Best Vacation Places In Florida?

We will be be in the Kissimee area, but willing to travel up to 2 hours. Please do not list, Disney-Univ. Studios-Kennedy Space Center. We are open to many types of things. Tell me a bit about what you found to be interesting, and list websites if you can. This trip is for two Adventursome adults. THANKS!! (our travel dates are May 6-12)

Public Comments

1. Go to Palm Beach Florida or the best place THE KEYS!!! Key West is pricey, but just outside Key West there is more affordable lodging and the whole area is wonderful and REALLY FUN!
2. West Coast....Marco Island and Naples area are fun and beautiful. Not as adventerous as Key West or Miami Beach... Daytona Beach and Cocoa Beach are also a great time. It all really depends on what you like to do....
3. If you are animal lovers I highly suggest visiting the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. Maximo weighs in at approx 1200 lbs and about 15 long, an albino, and plenty of other mammals, birds and reptiles make the trip worth it. As a mater of fact get their early to see the whole place in one day but don't worry if you don't because they will give you a ticket to return the next day at no additional charge if you tell them you didn't get to finish the park in your visit! Not to mention the low admission of about 15 bucks makes it a budgeted stop for anyone. I used to live about 20 min from there and every time I had friends or family visit I took them there without any disappointments. Let's not forget that since your there in St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, there are sites a plenty in that city also to make your trip unforgettable.
4. The beautiful beaches are on the gulf coast. Drive over to Treasure Island or St. Pete beach for a day in the sun.
5. I think you might like St. Augustine; there is a lot of interesting stuff to do here and tons to do outside. First there is the Alligator Farm WOW this place is very cool, get the coupon from the visitors center to save you money. http://www.alligatorfarm.com/ Go to the lighthouse, one of the most famous in the world, very nice place. This place is also said to be haunted if you like ghost. The people that work there are really nice and full of knowledge. There is also a museum there too again get the coupon saves cash. www.staugustinelighthouse.com The Castillo de San Marco is the old fort there, faces the bay one of the oldest in the country. Very nice well worth the price your ticket is good for seven days. Weekends they usually have reenactments, a lot of fun and the shoot off the cannons! http://www.nps.gov/casa Fort Matanzas is also very neat, free fort near St. Augustine you have to take a free boat ride to get to it. Located on the river, nice place cheap and very interesting. We really did see a lot of wildlife when we went here. http://www.nps.gov/foma The Colonial Spanish Quarter is also very cool; it is a living history museum with people in costume really doing jobs of the time. These people are great they will answer any question, you can take it at your own pace, and I really did learn a lot! Located in the heart of St. Augustine on St. George’s Street. I really enjoyed this! http://www.historicstaugustine.com/ The Old St. Augustine Village is also very cool. There are 9 houses on the grounds which total a block. The oldest was built in 1790 going to 1910. This was very interesting to learn the heritage of St. Augustine. Again get the coupon book to save cash! http://www.old-staug-village.com/ Mission of Nombre de Dios, okay I am not a religious person, but the grounds here are beautiful, free walking tour, nice views of the bay oldest Mission in the US. Very interesting. http://www.missionandshrine.org/ Take an Eco Tour if you like the outdoors. There are several of them offered. We went Kayaking, very nice saw a lot of wildlife. Trust me if nature is your thing this is it! This is the company we used: www.staugustineecotours.com On Friday and Sat nights at the Tavern De Gallo there is a group of guys that come in and sing sea shanties, very cool outdoor. Oldest bar/tavern in the US. They serve soda, beer and wine. You get to meet some great people here! This is a lot of fun and cheap, you sit in a big courtyard with guest from all around the world. Sorry there is no website for this but, ask anyone in town they know about it. Also another “local” good place to go is the St. George Tavern on St. George Street. Small hole in the wall cheapest drinks around Tues is the 2 for 1 night. Drinks are like $2.50 can’t go wrong with that! Again no website sorry! A good road trip from St. Augustine is Blue Springs. About 1 ½ hours away this place is beautiful! The manatees come up to swim in the spring. Bring swim shoes if you go! You can also scuba there; there is a big whole at the start of the spring, goes into a cave things. I have never done this but, people who have say it is great. I just go to swim. Cost $5 per a car, take a lunch make it a day! http://www.floridastateparks.org/bluespring/ Take a ghost tour, wonderful here because it is the oldest city in the US most last about 2 hours. The sheriff ghost walk is my favorite on Fridays and Saturdays they have a midnight tour. Very cool! Most of the tours are really good, I like the Sheriff because it was such a small group. They also have a haunted pub tour done by several companies, drink and tour now that is fun! www.aghostlyexperience.com/ www.ghostaugustine.com www.sheriffsghostwalk.com If you like the ghost thing than do a Ghost Investigation, they give you equipment and stuff like that to ‘search’ for them. I like this better than the ghost tours (they are fun too) because there is more hands on stuff. You get the stories and the histories, but you also get to play with cool toys! I have only found one place that does this and Dr. Harry takes you out, he is a PHD in this stuff. Also it was just the two of us! They limit these tours to 8 max anyway but still a private tour for the same as a group! http://www.haunted-st-augustine.com/ Go see the Fountain of Youth, okay no it does not exists in fact it smells like sulfur but, it was very neat, they have more here than just the spring. The grounds are nice and they have several museums on the grounds. Fun! http://staugustine.com/visit/attractions/ If you like wines there is the San Sebastian. Good wines nice little place, free tasting; www.sansebastianwinery.com The very first Ripley’s Believe it or not is here. Okay normally I do not do these types of things but come on this was Ripley’s house. Very interesting, self guided there was a lot of crazy stuff here! Even if you do not do this type of thing this was the first one and has some of his original stuff. http://www.staugustine-ripleys.com/ Okay if you like the outdoors why not go surfing? The Pitt surf shop on A1A has cheap surfboard rentals, they also have lessons. I took a refresher course and they are great and cheap!!!!! Very fun and this is the perfect place to learn. Small slow moving waves! It does not matter how old you are this a great, beach right there, good instructors you will catch a wave in no time! There are also a ton of good places to eat! For breakfast go to the Oasis! Best food around. Saltwater Cowboys good seafood nice place. Scarlet ‘O Hares bar food, in downtown great place, the service is wonderful! Kingfish Grille also good seafood. The Reef is your more upscale one each table has a view of the ocean. Wonderful place! If you go DONOT go to the Santa Maria Restaurant….you will hear a lot about it not good at all, the locals hate it! If you want to stay downtown with free parking and for cheap check out the Pirate Haus Inn. Located a block away from St. George Street. The people who own it are great they know everything about the area and are really involved in the community. Nice place check it out: www.piratehaus.com There is a ton of other stuff and the Old Time Trolley tours give you admission into certain things with your trolley ticket be sure to check them out! I have already gone on enough below are some very helpful websites. If you go request the visitors packet from the visitors center there are a ton of coupons in there!!!! Also free maps and info. I forgot about the old jail check that out very cool place, good tour and value! We are in out late 20’s early 30’s and we had a great time here! There are not a lot of “clubs” but there are a lot of “bars” to hang in out. Good city! I hope you have a great trip wherever you go! www.ci.st-augustine.fl.us www.staugustine.com www.visitoldcity.com www.historicstaugustine www.staugustinechamber.com