing while surf, beach and pier fishing can yield catches of speckled sea trout, kingfish and pompano.

Charter trips head into the Atlantic off St. Augustine to fish for black sea bass, grouper, snapper, mahi-mahi, blackfin tuna and wahoo.

uplands at Wekiwa Springs State Park, close to downtown Orlando. Rental canoes and kayaks are available to explore the spring and the park’s waterways.

See Central Florida from on high by taking to the skies. Set the alarm and

Fun Facts

Hillsborough’s Alafia River State Park is a reclaimed phosphate mine featuring some of the most radical elevation changes in Florida, making it a hot spot for mountain bikers taking on the scenic and challenging International Mountain Bike Association trails.

Horse riders and hikers can explore 20 miles of hilly forest trails.

CENTRAL Airboat thrills Enjoy the thrill of an airboat ride in Kissimmee. Several operators run tours, the boats skimming over marshes, swamps and waterways to see the wilder side of Central Florida.

Among them, Wild Florida and Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures operate airboat tours into the headwaters of the Everglades, with tickets including entry to their wildlife parks. Kissimmee Swamp Tours is the only airboat tour company taking guests on rides across the 36,000-acre Lake Kissimmee, while Wild Will’s Airboat Tours runs tours across 23,000-acre Lake Tohopekaliga.

Discover miles of trails on foot, by bike or on horseback through subtropical hammocks and sandhill

Tandem skydiving in Lake Wales is offered by Jump Florida Skydiving. If you want the rush of a freefall without jumping out of a plane, visit iFLY Orlando indoor skydiving.

Rent canoes, single and tandem kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards or join a nature eco-tour to discover the ecology and wildlife whilst paddling among the cypress forest of Shingle Creek, minutes from Walt Disney World.

Ocala’s Santos Mountain Bike Trails has some of the best mountain biking in Florida, with 90-plus miles of singletrack diverse bike trails for beginners as well as expert-level trails that challenge even the most elite riders.

The unpaved Santos trails have with colour-coded difficulty levels ranging from “easy” to “extreme”.

CENTRAL EAST Surf’s up

then drift away on an early-morning hot air balloon tour offered by companies such as Bob’s Balloon Rides, Airhound Adventures and Balloons & Beyond.

Or soar over Orlando’s theme parks on a helicopter adventure with Orlando Heli-Tours and Leading Edge Helicopters.

First-timers can try tandem hang gliding with Wallaby Ranch in Davenport, just outside Orlando. The experience involves being towed 2,000 feet into the sky behind an aircraft.

Airboat ride in The Everglades

RED SQAURE, INC

Cycling the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop in St. Augustine

Kit yourself out at Ron Jon Surf Shop: the “world’s largest surf shop” is open 365 days a year. Then hit the rollers at Cocoa Beach. Ron Jon’s is also home to the Florida Surf Museum, which preserves the region’s surfing history.

More than three miles of Atlantic beach serve up some of Florida’s best surfing at Sebastian Inlet State Park in Melbourne, with consistent surf breaks

by Sebastian Inlet’s north pier.

Nearby shoal Monster Hole is another surfing hot spot.

Blue Spring State Park near DeLand

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SUMMER GILHOUSEN

INTERPRET STUDIOS

Scuba diving at Devil’s Den, near Williston

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PURE EXHILARATING SUN SOAKED

DOLPHIN SPOTTING FOODIE FRIENDLY

FIND YOURSELF

FLORIDA I-10

Jacksonville 5

I -95

I -7

Tampa

I- 4

Orlando

Sarasota

We are here!

Fort Myers

Fort Lauderdale Miami

Here’s where to explore Florida in all its outdoor glory. From exploring trails on and off the water, fresh Florida seafood and intriguing small towns, you’ll find a side of Florida that’s quiet, relaxed and waiting for discovery.

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THE BEACHES OF FORT MYERS & SANIBEL

Fishing at Fort Myers

Face to face with manatees at Crystal River Preserve State Park

CENTRAL WEST Swim with manatees Crystal River is a national wildlife refuge created to protect the habitat of the state’s official state marine mammal, the threatened Florida manatee.

The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge preserves Three Sisters Springs, the only place in the nation where you can legally swim alongside these gentle giants. Each winter, between 500 and 1,000 of them migrate there, drawn by the warm spring waters. They can be seen yearround on snorkelling, diving, boat and kayak tours, although the best months are October to March.

For the ultimate adrenalin rush, jump out of an aircraft at 13,500 feet and freefall at speeds of 110mph before parachuting back to the ground on a tandem skydive with an instructor at Skydive City in Zephyrhills.

For something a little gentler, visit the 1,136-acre Fort De Soto, the largest park in Pinellas County, made up of five interconnected islands that are home to mangroves, wetlands, palm hammocks, hardwoods and native plants. There are nature trails, paved, motor-free trails and a canoe trail.

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was established in 1972. Two years earlier, researchers tracked 14 manatees in the spring run. By 2023, after years of park improvements and protection efforts, wintering manatee numbers rocketed to a record 729.

To see them and the park’s other natural wonders, hike along the spring run or on the 4.5-mile Pine Island Trail.

Canoe and kayak rentals are available and visitors can also take a guided river boat cruise.

Anglers looking to hook “the big one” should cast their eyes towards Florida’s east coast. Martin County prides itself as being the “Sailfish Capital of the World”, with catches between four and eight feet long regularly landed off Port St Lucie Inlet.

Its lofty status is recognised by an 18-foot-tall leaping bronze sailfish statue that graces downtown Stuart.

Watch rockets lift off from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex along the 72 miles of beaches of Florida’s Space Coast, where a $39-million beach restoration project has restored the natural beach and dune coastline and protects wildlife that includes nesting sea turtles.

Hike trails and boardwalks or glide on Mosquito Lagoon in the Canaveral National Seashore in a kayak. It’s the longest stretch of undeveloped Atlantic coastline in Florida.

Enjoy some exercise by renting a beach cruiser to cycle along Daytona Beach’s hard-packed sands and under its famous pier. Then hit speeds of 170mph riding in or driving a NASCAR racing car on the Daytona International Speedway’s tri-oval circuit.

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36 • OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

Skydive City in Zephyrhills

Beach expert Dr Stephen Leatherman (aka Dr Beach), has named Fort De Soto as the USA’s top beach.

Discover the wild side of Florida and even walk underwater in the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. Paved walkways and an elevated boardwalk take visitors around the park’s centrepiece, the main Homosassa Spring, where they can also see captive native animals being cared for. Among its residents are manatees, alligators, bobcats, black bears, panthers, deer and birds of prey.

Then view fish and manatees swimming in the clear waters beneath the spring’s surface from an underwater observatory.

The Ream Wilson Clearwater Trail

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OUTDOOR ADVENTURE • 37

“Boca Grande is regarded as the world’s tarpon fishing capital” is a 13-mile cycling and pedestrian trail corridor under development in Clearwater. It connects the Gulf of Mexico at Clearwater Beach to Tampa Bay at Safety Harbor.

SOUTHEAST River of Grass Greater Fort Lauderdale is the gateway to the Everglades, America’s largest subtropical wilderness.

Explore the bountiful flora and fauna of this vast area of wetlands, marshes, waterways and lakes nicknamed the “River of Grass” by naturalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas on an exhilarating airboat or swamp buggy ride.

Tours operate from several locations, including Sawgrass Recreation Park, Everglades Holiday Park and the Big

Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.

The Atlantic waters off Fort Lauderdale are kept warm by the Gulf Stream, making it popular as a diving destination year-round. It is also the only place in America where you can snorkel and dive on a coral reef straight from the beach.

More than 75 artificial reefs have been placed on the ocean floor as magnets for fish and reef life and Greater Fort Lauderdale is now home to the largest collection of warm-water wrecks in the Western world. The Rapa Nui Reef off Deerfield Beach is a new underwater sculpture park for divers to explore and marine life to inhabit.

Kayak through mangroves on Big Pine Key, a nature refuge spanning 8,500 acres that also has miles of

The destination for outdoor enthusiasts!

• Explore the hidden jewels along the Gulf of Mexico.

• Visit exquisite springs and state parks!

• Go fishing, scalloping, snorkeling and diving.

• Enjoy shopping and fresh seafood, attend festivals, and so much more!

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THE RODRIGUEZ GROUP

38 • OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

SOUTHWEST Darling of the mangroves Sanibel Island’s 7,600-acre JN “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge protects the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the U.S. Home to 51 types of reptiles and amphibians, 32 mammal species and almost 250 species of birds, it can be explored on guided tram, boat and paddling tours and hiking and biking trails, and has observation towers for wildlife viewing.

Fun Facts

The Ten Thousand Islands in Florida’s far southwest actually comprise only about 200 keys, ranging from tiny sandbars to large mangrove-covered keys. They are perfect for those who want to get away from it all on a wilderness boating, canoeing or kayaking trip, either for a day or wild camping.

The Peace River is a designated State Paddling Trail that flows past Arcadia and offers wilderness and nonwilderness camping on its riverbanks.

Activities along the river include wildlife viewing, swimming, fossil hunting, birding, fishing, picnicking, hiking, canoeing, paddleboarding, and kayaking.

The Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail is a marked canoe and kayak trail that meanders through the coastal waters and inland tributaries of Lee County for almost 200 miles. It suits everyone from first-time kayakers to advanced paddlers and is home to abundant marine life and shore birds.

Visitors to the Everglades National Park can choose from a series of trails for leisurely walks, longer hikes and cycling trips through a wide variety

of habitats. Flamingo and Pine Island trails are accessible from the park’s main entrance in Homestead, while the Shark Valley trails are closer to Miami.

Ranger-led tours, narrated tram tours, boat tours and airboat trips are also available while paddlers can explore the Everglades Wilderness Waterway, a 99-mile canoe and kayak trail that most allow eight days to complete.

Boat trips operate out into the Gulf of Mexico and in sheltered bays and estuaries from Cape Coral, Fort Myers Beach, Naples, Marco Island and other locations to spot bottlenose dolphins surf bow waves and play in their natural environment.

Several companies offer horse riding trips on Anna Maria Island that include riding horses into the sea – the horses enjoy their swims while guides point out native marine life. •

RUSSELL MICK

hiking trails. It is home to the largest population of the diminutive Key deer, America’s smallest deer species that is only found in the Florida Keys.

Fishing charters, catamaran and sailing adventures, hiking and biking trails and around 50 parks make Boca Raton a great outdoors destination.

Islamorada in the Florida Keys is known as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World” and hosts the largest fishing fleet per square mile in the world.

Activity options range from fishing for sailfish offshore to pursuing bonefish, tarpon, snook and redfish in the shallow backcountry waters.

Take a seaplane or high-speed catamaran ferry to remote Dry Tortugas National Park or dive or snorkel among its sealife-rich coral reef. Or for more sea thrills, try flyboarding on jets of water off Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Snorkelling in Dry Tortugas National Park

RUSSELL MICK

Great Calusa Blueway, a 190-mile marked canoe and kayak trail

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St. Augustine Lighthouse

Spotting gators in The Wacissa River

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Florida

39

Florida’s Sports Coast

LET’S PLAY Embark on an unforgettable journey along Florida’s Sports Coast, just a 30-minute drive from Tampa International Airport.

Here, adventure seekers and nature enthusiasts are greeted with a vibrant tapestry of experiences.

Start your day by taking to the skies aboard a hot air balloon and witness breathtaking panoramic views.

Then, make your way to WernerBoyce Salt Springs State Park to glide serenely on paddleboards and dive into the emerald-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico for a scalloping excursion.

Head over to Anclote Key to unwind on beautiful pristine shores.

Next, make your way to the Historic Hacienda Hotel and explore the glamorous past of the region’s rich history.

Wrap up your day with a delectable slice of Kumquat pie, a cherished local treat, from the largest producer of Kumquats in the U.S. From thrilling outdoor adventures to serene moments of relaxation, Florida’s Sports Coast is sure to create memorable experiences!

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FAMILIES Florida’s appeal for families stretches far beyond its theme parks and beaches – although it does both better than anywhere else. There is so much for children to see and do so take your pick from animal encounters, museums, aquariums, pirate cruises, water parks, soaking in its nature... and much more.

Take it to the top

Give all family members a high by climbing to the top of some of the tallest lighthouses in the Sunshine State. Enjoy panoramic coastal vistas, watch a U.S. Navy aerobatic display team put their jets through their paces and take part in a ghost hunt at a haunted lighthouse.

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Close encounters

Young children can enjoy close encounters of the furred, finned and feathered kind at zoos, aquariums and wildlife sanctuaries across Florida.

Discover ‘touch tanks’ and help to feed animals that include giraffes, camels, stingrays, Highland cows, exotic birds and alligators. Also pet stars of the farmyard such as sheep, goats and llamas.

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Dolphins delight

HIGHLIGHTS

Children can interact with dolphins as well as with seals, sea lions, stingrays and other marine creatures at several facilities. Older children will delight being able to swim and snorkel with these majestic residents of the sea.

Dolphin watching cruises on both coasts allow young and old to view the beguiling mammals in the wild.

Watching stingrays in Daytona Beach Clearwater Beach, Tampa Bay area

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CYCLEHERE MEDIA ROUNDHOUSE CREATIVE

8 Be a jolly Roger

Shiver your timbers and have a swashbuckling time on pirate cruises sailing into the Gulf of Mexico with water gun and sword fights, treasure hunts, face painting and pirate games.

Or choose the landlubber option and simply join the celebrations for an annual pirate invasion that takes over a Gulf Coast island.

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Ready for lift-off at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

5 Space invaders

Keep your eyes peeled along Florida’s shorelines as you look for colourful seashells galore as well as fossil sharks’ teeth. They can be found on the beaches of both the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. There are even descriptive names for the activity on two of the most famous shelling beaches.

Take time out to lift-off for the final frontier exploring strange new worlds and venturing where few men have gone before with simulated space missions, IMAX giant-screen movies, interactive exhibits, a rocket garden, a Space Shuttle and a Mars escape room at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Budding astronauts should also head for the Challenger Learning Center in the state capital, Tallahassee.

DAYTONA BEACH AREA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

6 Attraction action

Kids will have a blast trying out the latest rides and roller coasters at Florida’s theme parks. Florida’s top parks never stay still for long and are constantly evolving by adding new attractions, rides, simulators and live entertainment – and there is plenty more fun to come in 2024/25 with a raft of planned openings.

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10 Science and history

History, nature and science lessons with a difference will keep youngsters spellbound at museums, aquariums and historic buildings. They will learn about Florida’s prehistoric past and its natural ecosystems. They can also sign up for hands-on experiments, see living history demonstrations, discover the secrets of magnets, explore the wonders of space in planetariums, and much more. •

Theater of the Sea, Islamorada

Splashing time

Enjoy some world-class aqua fun in the sun at water parks in coastal resorts and in the centre of Florida.

Zoom down super-sized water slides, enjoy heart-pounding plunges and splash-happy water drops, or alternatively sign up for a gentle float along a spring-fed river or a paddle on a family-friendly beach with wide, gently-sloping sands.

Slip. slide away at a water park

PATRICK FARRELL / PETER W. CROSS

Go beachcombing

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Butterflies, birds and more

Children of all ages will enjoy immersing themselves in nature walking through enclosures with hundreds or thousands of freeflying butterflies and birds. They will also delight in seeing owls, turtles, manatees and seabirds being nursed back to health for release back into the wild at wildlife rehabilitation centres.

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BETTER TOGETHER Florida is just made for families – whether it’s a sugar-fine beach, a theme park, a water park, an animal encounter or an interactive experience at a museum

F

rom coast to shining coast, Florida offers up an endless array of fun things to do and see for children of all ages. While Orlando is known as the “Theme Park Capital of the World”, a huge line-up of family activities, attractions and experiences is on offer throughout the Sunshine State. It really is kids’ play – and the only challenge is deciding what and how much to do!

NORTHWEST Lighthouse family highs

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MATADOR NETWORK

Accompanied children can climb the 177 steps to the top of Pensacola Lighthouse, located within the Naval Air Station Pensacola base.

On practice days for the base’s Blue Angels aerobatic display team, visitors can watch the jets fly past from its top.

The lighthouse is said to be haunted and those over-18 can join regular twohour evening ghost hunts.

With no waves or rip currents and on-duty lifeguards, Pensacola Beach’s Quietwater area is good for small children. It is part of the 160-mile Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Children as young as two can ride horses along the beach at Cape San

Blas with local operator Broke-A-Toe Horseback Riding.

At Gulf Breeze Zoo, youngsters will love petting and feeding pygmy goats, sheep and other farmyard animals.

They can also get hands-on feeding giraffes, camels, and Scottish Highland cows daily as well as the zoo’s alligators (from April to October).

Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park in Fort Walton Beach has dolphin and sea lion shows, plus animal exhibits starring fish, birds, marine mammals and reptiles. Young guests can meet resident dolphins, seals and penguins on personal animal encounters and snorkel with stingrays and tropical fish, (from ages five or eight depending on the encounter).

Swimming with dolphins is among Gulf World Marine Park’s animal encounters in Panama City Beach (subject to height restrictions), as is touching and feeding stingrays.

At the Pensacola Children’s Museum, young visitors can interact with Pensacola’s past in miniature in its first floor Discovery Gallery, where the historic houses are pint-sized.

Big Kahuna’s Water and Adventure

A family biking outing on Sanibel

Doing the “Captiva Crouch”

A splashing time in Islamorada

Park, the Emerald Coast’s largest water park, in Destin has more than 40 water attractions including flumes and whitewater tube rides.

Shipmates can douse each other with squirt guns, have sword fights and watch cannons firing on a two-hour Buccaneer Pirate Cruise treasure quest exploring Destin Harbour and the Gulf of Mexico.

NORTH CENTRAL Ahoy me hearties The skull and crossbones flag flies over Cedar Key each November for the annual Cedar Key Pirate Invasion.

For little wannabe pirates, there’s a costume contest, a mermaid and a search for the most infamous pirates in town.

Families can rent inflatable tubes to float along the clear waters of Ichetucknee River in Ichetucknee Springs State Park. Eight major springs join to create the six-mile river; wildlife including otters and turtles can often be seen. Alternatively, watch for manatees,

New

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“The new Daytona Aquarium, which opened in early 2024, features a 100,000-gallon shark exhibit”

hawks and alligators while on a relaxing two-hour guided boat tour of the Steinhatchee River hosted by a U.S. Coast Guard captain.

At Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Panacea, south of Tallahassee, touch tanks allow children to handle some sea creatures while other tanks and aquariums are just for looking.

They can learn about the non-profit organisation’s sea turtle research and

New Smyrna Beach

conservation programme, and even watch the release of turtles back into the wild after treatment for illness or injury in its rehabilitation centre.

Among family-friendly options in Tallahassee is the Challenger Learning Centre of Tallahassee, an outreach facility of the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University-Florida State University College of Engineering.

It features a giant-screen IMAX movie theatre, a planetarium and a space mission simulator. Over-16s can take on the Mars Meltdown escape room to flee Mars in an abandoned spacecraft “before a radiation storm hits the base”.

Free public tours are held monthly at the FSU-National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, offering a general overview of the Magnet Lab and the research conducted there as well as explanations of the different types of magnets used, including superconducting magnets, pulsed magnets and its world-record hybrid magnet.

The Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville is a large walk-through

i

DID YOU KNOW?

interactive exhibit containing hundreds of free-flying butterflies from around the world.

NORTHEAST Hunt for sharks’ teeth Amelia Island’s wide sands are a haven for beachcombing. Amelia Shark Tooth Adventures runs guided adventure tours for all ages, where participants hunt for fossil sharks’ teeth, prehistoric fossils and shells on beaches such as at Fort Clinch State Park.

Families can go horse riding together on the beach in Amelia Island State Park. Children aged six and over can ride with Amelia Island Horseback Riding, while Happy Trails Walking Horses limits riders to 13 years old and those at least four feet (122cm) tall.

For a different form of horsepower, youngsters can enjoy 30-minute or 60-minute kid-friendly beach rides on electric skateboards along the sands of Amelia Island’s North Beach with Amelia Island Board Rentals.

“Kids Free November” is Jacksonville’s city-wide promotion, offering free or

Around 1,500 “mermaids” have performed in underwater shows at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park since they first began in 1947

With endless miles of sandy beaches, hiking, biking trails, and pristine waterways to explore, followed by fabulous dining and art galleries to indulge in, just steps away from wonderful places to stay, unforgettable relaxing moments seem to go on forever. Find your fun @ VisitNSBFL.com

STAYS WITH YOU

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discounted admission to top family attractions throughout the entire month.

Previous participating attractions have included the Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, iFLY Jacksonville indoor skydiving centre, indoor go-karting at Autobahn Indoor Speedway and Catty Shack Ranch wildlife sanctuary, where tigers and lions are among the big cat stars, along with horses, foxes and other animals.

The city has many other family attractions, all of them offering fun things to do year-round.

St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra can point to more than 42 miles of beaches, with white sands to play on and to stroll looking for shells. It has gentle waves to swim in and water sports such as kayaking for the whole family to try.

Appealing to history-loving youngsters, the Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S., built by the Spanish over 23 years from 1672 in St Augustine, the nation’s oldest city.

On most weekends, rangers and reenactors in period dress give visitors a history of the downtown national monument and living historians perform weapons demonstrations, firing cannons and muskets.

CENTRAL New attractions Orlando’s theme parks regularly add to their line-up of attractions. Riders

can speed into the exhilarating world of the Grid on TRON Lightcycle/Run and experience the new log flume ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Fun Facts

The Everglades National Park covers 1.5 million acres but the “River of Grass” spans almost three million acres in total, encompassing the park, three water conservation areas and Big Cypress National Preserve. It is the largest subtropical wilderness in the U.S. and the most expansive wilderness east of the Mississippi River.

Meanwhile, EPCOT has seen the opening of interactive exploration trail Journey of Water, Inspired by MOANA and night-time spectacular Luminous: The Symphony of Us. Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, complete the Disney parks line-up.

Universal Orlando Resort added the Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast attraction in summer 2023 while its new DreamWorks Land features a familyfriendly roller coaster, interactive play areas, live entertainment and character

Building family memories, Miami Beach

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Riding the Serengeti Flyer, Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay

meet-and-greets. A fourth theme park, Universal Epic Universe, opens in 2025.

SeaWorld Orlando’s Pipeline surf coaster opened in 2023 while the family launch coaster Penguin Trek opened in spring 2024, when its Aquatica park debuts the Tassie’s Underwater Twist immersive waterslide. A 500-room hotel is planned for sister park Discover Cove, where families can swim with dolphins, snorkel with tropical fish and rays, and hand-feed exotic birds.

LEGOLAND has added LEGO Ferrari Build & Race and a new familyfriendly aquarium in 2024..

Meanwhile, the adjacent Peppa Pig Theme Park has rides and attractions for younger children.

Kids can soar over alligators and crocodiles at up to 30mph on the Screamin’ Gator Zip Line at Gatorland – provided they are taller than 36 inches (91cm).

The Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford is home to more than 350 animals from over 100 different species.

Attractions include its Barnyard Buddies hands-on experience with alpacas, chickens, goats, sheep and llamas, giraffe feeding, a rhinoceros encounter, the Seminole Aerial Adventure Zipline Course and a miniature ride-aboard train.

Families can swim, canoe, kayak, explore gardens and nature trails, or

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Butterfly World, Coconut Creek

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Central Florida

EXCITEMENT LIVES HERE From natural beauty to historic gems, a vacation here feels worlds away, yet is still close to Orlando Exceptional Accommodations Stay at one of LEGOLAND® Florida Resort’s themed hotels offering interactive and imaginative “build and play” opportunities at every turn.

Or experience a piece of Florida’s cowboy history at Westgate River Ranch, a charming dude ranch in the heart of untouched nature with accommodations featuring everything from luxe teepees to Conestoga wagons. Indulge in a luxurious stay at Streamsong® Resort or a private vacation home offering multiple bedrooms, a full kitchen, pool and more.

Culinary Delights Discover taste sensations at original restaurants proudly serving up fresh local flavour. Farm-raised beef, pork and poultry and lip-smacking barbecue have earned the area its title as BBQ Capital of Florida, while locally grown produce and fresh seafood grace the plates at farmto-table restaurants.

From down-home, Southern comfort food to classic, high-end steakhouse fare, you’ll find many delicious options, including a variety of ethnic cuisines.

Outdoor Adventures Home to 550 lakes and known as the “Water Skiing Capital of the World,” Central Florida offers endless fun on the water, from airboat rides to water sports. Enjoy hiking and biking at numerous parks, including Lakeland’s Circle B Bar Reserve, known as one of Florida’s best places to see wildlife, and Bonnet Springs Park, home to the Crenshaw Canopy Walk, The Kiwanis Cares for Kids Treehouse and more.

Golfers can tee off on some of the nation’s top-rated courses. These include the pine tree-lined Highlands Reserve Golf Club in Davenport, which challenges all levels of players.

Can’t-Miss Attractions Safari Wilderness Ranch immerses thrill-seekers in a world of exotic animals and outdoor beauty on safari tours that traverse 260 acres of pristine wilderness. Kids of all ages will love LEGOLAND® Florida Resort’s thrilling rides and cool water park.

And just next door, Peppa Pig Theme Park lets little ones play with their favourite cartoon character.

Explore the Bok Tower Gardens, featuring the 205-foot art deco and neo-Gothic Singing Tower carillon (a national historic landmark), 50 acres of gardens, hiking trails and more. Also enjoy a dazzling mix of dance, music and theatre performances, marvel at works of art at area museums and see a wealth of historic architecture.

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view waterfalls at Rainbow Springs State Park as well as tube on the Rainbow River.

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For a real out-of-this-world experience, nothing beats the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex. Must-dos for kids of all ages include a guided tour of the Rocket Garden, with over 60 interactive exhibits telling the story of NASA’s Space Shuttle programme, the IMAX Theatre and the Shuttle Launch Experience simulator.

Hour-long tours of the World Centre of Racing at the Daytona International Speedway are free for children aged four and under.

Daytona Beach has a new aquarium and the first phase of the Daytona Aquarium and Rainforest Adventure features a 100,000-gallon shark exhibit and two touch pools including a 12,000-gallon stingray touch pool among nearly 40 exhibits.

There are also habitats for alligators, frogs, and lizards. Phase two of the attraction, The Rainforest, is due to

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CENTRAL EAST Out of this world

Oarsome... a family paddleboarding excursion

open in 2025 and will feature species that include primates, sloths and tropical birds.

The Daytona Beach area is perfect for a family escape, boasting 23 miles of Atlantic shoreline and wide, sandy beaches in Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores and Ponce Inlet.

After climbing to the top of Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, at 175 feet (53 metres) high Florida’s tallest lighthouse and the second-tallest in the country, children can learn about life under the sea and the area’s marine ecosystem at the Marine Science Centre, located a short walk away.

Besides interactive galleries and exhibits that include feeding stingrays,

there is a teaching lab and a nature trail, as well as medical facilities where seabirds and turtles are rehabilitated. A special monthly Turtle Tots programme for children aged two to five helps them learn about local marine life through stories, crafts and activities.

The Dinosaur Store in Cocoa Beach is the home of the Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures and also includes the interactive family fun Adventure Zone, with the Reptile Run featuring the 25 live reptiles.

CENTRAL WEST Flying high Youngsters over four feet tall with a head for heights can ride Busch Gardens’ 105-feet (32m) Serengetti

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“The Kennedy Space Center is both a launch site and training center for astronauts in the U.S.”

Flyer swing ride, the world’s tallest and fastest ride of its kind which opened in 2023, and Iron Gwazi, North America’s tallest, steepest, and fastest hybrid roller coaster. The park’s 10th coaster, Phoenix Rising, invites younger guests to enjoy rides that include Cobra’s Curse and Cheetah Hunt, along with family-friendly animal experiences, shows and activities.

Glazer Children’s Museum is among seven attractions included in the Tampa Riverwalk Attraction Pass.

A popular giant resident is Big John the Triceratops, the largest and most complete triceratops skeleton ever discovered.

The MORPH’D Gallery is a journey of exploration that introduces

animals that have evolved perfectly to survive, with interactive exhibits and multimedia experiences in the new Mosaic Exhibit Hall at Tampa’s Florida Aquarium, the first phase of a $40 million expansion plan that will culminate in the opening of a sea lion habitat in 2025.

Kids aged two and up will have a blast on a two-hour Captain Memo’s Pirate Cruise from Clearwater Beach, with water gun battles, treasure hunts, face painting and pirate games. Or they can enjoy a swashbuckling 90-minute adventure around Boca Ciega Bay aboard the Royal Conquest Pirate Ship at John’s Pass, becoming buccaneers and gaining a pirate’s certificate.

A new 1.5-million-gallon dolphin habitat will help the Clearwater Marine Aquarium care for more rescued dolphins like its famous former resident, Winter, which had a prosthetic tail and was the subject of a book and two films.

Guaranteed dolphin sightings are offered on a Little Toot Dolphin Adventure cruise from Clearwater Beach on tugboat Little Toot, a favourite with families.

Children can learn while they play with interactive educational experiences and creative fun activities besides climbing inside a giant net

Discover the future of space exploration at Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex featuring Spaceport KSC, at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The thrill is within reach.

at the Great Explorations Children’s Museum in St Petersburg.

SOUTHEAST See butterflies flutter by Greater Fort Lauderdale’s family attractions include Butterfly World, the world’s largest butterfly park with more than 20,000 butterflies.

At Flamingo Gardens, flamingos are among over 90 species of native Florida animals and exotic plants in the 60-acre, not-for-profit botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery & Science delights with almost two dozen immersive exhibits that include a Prehistoric Florida gallery featuring a giant megalodon, an underwater adventure based on Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, an otter habitat, a science park and a new exhibit for budding young scientists and their families exploring Florida’s ecosystems.

Kids can go museum mad in Miami.

At the Museum of Illusions they can let their imaginations run wild with mindboggling 3D optical illusions such as riding on a magic carpet and hanging off a skyscraper ledge.

A play cruise ship, supermarket and miniature TV studio will keep them engaged at the Miami Children’s

Feel the power of a rocket launch.

Stand nose-to-nose with space shuttle Atlantis.

Walk among the giants of space exploration.

Come to the place where the most amazing things on Earth leave Earth.

KennedySpaceCenter.com

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Family fun on a pier in Key West

Child’s play on a sandy Florida beach

Museum, and the Frost Museum of Science features hands-on experiments, a touch tank, planetarium, a birds of prey exhibit and a three-storey aquarium.

Dolphin, parrot and sea lion shows, animal encounters including painting with dolphins and sea lions and swimming experiences with dolphins, sea lions, rays and even sharks are on offer at Islamorada’s Theatre of the Sea. Miami Seaquarium also has dolphin shows, shark, penguin and ray encounters and swimming with dolphins and seals. Restrictions for age, height and swimming abilities apply to some activities at both.

Younger visitors to West Palm Beach can enjoy animal magic including close encounters of the furred kind at Palm Beach Zoo and Lion Country Safari, while they can also learn about science and view Florida’s marine life close-up at the Cox Science Centre and Aquarium.

Walk amidst hundreds of free-flying butterflies, exotic birds and flamingos in the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservancy’s glass-domed tropical butterfly habitat.

SOUTHWEST Dine with sharks Take the little ones on a family adventure with the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota.

Options include Seashore SEAfaris

High-speed fun at LEGOLAND Winter Haven

Fun Facts

With 200 species of shells found on their shorelines, Sanibel and Captiva islands are known as the Seashell Capitals of the world.

Beachgoers are said to do the “Sanibel Stoop” and “Captiva Crouch” as they bend over and hunt for them.

exploring the local beachside flora and fauna, culminating in a seashore scavenger hunt or dip netting in the seagrass beds of Sarasota Bay. Among shark experiences are Sharks after Dark, where participants enjoy a “shark-cuterie” while learning about nocturnal species, and Breakfast with Sharks, where they watch a “narrated feeding” while sinking their teeth into a breakfast of their own.

A popular way to explore Florida’s natural wild side is by signing up for a family-friendly tour of the Everglades, venturing through swamps and waterways on exhilarating rides in airboats, elevated swamp buggies and big-wheeled buggies with operators such as Wooten’s, Captain Jack’s, Jungle Erv’s and Everglades City Airboats.

The largest natural history museum

on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Bishop Museum of Science & Nature in Bradenton, charts Florida’s past all the way back to prehistoric times through fascinating fossil exhibits. There’s also a planetarium as well as a manatee rehabilitation habitat.

Youngsters will enjoy hunting for fossilised sharks’ teeth on the sands of Englewood Beach Park in Englewood.

At the adjacent Stump Pass Beach State Park, they can join the tradition of adding a shell found on the beach to driftwood and making a wish.

And they can get up close and personal with Luna, the leucistic screech owl; Bella, the great horned owl; and Orion, the barred owl which are all among the native wildlife on display at Punta Gorda’s Peace River Wildlife Centre, which rescues and rehabilitates around 1,500 birds and animals each year. Entry is free, although donations are welcome.

Hand-feeding giraffes and seeing animals such as the endangered Florida panther, tigers, bears, lions, zebras, monkeys and alligators make for a fun day out in a tropical jungle setting at Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens.

Make a splash at Sunsplash Family Waterpark in Cape Coral, Southwest Florida’s largest waterpark that features aqua adventures, and at the new Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park Aquatic Complex on Florida’s Paradise Coast. •

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SeaWo

Advertorial Feature

AN OCEAN OF ADVENTURE AWAITS AT SEAWORLD PARKS

At SeaWorld’s three Florida parks, a world of adventure and endless fun awaits.

SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens are the perfect destination for families looking to soak up the sunshine and catch some thrills.

SeaWorld Orlando SeaWorld Orlando will impress kids and adults alike with its exciting array of heart-pounding rides and child-friendly play areas to choose from. As SeaWorld turns 60 this year, ‘there’s so much more to sea’ with year-long anniversary celebrations that includes new presentations and a new attraction for 2024.

Launched in spring 2024, Penguin Trek, joins SeaWorld’s seven other awardwinning rides including Pipeline: The Surf Coaster and Ice-Breaker. Based on an immersive snowmobile expedition that twists and turns through the icy landscape of Antarctica, Penguin Trek culminates in a visit to SeaWorld’s very own colony of penguins, for a wildlife encounter families will never forget.

Busch Gardens Thrill-seekers will not want to miss Busch Gardens’ newest attraction, Phoenix Rising, a suspended rollercoaster that have family members soaring above the Serengeti Plain and reaching speeds of 44 miles an hour. Phoenix Rising opened in spring 2024 and is the first coaster to feature on-board audio, enhancing the ride experience with a one-of-akind soundtrack, integrated into an exhilarating array of twists, turns and surprises for families riding together.

Phoenix Rising is the park’s tenth coaster and joins Serengeti Flyer,

the world’s tallest and fastest ride of its kind, and the award-winning Iron Gwazi, the fastest and steepest hybrid coaster in the world.

Aquatica Splash around in Aquatica this summer.

This one-of-a-kind waterpark is home to some of the world’s most thrilling water rides, featuring more than 50 slides, rivers and lagoons and 84,000 square-feet of sparkling white, sandy beaches – the largest beach in Orlando.

Whether racing through waterjets or whizzing down slides, there’s excitement for even the littlest thrill-seekers.

The newest underwater adventure is Tassie’s Underwater Twist, which boasts a digital display where riders spin past tropical fish and sharks found in Australian waters. Get ready to twist, turn, and swirl through a unique superbowl element.

Guests can experience the attraction in a two-person inner tube, allowing riders to experience the thrill with a friend.

BIG THRILLS, SMALL PRICES The best way to enjoy everything SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica have to offer is with the 3-Visit Ticket. For the same price as the 2-Visit Ticket, guests can enjoy a day at each park, and food with the three All-Day Dines that are included. Plus, the free Shuttle Express takes guests to Busch Gardens.

For more information about SeaWorld parks or to book tickets visit SEAWORLDPARKS.CO.UK

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Florida’s Space Coast

FUN IN 3..2..1!

Witness a rocket launch on 72 miles of pristine Atlantic beaches, set sail from bustling Port Canaveral... and so much more Find Your Perfect Beach Just 45 miles east of Orlando lies Florida’s Space Coast. With 72 miles of beaches stretching through the vibrant seaside communities of Titusville, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, and Palm Bay, this is the place for fun in the sun.

Nap on a secluded stretch of sand, catch a wave, build a sandcastle, or join a game of beach volleyball.

Whatever your idea of the perfect beach day, you’re sure to find it on the Space Coast.

Imagine building a sandcastle and looking up to see a rocket launching into space – It happens all the time on Florida’s Space Coast.

Home to the Kennedy Space Center, rockets launch weekly from our slice of paradise. Attractions like the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex showcase the past, present, and future of space flight and provide the once-in-alifetime opportunity to watch a rocket take flight just miles from the launch pad.

Space for Nature Escape the ordinary with a sunsoaked getaway into the natural wonders of Florida’s Space Coast.

Here there’s something for everyone! Kayak in bioluminescent waters, join a moonlit sea turtle walk, cycle shady hammocks, hike around wildflower-filled marshlands, speed through the swamp on an airboat, or simply watch the passing wildlife from a pier.

You only have to look around to find unexpected and unforgettable adventures.

PORT CANAVERAL RT

Launch Your Vacation

Set Sail from the Space Coast Port Canaveral is home to 20 ships from six top cruise lines, making it the perfect place to start your vacation.

Arrive a few days before your excursion and learn why millions of travellers choose to cruise from here!

Enjoy the ease of setting sail from the Space Coast with convenient cruise transportation, parking options, and accommodation in nearby Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.

Indulge at jaw-dropping local restaurants, relax on our beaches, and discover hidden gem attractions and family-friendly activities.

It’s easy to make your cruising experience even more memorable when you embark from the Space Coast.

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: 01 INCREDIBLE VACATION. Mission: Vacation Launch Plan Start counting down to your ultimate beach vacation on Florida’s Space Coast.

Launch your Space Coast getaway now at VisitSpaceCoast.com.

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Aids to reach the beach

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ACCESSIBLE FLORIDA From free rental all-terrain wheelchairs and beach mats that allow wheelchair users to access its celebrated sands to special sensory areas for families with youngsters on the autism spectrum, Florida is one of the most accessible states in the U.S.

Portable beach mats make visiting beaches in Florida possible for wheelchair users. Among the places featuring them are Pensacola, Bald Point State Park and Siesta Key. A number of beach destinations offer rental wheelchairs with all-terrain tyres – often for free. They include Flagler Beach, Daytona Beach, Caladesi Island and Amelia Island.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Getting sporty

Sports and activities are being tailored for those with special needs or disabilities throughout the Sunshine State. These include scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico, indoor skydiving at several locations, surfing at Stuart, horse riding on Amelia Island’s sands, ziplining over alligators in Orlando and sailing and kayaking off Miami and Key Largo.

Hitting the trails

MATT CHATOWSKY

Florida has a system of designated Trail Towns, such as Tallahassee and Titusville, with a series of interconnected paths and trails that are level, paved and barrier-free so that they can be enjoyed by all users, whether able-bodied or not.

Accessible swimming, Cedar Key, Fanning Springs

Ready for paddleboarding in Oleta River State Park near Miami

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8 Avoiding the queues

All of Florida’s major theme parks make special provisions for guests with physical and other challenges.

Assistance passes allow them to enjoy accessible rides, attractions and shows without having to wait in line.

Certified Autism Centre-designated Peppa Pig World has produced a downloadable sensory guide.

An EcoRover chair allows beach access in Sarasota

Enjoying Florida’s springs

5 Sound and vision help

Special facilities to help the less-able enjoy Florida’s many natural springs include wheelchair-accessible river boat cruise at Wakulla Springs State Park as well as electric chairlifts to aid swimmers get into and back out of the spring waters and kayak launch ramps and cradles at several locations.

Tactile and audio help is on hand for visitors with visual impairments and difficulties, including in St. Augustine, where there’s an informative braille and audio trail for statues in the historic centre, interpretive signs at De Leon Springs and interpretive panels with audio recordings at Lafayette Blue Springs.

6 Sensory-friendly

environments

Cultural institutions have sensoryfriendly experiences, kits and dedicated rooms or evenings with reduced volumes and lighting for those with sensory challenges to enjoy their visits in a relaxed way.

Among them are Miami Children’s Museum, Miami’s New World Symphony, Jacksonville’s Museum of Science & History and Lakeland’s new Florida Children’s Museum.

Nature’s wonders are also accessible to all in Florida. Wheelchair-friendly paths and boardwalks open up exploration of North America’s largest old growth bald cypress forest and the Everglades National Park.

A wheelchair-accessible airboat can take visitors on a thrill ride through the Everglades in the southern reaches of the state.

Accessible diving near Panama City

Gardens of delight

Seeing, hearing, tasting and touching nature helps visitors with sensory difficulties appreciate the world around them. A one-of-a-kind Serenity Garden is under construction at Wekiwa Spring State Park, while visitors to a historic park and mansion in DeLand can enjoy the natural world in its Sensory Butterfly Garden.

Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail SPARK

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10 Natural attractions

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Animal magic

Animal interactions for visitors with mental, physical and emotional challenges or disabilities include equine therapy sessions in Ocala, Florida’s horse country, and other areas as well as dolphin swims and therapy sessions in the Panhandle and Florida Keys. Other animal encounters include dolphin feeding and a farmyard petting and feeding area with goats, sheep and llamas.

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FUN FOR EVERY BODY From theme parks to state parks to cultural attractions, facilities across the Sunshine State are set up to cater for visitors with a range of disabilities

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hether enjoying beaches, attractions or natural parks, having interactive wildlife experiences or taking part in activities such as indoor skydiving, horse riding, biking, kayaking and diving, the barriers are well and truly coming down.

Children with special needs or who are on the autism spectrum also have many options – which means they and their families can enjoy their Florida holiday to the maximum.

NORTHWEST Dive into the Panhandle Florida’s Panhandle has numerous facilities catering for visitors with disabilities.

Fort Walton’s Bright Horizons Diving specialises in adaptive scuba diving lessons for those with such disabilities or on the autism spectrum, including one-on-one swimming pool sessions.

Pensacola area parks have developed special needs sections with play equipment for children with sensory and motor skills challenges.

The 160-mile-long Gulf Islands

National Seashore has several paved trails suitable for regular wheelchairs.

Beach wheelchairs with balloon tyres that can go on the area’s sugar-soft sands are also available to rent.

The autism-friendly certified Pensacola Museum of Art offers a sensory break box with activities and quiet spaces and has specially-trained staff members.

Children with emotional and mental challenges can swim and interact with a pod of wild dolphins in Water Planet’s Harmony Programme off Panama City Beach.

Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park has animal encounters that include feeding dolphins. The Fort Walton park has a special needs assessment to help visitors of all abilities enjoy its facilities.

Gulf Breeze Zoo’s 50-acre wildlife preserve houses more than a 1,000 animals. There are animal encounters with giraffes, rhinos, hippos and a giant tortoise, while a farmyard petting and feeding area features goats, sheep and llamas. An elevated boardwalk overlooks the preserve.

Wheelchair guest at Myakka River State Park

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NORTH CENTRAL Springs access Electric lifts help disabled people to access and swim in the clear spring waters of state parks including Fanning Springs State Park, Manatee Springs State Park and Ichetucknee Springs State Park. Wheelchair-accessible picnic tables and grills are available in several parks, with some also having kayak cradle launch pads for stable entry onto the water.

Wakulla Springs State Park has daily

Accessible attractions for all at The Florida Aquarium, Tampa

cruises on wheelchair-accessible river boats, with guides informing visitors about local flora such as ancient cypress forests and fauna, including manatees and alligators.

Beach wheelchairs and Mobi-Mats allow access to the beaches of Bald Point State Park, where Ochlockonee Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s north Gulf Coast. This is where the earliest known North American pottery, dating 2,500-3,000 years before the first European explorers, was found.

At Lafayette Blue Springs, a Suwannee River Wilderness Trail campground has a wheelchair ramp to access the spring and river and a cabin equipped with an elevator for guests using mobility devices.

The day-use area features interpretive panels with audio recordings for guests with visual impairments.

Tracing the route of Florida’s first railway, the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail runs more than 20 miles from Florida’s capital city to the coast and offers multiple entry spots. The trail is paved and level, making it wheelchair accessible.

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CORY LEE WOODARD

“Most car rental companies offer specially-adapted vehicles with hand controls with advance notice”

NORTHEAST Touching stories Seven sculptures around St. Augustine’s historic Plaza de la Constitucion comprise the TOUCH Saint Augustine Braille Trail. The sculptures are brought to life through site-specific braille signage with raised tactile diagrams and interpretive descriptions, with audio stories available for free by phone, on a mobile web app and online.

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Amelia Island is the only Florida state park that features horse riding on the beach; Amelia Island Horseback Riding welcomes riders with some disabilities, such as autism. Guided dawn, afternoon and sunset rides are offered and horses can be ridden into the waves.

Beach wheelchairs are available to use free of charge at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area in Flagler Beach.

Jacksonville’s Museum of Science & History (MOSH) has accessibility options such as quiet spaces, wheelchair rental, accessible bathrooms and adaptive tools to make visits for guests with special needs or disabilities easier. Its Sensory Nights, on the third Friday of each month, feature modifications to sound and lighting, and have fewer guests.

Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, in Ponte Vedra Beach, is a Certified Autism Centre with trained staff that work with guests on the autism spectrum.

Heron’s Cove Adventure Golf on Amelia Island was designed for wheelchairs and provides putters that stand up on their own.

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DID YOU KNOW?

CENTRAL Horse therapy Located on 33 acres in the heart of Florida’s horse country, Marion Therapeutic Riding Association in Ocala provides therapeutic horse riding and equine-assisted therapy for stroke survivors and children and adults with mental, physical and emotional challenges or disabilities.

Work is under way to create a $1.5 million Serenity Garden at Wekiwa Spings State Park. Unique in the U.S., it will provide a sensory experience to see, touch, smell and hear nature interactively for visitors of all abilities.

All four of the region’s major theme parks – Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and LEGOLAND – provide special assistance passes for guests with disabilities. The passes enable guests without mobility issues to avoid having to wait in line for attractions.

Many attractions and shows at the parks are wheelchair accessible.

Peppa Pig Theme Park was one of the first U.S. theme parks to be granted Certified Autism Centre designation.

In cooler months, manatees gather by the accessible observation deck overlooking a canal in St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park

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Butterfly World, the world’s largest butterfly aviary

Paddleboarding in Oleta River State Park

A downloadable sensory guide and park map provides information on touch, taste, sound, sight and smell, while sensory guidelines are posted on every ride and attraction.

Accessible facilities at Silver Springs State Park, one of Florida’s original attractions, allow guests with disabilities to enjoy glass-bottom boat tours, canoeing and kayaking.

The new Florida Children’s Museum at Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland has six interactive galleries for children of all ages and abilities.

The museum works in partnership with the Centre for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) and offers visitors autism-friendly sensory kits.

CENTRAL EAST Space without frontiers A Certified Autism Centre, Kennedy Space Centre provides noise reduction earphones to guests.

It also offers a short orientation of the space programme and visitor complex for visitors who are blind or have limited vision. All tour buses are equipped with wheelchair and scooter-accessible lifts.

At the Shuttle Launch Experience, each crew cabin is equipped with an accessible seat for visitors to transfer directly from a wheelchair.

Daytona Beach is handicap accessible for beach-goers with special needs, with free accessible ramps and surf

BUTTERFLYWORLD

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Shark Valley, Everglades National Park

Fun Facts

Visit the Audubon Society’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary at the right time in summer and you might see its famed ghost orchid bloom – 70 feet up in the air. A 2.5-mile boardwalk that can accommodate wheelchairs winds through pine flatwoods, wet prairies, marshes and North America’s largest old growth bald cypress forest.

chairs assisting comfortable navigation in surf and soft sand.

Free rental beach wheelchairs are also available in Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral, New Smyrna Beach and Ormond Beach.

Surfers For Autism, based in Stuart, a town approximately 40 miles from West Palm Beach, provides free surf sessions for children and adults with autism and other developmental conditions and disabilities.

Titusville, one of Florida’s first designated ‘Trail Towns’, sits at the confluence of three wheelchairfriendly, long-distance trails: Florida Coast-to-Coast Trail, East Coast Greenway and the St Johns River-toSea Loop.

Visitors to DeLand’s Bill Dreggors Park, which is set around a mansion that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, can enjoy a self-guided tour of its Sensory Butterfly Garden, which was developed with the visually and physically challenged in mind.

Selected plants offer easily sensed characteristics such as scent, colour, texture, taste and touch

CENTRAL WEST Seeing mermaids Ushers at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park assist with wheelchair seating and those needing help managing steps when attending its Mermaid Show.

Sign language interpreters can be requested for all shows. A ramp allows access to the water, where there’s a free-to-use floating wheelchair.

Free beach wheelchairs are available at Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island State Parks.

The St. Petersburg Trolley Downtown Looper has wheelchair lifts and riding in the downtown zone is free.

Visitors with disabilities can try indoor skydiving at iFLY Tampa through its All Abilities programme.

Busch Gardens’ guests with disabilities can use the Ride Accessibility Programme (RAP), allowing them to safely enjoy the park and enrol in Special Access to enjoy attractions without having to queue.

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SOUTHEAST Dolphin swims At Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo, therapy programmes for children and families dealing with physical disabilities, emotional challenges and chronic or terminal illnesses include in-water therapy sessions with resident Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, a touch tank and guided swims with the dolphins.

Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Centre in Loxahatchee, Palm Beach County, is located on a 15-acre farm and offers therapeutic riding and carriage driving, besides equineassisted learning and psychotherapy for people of all ages with physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities.

Zoo Miami is the first zoo in Florida to earn a Certified Autism Centre designation. Sensory bags for special needs guests have noisecancelling headphones and fidget toys or stress balls. Zoo sensory

guides have also been created. The Snoezelen Room at the waterfront Miami Children’s Museum is a multisensory environment in a relaxed spaced with reduced lighting created for children with autism and sensory processing disorders to enjoy with their families. Sensory Friendly Saturdays are held monthly with limited admission, sound and lighting adjustments and special activities.

The New World Symphony’s Miami concert hall offers a sensory-friendly environment for families with members with autism and sensory processing disorders. Special rooms feature a streaming live feed of a concert with reduced volume levels, noise-reducing headphones and muted lighting.

At Shake-A-Leg Miami, wheelchair users and their families can sail on an accessible catamaran and paddle in kayaks modified to fit any disability.

SOUTHWEST Scope for colourblind The J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island was the first of the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System’s 570 refuges to instal a spotting scope for colourblind visitors.

Added in 2021, the scope is atop its wheelchair-accessible Wildlife Drive observation tower and has a special lens to correct colour vision deficiency.

Siesta Key Beach is one of the most accessible beaches in Florida, with plenty of accessible parking spaces, free manual beach wheelchairs available on a first-come, first-served basis, and more than 400 feet of

Mobi-Mat allowing beach access to the shore.

Visitors to The Ringling, otherwise known as the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, are able to get around the huge estate on wheelchairaccessible trams.

The Palmetto Historical Park in Bradenton has installed a sensory garden designed for use by visitors in wheelchairs or who use a walker, are autistic, have sight or hearing loss or those with sensory issues.

In Sarasota County, Oscar Scherer State Park is a natural pine and palmetto haven that welcomes visitors with disabilities. The half-mile Lester Finley Trail is a shaded, hard shellpacked trail suitable for all wheelchairs and passes by two butterfly gardens.

A free-to-use all-terrain wheelchair can be reserved to use on other, sandier trails. There is also a kayak launch ramp for disabled kayakers to explore the park’s creeks and lake. •

PATRICK FARRELL

The Three Sisters Springs Trolley and transit van are both wheelchair accessible and are equipped with wheelchair lifts.

Dolphin-watching and sunset boat tours from St. Pete Pier are accessible to both manual and powered wheelchairs.

Among accessible features in Little Manatee River State Park in Wimauma are gravel trails, wooden ramps leading to restrooms, a new boat ramp with handrails and wheelchair access down to the dock. Rental kayaks are available in the park.

A Key Largo cruise with Tranquil Adventures

Clearwater Beach

Offering anyone’s perfect balance of relaxation, business and fun in our paradise away from the crowds.

Now with new renovations!

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PRE- & POST-CRUISE Add a few days before or after a cruise and enjoy a host of activities, natural attractions, museums, tours and more within easy reach of the cruise port

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To infinity and beyond

Watch rockets start their thunderous journey towards space at two locations on Florida’s Space Coast.

See them launch at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex or head to the nature-filled surroundings of the Canaveral National Seashore’s Playalinda Beach, the closest point to view launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Florida’s Cuban duo

Experience Cuban heritage, flavours and music in Miami’s Little Havana and Tampa’s Ybor City districts. Little Havana’s vibes centre on its vibrant Calle Ocho or Southwest Eighth Street, which has a Walk of Fame of Latin celebrities with South Florida ties. Ybor City celebrates its history as a cigar-making centre for Cuban immigrants in the late 1800s.

Bargain hunt to bucket shop

For some retail therapy take your pick from high-end boutiques with designer-label clothes and goods in ritzy Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue or Fort Lauderdale’s Olas Boulevard, antique jewellery and accessories in West Palm Beach art and design district Antique Row or bargains at flea market stalls in Pompano Beach.

Sunset at St. Pete Beach

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

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8 Science and progress

You might not want to spend a night at a museum, but institutions worth whiling away some afternoon time in include Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery, which has dynamic science exhibits, science shows and baby gators, and Key West’s Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, which displays treasures recovered from the world’s richest shipwreck, the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha.

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Cultures past and present

5 Art for art’s sake

Discover different sides of cultural Florida through the ages at the Miccosukee Indian Village on the edge of the Everglades close to Miami. At the Amelia Island Museum of History, watch demonstrations of traditional skills which relates the stories of the Timucuan people, the area’s original settlers, as well as the eight different flags that have flown over the island.

Art lovers can see the most comprehensive collection of the works of Salvador Dali at St Petersburg’s Dali Museum. Giant murals adorn former factories in Miami’s Wynwood Walls outdoor gallery, while Jacksonville’s downtown Museum of Contemporary Art, the nation’s second oldest, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2024.

6 Natural attractions

Soak up nature at havens near cruise ports. Among them are the St. Lucie Inlet, the Northern Hemisphere’s most bio-diverse lagoon, Hutchinson Island’s Jonathan Dickinson State Park – which incorporates Florida’s first federally-designated Wild and Scenic River – and the Canaveral National Seashore, spanning pristine beaches where turtles haul ashore to nest in their thousands.

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10 Florida sunsets

Sunsets seem extra special in Florida.

Enjoy a sunset sailing trip aboard a schooner on the St. Lucie River, a sunset paddleboard experience in Stuart or join the free, daily Sunset Celebrations at Mallory Square in Key West, featuring magicians, jugglers, music, art and food vendors. •

Discover baby crocs in Fort Lauderdale

Characterful buildings

Florida is awash with wonderful old buildings. Take a walking tour to see some of the hundreds of colourful, historic edifices in the Art Deco District of Miami’s South Beach. Tampa’s ornate Henry B Plant Museum preserves original furnishings and art from when the building was a stately hotel in the early days of tourism to Florida.

Enjoy retail therapy across Florida

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Artist at work in Calle Ocho, Little Havana, Miami

Animal magic

Sign up for a walking safari tour to see rare and exotic animals at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens or a Serengeti Safari Tour in an opentop vehicle through the Serengeti Plain at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay. The park’s resident wildlife includes giraffes, zebras, ostriches and rhinos.

Head to Hutchinson Island’s Florida Oceanographic Coastal Centre to see stingrays being fed.

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SURE EXCURSIONS When taking a cruise from one of Florida’s six cruise departure ports, consider adding on extra time beforehand or afterwards to enjoy what’s on offer in the surrounding areas

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hether a first-time passenger or regular cruiser, a Florida cruise offers the perfect opportunity to extend your stay with some bonus time in the Sunshine State.

From exploring its vibrant cities to delving into history, soaking up culture, shopping or just simply kicking back for a few days to enjoy its bountiful nature, the possibilities are numerous.

PORTMIAMI Take a dekko at Miami’s past

CHRIS ASCUNCE

The colourful Art Deco District of Miami’s South Beach is home to the nation’s largest concentration of the iconic architectural style, encompassing 800 historic buildings from different eras. See them on one of the daily walking tours offered by the Miami Design Preservation League.

Among classic Art Deco buildings are

The Art Deco Colony Hotel, Miami

the Colony Hotel, Beacon South Beach, National Hotel, Delano South Beach and Villa Casa Casuarina (formerly the Versace Mansion).

Pick up some souvenirs or stop for a bite or drink along the 10-block pedestrian-only shopping and dining promenade, Lincoln Road.

Don’t miss visiting Miami’s creative and cultural hub, Wynwood, where once-derelict warehouses have been transformed into restaurants, bars, shops and art galleries.

At the neighbourhood’s heart is Wynwood Walls, an ever-changing outdoor gallery of huge murals covering the walls of six buildings.

Experience Miami’s Cuban heritage in Little Havana, centred on lively thoroughfare Calle Ocho. Lined with Latin-flavoured restaurants, cigar shops, bakeries, rum bars and street art, salsa music drifts on the air.

At the Miccosukee Indian Village, 20 miles west of Miami, learn about the culture and traditions of the Miccosukee Tribe.

See demonstrations of traditional skills, watch alligator shows and take a fast-paced Everglades airboat trip.

Step back in time at Vizcaya Museum, a lavish Italian Renaissance-style waterfront villa built in 1916, and its 10 acres of formal gardens. Then cross the causeway to Key Biscayne, where you can kayak and take a guided tour of the lighthouse at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park as well as seeing the area’s marine marvels at Miami Seaquarium.

Take a trip down the 125-mile Florida Keys chain of islands to tropical haven Key West, the most southerly point

Cycling the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop

in the continental U.S., with its unique appeal and a popular stop for cruise ships. Tour the Hemingway Home & Museum, where the author lived in the 1930s, see the treasures of famous sunken Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, dine and shop at Key West Historic Seaport and don’t miss the daily Sunset Celebrations at Mallory Square.

PORT EVERGLADES Venice of America Explore Fort Lauderdale, known as the “Venice of America” for its extensive canals, by taking a sightseeing cruise or a water taxi to gaze at the rows of super-yachts moored in its harbour and the multi-million-dollar mansions lining its waterways.

Swim and snorkel with the city’s skyline as a backdrop on a catamaran yacht trip out into the Atlantic.

Dee

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“Don’t miss visiting Miami’s creative and cultural hub, Wynwood, where once-derelict warehouses are now restaurants, bars, shops and art galleries”

Feel the breeze in your hair on a Segway tour or stop off at a café or restaurant along Fort Lauderdale’s award-winning seafront wave wall and signature beachfront promenade to people-watch and take in the serene beach and Atlantic views.

The line-up of attractions on offer at Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery are dynamic science exhibits, an outdoor science park, a live animal exhibit, and a giant-screen IMAX 3D theatre, while among the NSU Art Museum’s permanent exhibits, are galleries celebrating African art, black artists and contemporary Latin American with an emphasis on women.

Get close to nature on an airboat ride with a difference at Sawgrass Recreation Park, seeing and hearing the nocturnal Everglades world on a Red Eye Nighttime Airboat Adventure.

Stroll, jog or bike the 2.2-mile-long Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, a pedestrian promenade lining the golden sands with newly-reconstructed paths.

If shopping’s your bag, there are options to suit every budget. Glitzy Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale weighs in with upscale fashion boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, cafes and bars.

Pick up discounted clothes and other items from more than 350 outlet designer shops at Sawgrass Mills, Florida’s second-largest mall.

In Pompano Beach, the Hillsboro Antiques Mall has been one of South Florida’s premier destinations for

antique and collectible shoppers for more than 25 years.

PORT OF PALM BEACH Shop till you drop Browse the designer-label boutiques of swanky Worth Avenue and 150-plus stores in the Mall at Wellington Green.

For those with a penchant for the past, the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival takes place on the first weekend of each month at the South Florida Fairgrounds and features more than 300 dealers selling jewellery, silver, decorative accessories and more.

Antique Row is a walkable art and design district in West Palm Beach with more than 40 shops specialising in antique, vintage and period items from clothing and accessories to furnishings.

Savour al fresco dining with fresh seafood, steaks and a variety of ethnic cuisines along Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, known as the “Village by the Sea”.

Less than an hour north of Palm Beach, Martin County is rich in unspoilt beaches and nature, encompassing more than 100,000 acres of parks and conservation land. Its natural riches include the most bio-diverse lagoon ecosystem in the Northern hemisphere, the St. Lucie Inlet.

16701 SW 72 Avenue Miami, FL Deering Estate www.deeringestate.org

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Where else would your first port of call be in the heart of the Space Coast than the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex?

Walk among giant rockets from NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes in the outdoor Rocket Garden; get a close-up view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (featuring nearly 60 interactive exhibits); meet an astronaut during a live Astronaut Encounter presentation and see lifesized Mars rover replicas and test your skills as a recruit in the Journey to Mars immersive simulator experience.

Try to time your visit to watch a rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or the Canaveral National Seashore, where Playalinda Beach offers the closest view of the launches.

Visitors are advised to arrive at

Fun Facts

Florida is the cruise capital of the world. More than 19 million took cruises from the state in 2023, according to the Florida Ports Council, topping the record set in 2019 by more than a million.

PortMiami reclaimed its position as the world’s busiest cruise port with a record 7.3 million passengers in fiscal 2023, having been eclipsed

by Port Canaveral in 2022.

JAXPORT Explore centuries of history

least two hours before a launch; and traffic can be closed or restricted for safety if the park’s capacity limit has been reached.

Canaveral National Seashore comprises almost 58,000 acres of barrier island, lagoon, hammocks and 24 miles of pristine beaches.

It is a prime habitat for many threatened and endangered species, with several thousand turtles – mainly loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles – nesting on its beaches between April and September.

The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge features a seven-mile driving tour, hiking trails and fishing.

Cocoa Beach is one of Florida’s main surfing spots while Daytona Beach has been an iconic venue for motor racing for more than a century. The Daytona International Speedway, known as the World Centre of Racing, is home to the Daytona 500 and other NASCAR events.

History awaits in both Jacksonville and nearby St. Augustine.

About 40 miles south of Jacksonville, St, Augustine is America’s oldest city, having been founded by Spanish explorers in 1565.

Stroll its narrow lanes, enter its many museums and visit historic landmarks such as 16th century Spanish fort

PARADISE MEDIA

PORT CANAVERAL The only way is up

Tours include the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

Just 45 miles to the southwest are the theme parks of Orlando, with their ever-evolving thrill rides, shows and entertainment for all the family.

Daytona Beach

SPARK

Activities to consider include a sunset sail aboard a schooner on the St. Lucie River or a sunset paddleboard experience in Stuart, hunting for seashells at Jensen Beach, visiting the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Centre on Hutchinson Island to learn about the coastal ecosystem and watch stingrays being fed and learning to surf off Hutchinson Island.

There’s also hiking, biking or kayaking in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Southeast Florida’s largest state park through which runs the Loxahatchee River, Florida’s first federally-designated Wild and Scenic River.

Shopping in St. Augustine

Why

10 REASONS

visitors choose to stay with us.

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past of the island and its people in the Amelia Island Museum of History’s Eight Flags Gallery.

VISIT FLORIDA

PORT TAMPA BAY Experience Cuban culture

Watch cigars being rolled the traditional way in Ybor City, Tampa

Castillo de San Marcos, Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth and the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse.

Jacksonville’s Museum of Science & History features a planetarium and child-friendly interactive displays.

Other notable institutions in the city include the downtown Museum of Contemporary Art (known as ‘MOCA’) and the second-oldest contemporary art museum in the country, which is celebrating its 100th year in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens showcases 5,000 works of art and lush gardens by the St. Johns River.

A ferry ride from Jacksonville takes you to Fort George Island. There, Kingsley Plantation is a cotton plantation dating to the late 1700s; the history of the plantation, the enslaved people who worked it and the family

who owned it are recounted.

Take a walking safari at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, which houses 2,000 rare and exotic animals and 1,000 different plant varieties. The museum’s Manatee Critical Care Centre is one of only seven such centres in Florida that rescue and rehabilitate manatees.

Amelia Island, originally inhabited by the Timucua people 4,000 years ago, is known as the Isle of Eight Flags for the eight different flags that have flown over it: French, Spanish, British, Patriots, Green Cross, Mexican Revolutionary, Confederacy and, since 1862, the Stars and Stripes. Discover the colourful

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DID YOU KNOW?

Open since 1995 alongside Tampa’s cruise terminal, the Florida Aquarium unveiled its new MORPH’D gallery in 2023. The facility focuses on animals that have evolved to survive, with exhibits including the axolotl, paddlefish and chameleon.

Tap into Cuban culture in Tampa’s Ybor City. Founded in 1886, the district became home to of Cuban immigrants working in the cigar industry.

At one point there were 150 cigarmaking factories. Visit the last remaining factory, the family-owned J.C. Newman Cigar Company’s El Reloj, to watch cigars still being made by hand-rolling and by hand-operated, antique cigar machines.

The Ybor City State Museum also offers one-hour tours of the Cigar Worker’s House Museum, La Casita.

Try a traditional Cuban sandwich, watch a flamenco show and hop on a venerable TECO Line streetcar for a 2.7mile ride to downtown Tampa.

The grand building housing the Henry B. Plant Museum was constructed by the railway tycoon in

More than 90 ships will be based in Florida by the end of 2024, including newcomers Icon of the Seas at PortMiami and Disney Treasure at Port Canaveral.

Botanical Garden & Wildlife Sanctuary Open Daily 9:30am - 5pm Florida’s largest collection of native wildlife

www.flamingogardens.org 3750 S Flamingo Rd, Davie, FL 33330 954-473-2955

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1891 and welcomed wealthy guests as the opulent Tampa Bay Hotel. The museum contains original furnishings and art objects collected by Mr. and Mrs. Plant, transporting visitors back to the decadent era of Florida’s fledgling tourism industry. Plant Hall, as the building is now called, is also home to the University of Tampa.

The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg celebrates the life and art of surrealist artist Salvador Dali and contains the most comprehensive collection of his works outside Spain.

For nature lovers, Clearwater’s Moccasin Lake Nature Park has birdwatching tours and 51 acres of trails and boardwalks, while the lush Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg display more than 50,000 tropical flowers and plants.

Busch Gardens offers roller-coaster thrills and a monorail ride or safari through its ‘Serengeti Plain’. •

KEVIN MCGEEVER

64 • PRE- & POST-CRUISE

The eye-catching exterior design of the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg

IT’S YOUR VACATION WHERE YOU CAN BE YOU

27 MILES OF WHITE SAND, GORGEOUS TURQUOISE WATERS AND SUNSETS YOU’LL NEVER FORGET.

Make it yours.

VisitPanamaCityBeach.com

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EVENTS & FESTIVALS • 65

REASONS FOR SEASONS CENTRAL WEST Gasparilla Pirate Fest Shiver your timbers for the annual pirates’ takeover of Tampa, with boat and street parades and a street festival. gasparillapiratefest.com

SOUTHEAST Art Deco Weekend

SOUTHEAST Miami Beach Pride Ocean Drive is the setting for this colourful extravaganza of parties, parades, food and live music. miamibeachpride.com

MAY NORTHEAST Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival

One of the nation’s largest Art Deco festivals, featuring art exhibits, parades, films and concerts. artdecoweekend.com

Tuck into shrimp straight from decorated fishing boats and enjoy live music, arts and crafts in Amelia Island’s Fernandina Beach. shrimpfestival.com

FEBRUARY

NORTHWEST Fiesta

CENTRAL WEST Florida State Fair Twelve days of thrill rides, pies, quilts, headline bands and livestock competitions draw half a million people to Tampa. floridastatefair.com

SOUTHEAST Naples National Art Fair One of the nation’s leading art fairs, it takes place in downtown Naples and showcases artists’ work in a range of categories. naplesart.org/national-art-fair

MARCH CENTRAL EAST Bike Week A 10-day party for motorbike enthusiasts that has been a Daytona Beach institution for almost 80 years. officialbikeweek.com

NORTH CENTRAL Springtime Tallahassee Festival Spanning two days, it features a grand parade with floats and marching bands, live music, arts, crafts, food, a beer garden and a children’s park. springtimetallahassee.com

APRIL NORTHWEST Sandestin Wine Festival Savour wine dinners, live music and vendors selling all things winerelated, culminating in a Grand Tasting finale. sandestinwinefestival.com

Join in the celebrations of Pensacola’s founding in 1559 by the Spanish that include a parade and boat parade. fiestapensacola.org

JUNE CENTRAL One Magical Weekend One of the world’s largest LGBTQ+ pride and music festivals, it is held at Orlando’s Walt Disney World. onemagicalweekend.com

JULY SOUTHEAST Hemingway Days A lookalike contest, literary readings and a street fair are among celebrations for Key West’s most famous resident, author Ernest Hemingway. fla-keys.com/hemingwaymedia

AUGUST NORTHEAST Florida Scallop & Music Festival Sample the culinary delights of the Forgotten Coast accompanied by music and entertainment at Port St Joe. facebook.com/FLAScallopFestival

500PX

JANUARY

Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival

OCTOBER CENTRAL WEST Clearwater Jazz Holiday This four-day festival has seen performances by many legendary artists in its 45 years and encompasses an array of music styles. clearwaterjazz.com

SOUTHEAST Fantasy Fest Get wild during Key West’s annual 10-day, adult-orientated bash with costumes galore, parades, parties and decorated buildings. fantasyfest.com

NOVEMBER NORTHWEST Florida Seafood Festival Apalachicola is the setting for blue crab races and oyster eating and shucking contests, besides arts, crafts and music. floridaseafoodfestival.com

DECEMBER SOUTHEAST Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade

SEPTEMBER

More than a million visitors line a 12mile route along Fort Lauderdale’s waterways to watch this dazzling parade of decorated boats. winterfestparade.com

SOUTHWEST Engelwood Pioneer Days

CENTRAL EAST Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival

A parade is the climax of Labour Day weekend festivities including cardboard boat races and a pie-eating contest. englewoodchamber.com/pioneer

This four-day foodie fest takes in gourmet dinners, karaoke cocktail gatherings and premium wine pairings pbfoodwinefest.com

VISITFLORIDA.COM

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66 • TOUR OPERATORS

FLORIDA TRAVEL EXPERTS TRADE ONLY

CONSUMER ONLY

Gold Medal

Advantage Travel

Ocean Florida

goldmedal.co.uk 0800 014 7777 see your local travel agent

advantagemembers.com/contact-us 0800 640 4142 Reservations@advantageholidays.com

ocean-florida.co.uk 020 8131 4731 Info@ocean-holidays.co.uk

Jetset

American As You Like It

Olivers Travel

jetsetflights.co.uk 0208 328 3900 see your local travel agent

americaasyoulikeit.com 020 8742 8299 sales@americaasyoulikeit.com

oliverstravels.com 0333 888 0205 oliverstravels.com/#concierge

Ocean Florida Trade

American Holidays

Purely America

ocean-florida.co.uk 020 8131 7790 see your local travel agent

americanholidays.com/en-gb 020 3966 3080 americanholidays.com/en-gb/ contact-us

purelytravel.co.uk/usa 0844 804 4480 reservations@purelyamerica.co.uk

USAirtours Holidays usairtours.co.uk 020 3472 2144 see your local travel agent

Thomas Cook Audley Travel audleytravel.com 01993 460 178 audleytravel.com/contact-us

Vacations to America vacationstoamerica.com 01582 469 777 see your local travel agent

thomascook.com 020 8016 3295 thomascook.com/contact-us

Trailfinders Barrhead Travel barrheadtravel.co.uk 0330 094 8364 longhaul@barrheadtravel.co.uk

trailfinders.com 020 7084 6500 trailfinders.com/contact

Travel Counsellors British Airways Holidays britishairways.com/en-gb/flightsand-holidays/holidays 0344 493 0787 britishairways.com/travel/helpcentre/ public/en_gb/dt/contact_us

Hays Travel haystravel.co.uk 0800 408 4048 haystravel.co.uk/contact-us

Journeyscape journeyscape.com 020 3514 2974 Contact - Journeyscape

Kenwood Travel

EMERGENT MEDIA

kenwoodtravel.co.uk 020 3393 4613 usa@kenwoodtravel.co.uk

Hollywood Beach

travelcounsellors.co.uk Individual numbers travelcounsellors.co.uk/find-yourtravel-counsello

Travelbag travelbag.co.uk 020 3733 1820 customer.experience@travelbag.co.uk

Travelplanners travelplanners.co.uk 020 3542 8888 travelplanners.co.uk/contactus

TUI tui.co.uk 020 3451 2688 tui.co.uk/destinations/contactus?vlid=opti_contact_banner

Virgin Atlantic Holidays Kuoni kuoni.co.uk 0800 086 9198 kuoni.co.uk/useful-information/helpand-support/general-enquiries

virginholidays.co.uk 0344 472 9646 virginholidays.co.uk/customer-support

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