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I need to get from Miami (post cruise) to Orlando, for a week on land.
I’ve ruled out flying – done it once and it was a faff for the distance.
I’ve driven it a few times – boring comes to mind. It’s so dull.So I’m left with Brightline which is fine – I’ll be needing a hire car in Orlando so ending at MCO isn’t an issue.
Any other ideas?
Which would you do?We were about to buy a business in Florida, just before the financial crash, so know the state quite well. There were issues that couldn’t be resolved, so fortunate in many ways as had no idea what was about to follow.
We have driven between the two cities many times, but not in the last 5 years. Basically west coast, east coast and through the middle. If you’ve done the east coast, the west coast has lots of well known beaches to chose from. You could start by going through Everglades. We’ve stayed at Clearwater, St Pete’s, Sanibel and some smaller places near Cape Coral. We’ve often used Tampa airport, so have stayed around there too. A couple of times we went through the centre, via Everglades and stopped by Lake Okeechobee. We also stopped at a place called Yeehaw – yes, it does exist. There was a place called the Desert Inn, which was great, but don’t think it’s there any longer.
If you get to Orlando with time to spare, you go to Daytona or can relax in Blue Springs National Park and watch the manatees.
We were about to buy a business in Florida, just before the financial crash, so know the state quite well. There were issues that couldn’t be resolved, so fortunate in many ways as had no idea what was about to follow.
We have driven between the two cities many times, but not in the last 5 years. Basically west coast, east coast and through the middle. If you’ve done the east coast, the west coast has lots of well known beaches to chose from. You could start by going through Everglades. We’ve stayed at Clearwater, St Pete’s, Sanibel and some smaller places near Cape Coral. We’ve often used Tampa airport, so have stayed around there too. A couple of times we went through the centre, via Everglades and stopped by Lake Okeechobee. We also stopped at a place called Yeehaw – yes, it does exist. There was a place called the Desert Inn, which was great, but don’t think it’s there any longer.
If you get to Orlando with time to spare, you go to Daytona or can relax in Blue Springs National Park and watch the manatees.
Think I’ve done all those routes too & recognise many of the places you’ve mentioned. Actually hadn’t thought about stopping off somewhere on the way up as focused on getting to the destination so might check that out to break up the dull, dull slog.
Do the Brightline, it’s great. If you pay the extra for biz class they include an Uber ride, so you can arrange pick up from the cruise port to take you directly to the station at no extra cost. The lounge access and on train service is ok howver they have this automated ID check thing in the lounge before you can order booze, and I couldnt be bothered with the faff.
At the Orlando end you get off the train and are adjacent to the car park/rental offices at terminal C, so make sure you arrange your rental car pick up from Terminal C.
They appear to have finally managed to fit a visitor Toll Tag vending machine in Terminal C,
https://visitortollpass.com/faqThings to do – you need to narrow it down, but if you’re into art then I can recommend the Morse Museum in Orlando for what is probably the best Tiffany collection in the world and then the Baker museum in Naples for art and Dale Chihuily glass.
Driving Miami to Orlando next week 🙂
Week in Orlando then driving on to Jacksonville.
Safe travels whatever you decide is best for you!Two hours from Orlando is the city of St Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA, about 35 miles south of Jacksonville. It’s a great place to spend a few days. It regularly gets voted as one of the best places to visit and live in the USA. A mix of Spanish colonial, British colonial and US art deco architecture. It also gas a great beach on Anastasia Island.
Two hours from Orlando is the city of St Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA, about 35 miles south of Jacksonville.
The indigenous people of Acoma Pueblo in what is now NM would take exception to that since they’ve occupied the same spot for 2000 years 🙂
Two hours from Orlando is the city of St Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA, about 35 miles south of Jacksonville.
The indigenous people of Acoma Pueblo in what is now NM would take exception to that since they’ve occupied the same spot for 2000 years 🙂
The people from St Augustine probably think Acoma Pueblo is in the north of Mexico not close to the I40 to the west of Albuquerque in NM! We have tried to ship parcels to Albuquerque from other US states over the years. As soon as we mention the state of New Mexico, we have been told on many occasions “we don’t ship outside the USA”!
Two hours from Orlando is the city of St Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA, about 35 miles south of Jacksonville.
The indigenous people of Acoma Pueblo in what is now NM would take exception to that since they’ve occupied the same spot for 2000 years 🙂
I said city not pueblo (village). There’s not really any concept of ‘city,’ for indigenous people in the USA. Most people would associate city with European settlement.
@LD27 That doesn’t suprise me in the slightest.
@Whatsthepoint 4000 people living there in the 1590s, before the Spanish butchered them. That’s more than a village.@davefl, they had been (literally) butchering each for centuries, Europeans just had the technology to do it on a much greater scale. Onate, the man who instigated the 1599 massacre, was born in Mexico and was exiled for for his part in it by the King of Spain.
There were definitely cities in the Americas prior to the arrival of Europeans, e.g. Tenochtitlan.
Archaeologists have now started to (tentatively) posit that there had been a human presence on the continent for 100,000 years or even longer. Some native South American tribes have Polynesian and other non-Amerindian DNA.
@davefl suggestion of the Brightline is a good one – I was at MCO Terminal C last week and the Visitor Toll Pass machines were there on the right hand side just after the rental car desks as you walk to the parking garage to get your car. Stayed in Mount Dora for a couple of days if you want a slice of what the locals call “Old Florida”, Tavares is close by if you are into Seaplanes and Wekiwa Springs State Park is a short drive away where you can hike or swim / kayak in the fresh spring.
If you have time and fancy a leisurely drive then you could get onto the A1A which follows the coastline and the barrier islands all the way up to Cape Canaveral then it’s West straight along the 528 to Orlando – plenty of places to stop off for a break.
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