driving coasts of fla.

We are thinking of driving down one coast of fla. and returning via the other. Anyone know how many days this will take? Leaving from s.c. Any advice is appreciated!

driving coasts of fla.

Major Florida destinations on the east coast are St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach and the Keys. Driving non-stop from Jacksonville to Key west on the interstate is about 10 hours. However I-95 is not scenic at all. If you take A1A you will get lots of scenery and lots of traffic lights.

You then have the Everglades en route to the west coast which major cities are Naples, Ft. Meyers, Sarasota, Clearwater, Tampa. From there north I-75 takes you inland to Ocala. There are routes that go along the coast but the towns are smaller, there are places to see but its not a well traveled and will be a mucn slower route. Then you have to decide if you want to see the pan handle, Panama City, Destin, etc.

Each place I listed has lots of things to do each has it%26#39;s own flavor of Florida. You need to decide what you want to see the most and which places to spend some time exploring. Once you know what interests you most we can help with more info.

Visit www.myflorida.com and click on tourist info, from there you can request an info package about Florida that may help.

driving coasts of fla.

Thanks BORNWITHWHEELS! This helps a lot! Will inform you of my travels!

Driving the coasts does indeed mean urban traffic.

Some stretches of road worth seeing:

A1A

*Fernandina to Jacksonville

*Jacksonville Beach to St. Augustine (Vilano Beach). Guana state preserve.

*St. Aug to Ormond Beach. Several parks, coquina shoreline south of Matanzas Inlet, National Park at Matanzas Inlet, drive on Crescent Beach if you like.

*Daytona Beach Shores to Ponce Inlet

-the dead-end road from New Smyrna Beach to the north boundary of Cape Canaveral National Seashore

*Indialantic (Melbourne)to Vero Beach. New nature center, Sebastian Inlet State Park (surfing, 2 museums), modest visitor facility at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.

*Vero to Ft Pierce. Not exactly scenic unless you like expensive houses and less-impressive condos, but Ft Pierce Inlet State Park is nice (small tropical forest, surfing)

*Ft Pierce south.

*Hobe Sound (ulta-expensive houses, Nature Conservancy%26#39;s Blowing Rocks Preserve)

*Northernmost Palm Beach County (nice beach parks)

*Singer Island (nice beach park)

*southern Palm Beach Co., Red Reef Park, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center

Miami:

Key Biscayne (Crandon, Virginia Key, and Cape Florida parks)

West coast:

Lovers Key State Park is lovely.

If you have a shallow-draft boat, the mouth of the Withlacoochee River is spectacular.

Thanks! Looks like a lot of interesting stops.I will try as many as I can. West looks really interesting!

On the west coast, some small barrier-island parks are gems. Here%26#39;s nature, restored: http://www.longboatkey.org/Parks/durante.htm