Orlando and beyond
 

I am attending a conference in Orlando this October for four days while my wife will go to Epcot and other Disney offerings. After the conference, we have five days of free time. We aren't familiar with central Florida, are in our mid 40's, no kids, love good food and want to see/experience special places. We intend to rent a car and are not on a strict budget, although we would rather spend our money on great food over expensive hotels. What do you recommend?

Do you want to stay exclusively in Orlando for the free time, or do you want to go elsewere? If the five days are consecutive, you may want to go to somewhere such as St Augustine or down to the Keys.

What are your interests? If you like to canoe and want to see a glimpse of "old Florida" I have a great recommendation, but have no idea if that sort of thing appeals to you. Do you like antiquing? Mt. Dora may appeal to you. Do you like kitschy attractions? Do you want to laze around a Ritz Carlton or similar on your free time? What do you like?

You are 90 minutes from Disney to either coast. Clearwater, Cocoa, St. Pete are all good beach destinations. On the east coast, you have the option of Kennedy Space Center. As egret mentions, St. Augustine is a couple hours away. I love the Floriday Keys, but you will sacrifice most of a day each way making the drive from Orlando. You can find great food in Tampa, Miami, and the Keys.

Winter Park and Maitland are beautiful....upscale with great shopping, restaurants, museums, scenic boat tour, etc... See www.winterpark.org. We call this area "New England With Palm Trees".

Thank you for the responses. Let me rephrase the question to "What would YOU do (keeping in mind kids are not involved)?" We have been to the Keys several times and wanted to spend our time seeing whatever there is to see and do within a 100 or so miles from Orlando. Please let me know what you would do with four or five days of free time from Orlando.

What do YOU like to do? Asking us this is too vague as you will get many different opinions....none wrong of course! I have lived here 16 years now so know quite a bit about the area and am in the hospitality business.

OK, pop, here's what I would do:

I would spend a day kayaking from Honeymoon Island to Caladesi Island, then watching the sunset from Fort DeSoto state park. These beaches are absolutely gorgeous! I might also kayak at Fort DeSoto, where manatees frequently swim under and alongside the kayaks in the mangrove estuary.

I would spend a day in Tampa. I'd eat lunch (Restaurant BT) and shop and stroll in Hyde Park Village and the surrounding neighborhood, then maybe hit International Plaza and some favorite boutiques (Magnolia, Casa Nova) before having dinner at either Roy's or Pane Rustica. Dining choices abound: Malio's, Bern's, Sidebern's, Capitol Grill would be worthy selections, and there are many more to recommend. A drive past the campus of the University of Tampa after dark is a must; a tour of the Henry B. Plant Museum on campus during the day would be a nice lagniappe.

I would try to make time to visit Ybor City, perhaps on another day, and have dinner at the Columbia.

I would visit the Dali Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Pete, have lunch or dinner at Bella Brava, and if I'm lucky, take in a concert or a show at Ruth Eckerd or the Mahaffey.

I would visit Winter Park and finally find the museum that houses a large collection of Tiffany glass, which I've read about on this forum but haven't discovered yet.

If I had a taste for small towns and Old Florida, I'd visit Mt. Dora and Lake Wales, especially Bok Tower and Gardens. But I would avoid dining at Chalet Suzanne like I'd avoid a bad case of the mumps.

Is Sarasota within 100 miles of Orlando? If so, I'd visit the Ringling campus, which includes a fine art mueum and a restored mansion as well as a circus museum, then have dinner somewhere on St. Armand's Circle on Longboat Key. The Mote Marine Aquarium is said to be worth seeing, too.

How's that for a start?? I think that's at least a week's worth of activities...

If you're in Orlando during October and love great food, you have to make a trip out to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot ... it's the one event that I attend many times during the year and there's always something to do when you want to take a break from sampling the good food and wine.

http://www.livingorlando.com/epcot-i...-wine-festival

Thanks NewbE and flgator, now that's what I'm talking about. Those are all great and very specific ideas(I just have to figure out where Honeymoon island is but I'm sure I can figure it out pretty quickly). Keep those ideas coming.

NewbE, It's the Morse Museum in Winter Park. Fabulous collection, glass, sculpture and art. Tiffany was multi-talented. Winter Park is a great destination--neat downtown with some upscale shopping. Another fun activity for Winter Park, the scenic boat tours through the canals and some of the Winter Park lakes...under cypress trees, past old 20's era mansions on the lakes. Possible gator sightings, and an abundance of wildlife on the lakes.

pop, Honeymoon Island is between Dunedin and Palm Harbor, north of Clearwater Beach on the FL west coast.

NewbE (and pop!) don't miss the Morse - it's a wonderful gem of a museum.

Here's what I'd do: Visit the Orlando Museum of Art http://www.omart.org/ in Loch Haven park, then walk across the park to the Menello Museum of American Art http://www.mennellomuseum.org/ , then drive the short distance to Leu Gardens for a relaxing and beautiful stroll through the gardens.

On another day, I'd visit Winter Park. The Morse as noted before, the boat tour, and eating and shopping on Park Avenue.

I'd spend another day in St. Augustine. Lots of historic sites. Don't miss the Castillo http://www.nps.gov/casa/

Florida has areas of great natural beauty that tourists rarely discover. Check out some of our state parks http://www.floridastateparks.org/Fin...m?Dist=Central or head over to the east coast. Visit the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge http://www.fws.gov/merrittisland/, then drive south to Cocoa Beach and kayak through the Thousand Islands - there are lots of kayak tour companies http://www.kayakguide.com/1000Isle.htm

Finally, I'd visit Kennedy Space Center.

Whatever you do, welcome to Central Florida!

As a young boy glued to the TV set during each space launch, I feel compelled to go to the Kennedy Space Center but wondered if it would shatter my lofty, magical expectations. St. Augustine has been mentioned by others here at home as has Amelea Island. The scenic boat tours at Winter Park sounds fantastic as does the Thousand Island kayak trips. As 321go stateed "...great natural beauty that tourist rarely discover..." is always of great interest to us. Again, I thank you all for your continued input.

I'd would vote for
boat tour in Winter Park
hanging Old Town, Kissimmee for an evening
Cypress Gardens
and definately Kennedy Space Center!!
We enjoyed that tremendously and we really didnt expect to.