Florida Honeymoon

[deadmanwaking]

Hi all,

I'm getting married next year hence the username "Dead man walking" :-) and we've decided to head to Florida for our honeymoon.

We are staying in Orlando for the first 10 days of our honeymoon and then plan on heading down to Key West to relax for the next 11 days before heading back to Orlando to fly home to Ireland.

I was just wondering how long of a drive it is from Orlando to Key west ?? I plan on getting a car for our time in Florida. Is the drive a bit long? Or instead of driving directly down to Key West would it be better to drive down long the east coast to Miami and maybe stop for one or two nights along the way to Key West???

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance,
Irish

[d360]

You missing an "l" in your username and now your "waking". I'm not sure about in ireland but in the US its something you do at during a funeral. Anyway best of luck to you!

Its about a 400 mi / 7 hours drive. Its worthy of a flight with the prices of gas nowdays. Here's a flight comparison tool if you want check prices.

If you drive I'd highly recommend getting on the florida Turnpike and driving down the coast, spend a day or two around Miami/South Beach. They have some nightclubs that are off the hook, if your into that scene. The West Coast of florida doesn't have as much going on as does the East coast.

What time of the year are you going? In October there's a huge party called Fantasy Fest in Key West

There's many different topics in the Florida Travel Guide and if your looking for things to do in Miami and things to do in Key West check out those links.

[Keywester2]

Hi:
I've got a couple of suggestions for both Orlando and Key West living in Sarasota, FL as I currently do and having lived in Key West for almost ten years. Wow- 21 days seems like an awful lot of time to spend non-stop with any "be-loved", good luck.

Orlando - tons to see and do of course but I would be very surprised if didn't start hunting around the loo for a razer blade after anything more than 5 days of theme parks and "organized" activities. Keep in mind also that you will already be seriously hemorrhaging money. Truly, it's worse than Manhattan or London. Even a simple bottle of water. "Want water? No problem mate, let me set you right up with a $5 8 ounce bottle of purified water that cost me .05 cents. Any thing to make your stay more comfortable" Seriously, I've stayed in Orlando a number of times and it is a bit odd there. Locals have nicknamed Disney "The Borg" (from Star Trek) a giant mutating organism that assimilates everyone and everything around it. The whole town is a bit odd as a result and I'll bet you are really tired of feeling like someone is structuring your every move for 10 whole days. One place I've stayed there that I liked very much was a place called Floridays Resort. It's within 10 minutes of the airport, and right on International drive with over 50 restaurants within 5 miles. It's a brand new place with two pools and offers nothing but 2 and 3 bedroom suites so it might be a bit roomy for you but the prices were good and they had things like a fitness center, high speed internet, flat screens in all the rooms, etc. If you're interested you can look at them at floridaysorlandovacationrentals.com. So if I was you I would no more than 5 days in Orlando and then perhaps head to someplace like Sarasota on the mid west coast of Florida (2.5 hrs. away). The beaches of Sarasota are rated the best in the entire U.S. I would also then maybe head right across the middle of the state just to see the unspoiled beauty of Florida. For instance, besides being a massive orange and sugar producer, Florida is also the second largest cattle producing state in the whole U.S. which most people don't know. Cross on the main road that heads just south of Lake Okeechobee and you will end up on the East Coast dumped right out on 95S. If you've never been there I would take a drive through Palm Beach to see some of the loveliest homes in the entire U.S. and then perhaps head south an hour to Ft. Lauderdale for the night and eat and explore in the historic district there. It's a younger, more vibrant town than many Florida cities.

From Ft. Lauderdale it's about 45 minutes south to Miami which is worth a night and then I would drive down to Key West (about 3.5 hours from Miami) but if it was me I'd leave really early before sunrise so that when the sun rose I was already heading down the chain of islands that are connected by something like 175 bridges. It's really beautiful.. -although, and this is important - I would arrange it if possible to do a one way rental with your car so you can dump it in Key West when you first get there. You will absolutely, positively have no need of a car there. It's tiny and you can walk, rent a bike or a scooter to get around the entire island. And believe me, there really isn't anything on any of the islands just north of Key West so don't be tempted to keep the car. Parking is difficult and every single resident there just owns a scooter or bike.
The food is generally very good and quite varied in Key West and for fun I would recommend any number of boat trips out to the reefs for snorkeling. There is also a very interesting island 70 miles away called the Dry Tortugas which you can only get to from Key West on a high speed catamaran ferry. It's a day trip with lunch served with good beaches and snorkeling around this incredible fort built during the civil war. I wax on and must go to work.