Roadtrip- Orlando to Key West
 

Hello,

I am planning a 8 day trip and just looking for any comments on the below itinerary.

Day 1- Fly into Orlando. Night in airport hotel.
Day 2-4- Anna Maria/Bradenton
Day 5- Cape Coral/Naples/Marco Island? Mainly to split up drive between Anna Maria area and Key Largo- any suggestions where would be best to stay?
Day 6&7- Key Largo (with a drive to Key West on Day 7 to spend the day there)
Day 8- Fly out of Miami

Does anyone have any advice on whether we should spend Day 5 in Cape Coral/Naples/Marco Island- or anywhere else around here? Considering this is just for one night, and mainly to break up the drive? But it would be nice to stay somewhere picturesque/with somewhere nice for dinner.

Is Key Largo a decent place to stay? This will really be a base to explore the Keys.

We're travelling from England and have been looking on trip advisor etc. but any knowledge shared on any of the above areas would be amazing.

Thank you.

What you are proposing to do is drive to the southWEST coast and then drive across Florida to the southEAST coast in order to then drive down into the Keys.

Be helpful to know why you decided to go to Bradenton and Marco. Why? So we might be able to suggest other destinations which are as nice and with a much more direct route to KW.

Have you considered flying out of KW instead of MIA? Driving BACK up Route 1 (and you will have already seen everything on the way down) seems less than ideal to me. And IMO that drive isn't nearly as nice as it used to be but that's subjective.

On day 5 choose Naples or South Beach Miami before heading down the Keys...

Islamorada is a much better choice for a base in the Keys... It's in the middle, making a day trip to Key West much shorter... key largo is too far north and traffic can snarl...

We'd like to go to Anna Maria as we've been before and loved it.
Marco was just an idea of a place to stay to break up the drive from Anna Maria to Key Largo/Islamorada. Do you suggest anywhere else that would be on the route? garyt22 thanks for suggesting Naples- what is it like? We tend to prefer laid-back 'old-Florida' hence Anna Maria/Keys.

We quite enjoy driving, so to too bothered about going west to drive back east.

Key Largo is only 1.5 hours drive from Miami (according to Google) so flying out of MIA isn't an issue for us. We are going to Texas after so flights from KW go via Miami anyway but are 10x as expensive. Thanks for the suggestion though.

1.5 hours does not factor in the traffic, which is a major factor these days on that single narrow road. My SD lives in Key West and formerly lived in Key Largo. You would do much better to plan on at least 3 hours to get to the mainland. Not counting time for the airport itself (car return, TSA, etc.)

Islamorada is much better than Key Largo. What time is your flight and what day? If you get backed up in Key Largo take some side streets to avoid the traffic lights. They slow everything down. I can't help you much with the west coast, I am an east coast person. Good choice of hotels by the airport though in Orlando.

Thanks for the advice re: back streets. We found a good deal in Key Largo so have gone ahead and booked. Flight out of MIA is at 15:00 Wednesday- so will have to leave Key Largo at around 09:30/10:00 i'd imagine? Luckily I don't need to drop a car off as friends are continuing road trip so it is just a simple drop-off. Is there a time of day that traffic is worse heading back to the mainland?

An alternative to day 5 would be Sanibel and Captiva Islands. More to see than Naples/Marco Island