Want to get away for spring break? One of the pros (and cons) about living in Florida is that the state is huge: You can drive for 6 hours from Tampa Bay and still not cross the state line. That makes it harder to leave, but easier to explore the cities that make up this wild peninsula. Here are some suggestions for trips worth the drive.
A road trip to Orlando is a no-brainer. A quick (ha, ha) drive east on Interstate 4 and you’re in The City Beautiful. But Orlando is huge, and congested, and teeming with tourists. It’s best to focus your trip on just one part of it: Winter Park. It’s a posh area home to some of Central Florida’s best restaurants (Fun fact: The esteemed Michelin Guide separates Winter Park from the rest of Orlando) and lots of family-friendly things to do.
Stay near Park Avenue (The Alfond Inn is nice, if you can swing it), where you can while away hours shopping and eating on the lovely main thoroughfare. When you’re tired of walking, hop on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour (scenicboattours.com), a charming 18-passenger ride that takes a leisurely course through lakes and canals and past stunning multimillion-dollar homes.
Need a break in the air conditioning? Head to the gorgeous Morse Museum, a large space home to the most comprehensive collection of works from Louis Comfort Tiffany. Admission is less than $10, and the colorful glass works are stunning. Grab brunch at the Briarpatch, a classic Park Avenue spot, and hit up The Ravenous Pig or Prato for dinner. If you’ve got kids in tow, head just down the street to the Orlando Science Center, a very cool hands-on museum that has something for tiny tots and teens.
If you’ve never been to the nation’s oldest city, remedy that this year with a trip to the other Florida coast. St. Augustine is a tiny town steeped in history and tourists, and it’s best to just lean into all that. The first thing to do? Book a trip on one of the town’s ubiquitous trolleys, like the Old Town Trolley Tour, a breezy hop-on, hop-off tour with live narration.
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Stay on for every stop your first time through, then use it throughout your trip as a fun form of transportation. Splurge on a night at the historical Casa Monica Resort & Spa if you want to be in the thick of it. It’s located just steps away from Flagler College and the pedestrian-only St. George Street, one of the city’s most famous roads.
St. Augustine is also home to some really top-notch food and drink, if you know where to look. Head to St. Augustine Fish Camp for casual, family-friendly fare that’s heavy on seafood but satisfies other palates, too. At The Ice Plant, you can take a distillery tour, sip on playful cocktails and have a yummy lunch or dinner. Hit up the bohemian cafe Sunday on your way out of town, and grab brunch and a cookie for the road.
St. Augustine is more than 3 hours from Tampa Bay, so it’s a good idea to break up the trip with another stop. Navigate your brood to Gainesville, home to the University of Florida and all the fun college town things that come with that. Have lunch at Afternoon, a hip order-at-the-counter brunch spot with some seriously delicious food. Then head to The Lynx, a bookstore that author Lauren Groff opened last year to great fanfare. It’s a fun addition to Gainesville’s quirky scene.
Located just east of Ocala, Silver Springs is one of the largest artesian springs ever discovered, and it’s a perfect spring break locale. Silver Springs State Park has grown to be quite the attraction, with everything from kayak rentals to boat rides to dining at the quaint Springside Cafe. The most iconic activity continues to be the Glass Bottom Boats, which allows visitors to see through to the water during 30-minute tours. You can also kayak the 5-mile Silver River. However you enjoy the springs, get ready for manatee sightings, which are abundant.
Don’t want to drive back the same day? Stay at a hotel in nearby Ocala for the night, and then head to the World Equestrian Center, a huge facility that opened in December 2020 in what’s colloquially known as the horse capital of the world. It’s actually the largest equestrian complex in the United States. Check out their calendar of events at worldequestriancenter.com/events to find out which competitions and shows are open to the public and how much they cost.
Back in 2019, I took a reporting trip to Lakeland to suss out its food scene and was really impressed with what I found: lots of homegrown restaurants producing high-quality fare. It’s only gotten better in the years since. Spend one day in this quaint city checking out The Joinery food hall and the adjacent Lake Mirror area. At The Joinery, you’ll find craft beer, cocktails, ice cream and several food vendors from big-name chefs. It opens at 11 a.m. every day.
After you eat, take a leisurely stroll around Lake Mirror, one of the many lakes dotting the downtown area. Stop to admire lovely Hollis Garden, or let the kids expel some energy on the Barnett Family Park playground. You must hit up Born & Bread Bakehouse for breakfast or lunch. One of the foodie pioneers in Lakeland, they’ve been dishing out exquisite pastries and bread for more than seven years. Other great spots for dining: Revival for awesome cocktails; Concord Coffee for good espresso and light breakfast; Nineteen61 for upscale Latin American fare.
Just outside of downtown is the new Bonnet Springs Park, one of the coolest outdoor play spaces in Central Florida. If you’ve got kids, it’s a must. Exploring all 168 acres can take up an entire day, from the state-of-the-art playgrounds for all ages to a nature center and butterfly house. There are botanical gardens, several walking paths and even a cafe with a rooftop garden and bar. Admission is free.
Consider one other stop on your way back to Tampa Bay: About 30 miles southeast of Lakeland is Bok Tower Gardens, home to a contemplative landscape garden with acres of ferns, palms, oaks, pines and flowering foliage, plus a wildlife population that includes 126 different species of birds. The centerpiece of the attraction is the Singing Tower, from which bells ring out. The tower’s carillon concerts are at 1 and 3 p.m. daily, with short selections played on the hour and half-hour.
We’re talking downtown Sarasota specifically, close to the core of the Tampa Bay area but just far enough that you probably don’t go as often as you should. It’s a beautiful enclave of Florida’s west coast home to art, fine dining and an opera house. If the weather is nice, plan to spend several hours at Selby Gardens, a sprawling botanical garden right downtown. Recent renovations have made it even more beautiful. Stop by The Green Orchid at the entrance for a bite to eat before or after your visit.
Speaking of food: Our must-trys downtown include Kojo for dinner, neighboring Bar Hana for a tiki drink, Sage (housed in an old newspaper building!) for a swanky night out and C’est La Vie for breakfast. Or branch out a bit and try Florence and the Spice Boys, a modern Middle Eastern restaurant in The Landings shopping plaza that’s perfect for lunch like a chicken shawarma bowl.
There are lots of ways to take in the performing arts in Sarasota, from seeing a grand opera at the Sarasota Opera to a smaller cabaret show at one of Florida Studio Theatre’s handful of performance spaces. Don’t miss The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, home to a rotating collection of fine art and also the iconic Circus Museum.
Michelle Stark is the culture editor overseeing the life and culture reporting team. Reach her at mstark@tampabay.com.
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