Florida Guide > Planning your Trip
Sun, sand & more
We love the beach, and during each trip over to Florida we try to spend a day or two at one of the wonderful beaches that Florida has to offer.
Did you know?
Florida is home to some of America’ s Award Winning Beaches.
Caladesi Beach was voted America’ s number 2 beach in 2006 and 2007. Florida is also home to Fort De Soto Park, America’ s number 1 beach in 2005, there are 35 miles of white-sand beaches on some eight major barrier islands.
It’s only a 90-minute drive from Kissimmee to beaches such as Clearwater, Indian Shores, Madeira Beach, Treasure Island and St Petersburg on the Gulf coast and just over 60 minutes to Cocoa beach and Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic coast.
We sometimes stay a couple of nights on the coast to have a change and chill out from Orlando; the first time we did this was because we were attending a friend’s wedding. We rented a condo for a couple of nights near Clearwater, just across the road from a beautiful white beach the water was so warm; it was like stepping in to a bath. We enjoyed our time here so much.
Last Easter we decided to try something completely different. We went north from Orlando, on the Atlantic coast to St Augustine, the oldest city in America. This is so far removed from the bright lights and action of Orlando it was hard to believe we were only a few hours away.
St Augustine is in 2 parts, the fabulous beach on the powerful Atlantic Ocean and then the wonderful old city itself. Steeped in history, with monuments, museums and lovely old buildings. It has cobbled streets, a fort, the oldest wooden Schoolhouse and beautiful Flagler collage to name but a few.
It was only a short journey from our hotel right on the beach over to the city, we followed the coast road and then over the causeway to the mainland, we pass the St Augustine lighthouse and also the Alligator farm. Both ideal places to spend a few hours. Then around a corner and over the very impressive Bridge of Lions that lead straight in to the beautiful city of St Augustine.
I would visit St Augustine again but perhaps without the children, we had a great few day’s here but they didn’t appreciate the heritage and history of such a lovely city.
Our favourite place after our home on Terra Verde of course has to be Sarasota, or Lido Beach near Sarasota to be exact.
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