Where to stop between Tallahassee and Everglades City?

[shushh]

We are trying to finalise our driving itinerary for our upcoming trip in Dec/Jan. We will be leaving Tallahassee and need to stay overnight at Everglades City as DH desperately wants to do an activity that requires getting up at dawn (sigh). However, we (well, I) don't want to drive for 7.5 hours in one day. So we plan to stop somewhere along the way.

Any recommendations or suggestions on your favourite stop/city along the West Coast/gulf of Florida would be greatly appreciated!

At the moment some of the options include Anna Maria Island (I'm not sure if it will still be good to visit in winter?), Sarasota, Tampa etc

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope you work it out Shushh. I've driven up the other coast twice but haven't yet done the side you're looking at.

Will make for an interesting TR.

 

[DVCAustralia]

Anywhere around Tampa, St Petersburg and Sarasota should work, mainly depends on pricing, room type & facilities for hotel, and I would aim for somewhere near a big mall or outlet center so you can shop that night.

You will drive passed Miromar Outlets on the second day, it is in between Ft Myers and Naples. Of particular interest is that it has a lesser known Disney Character Warehouse store.

 

[Andona]

Shushh,

We spent a night at Fort Myers when we were travelling from Key West to Orlando. It was just a stop for the night for us so we didn't bother looking for anywhere out on the coast. We stayed at Homewood Suites Fort Myers - had a two room suite with breakfast, Wi-Fi included for $115. They also provide a complimentary evening "Managers reception", so we dined on a perfectly acceptable lasagne, salad, bread rolls and wine or beer - all for free!!!

Also when you're driving down past Tampa I can recommend taking the detour off the I75 and going down through St Petersburg on the 275 - you drive across the spectacular Sunshine Skyway Bridge - it's 6 km long, a bit like a mini Florida Keys drive It just added some extra interest on what is a fairly ordinary stretch, scenery wise.


Andona

 

[Sugarglider]

That bridge mentioned by Andona is good fun. Tampa is a city - office buildings and shops - if that is what you are after.
a more touristy place would be Tarpon Springs - the sponge capital of the world! Settled by people from Greece, they have recreated a Greek sea side village. they grow and harvest sponges, and have lots of fishing boats and nets and greek tavernas and octopus and paint things blue.

A bit further north of Tampa is Crystal River & Homosassa - where you can go on "swim with the manatee" tours - or stand on the boat/river bank and look at them. there are several of them - I went with Manatees in Paradise for a more private tour experience. there are numerous national parks / reserves that have boardwalks through the springs and you can wander through the forest and cypress and they have viewing platforms over the water.

enjoy a different view of florida!

 

[shushh]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to write your input. I really appreciate it. I always like hearing from people who've been just to get that extra perspective.

Hope you work it out Shushh. I've driven up the other coast twice but haven't yet done the side you're looking at.

Will make for an interesting TR.

PIO, we're helping my parents tick off a few more places from the bucket list. Believe it or not, despite their long travelling history and love of country music and, they've never been to Nashville, Memphis or New Orleans. Neither have we! So we're really looking forward to it.

Anywhere around Tampa, St Petersburg and Sarasota should work, mainly depends on pricing, room type & facilities for hotel, and I would aim for somewhere near a big mall or outlet center so you can shop that night.

You will drive passed Miromar Outlets on the second day, it is in between Ft Myers and Naples. Of particular interest is that it has a lesser known Disney Character Warehouse store.

That is really handy to know! My parents will also like the idea of staying near an outlet mall. I found one in Ellenton, so it gives them the option of shopping if they don't want to go to do beach stuff.

Shushh,

We spent a night at Fort Myers when we were travelling from Key West to Orlando. It was just a stop for the night for us so we didn't bother looking for anywhere out on the coast. We stayed at Homewood Suites Fort Myers - had a two room suite with breakfast, Wi-Fi included for $115. They also provide a complimentary evening "Managers reception", so we dined on a perfectly acceptable lasagne, salad, bread rolls and wine or beer - all for free!!!

Also when you're driving down past Tampa I can recommend taking the detour off the I75 and going down through St Petersburg on the 275 - you drive across the spectacular Sunshine Skyway Bridge - it's 6 km long, a bit like a mini Florida Keys drive It just added some extra interest on what is a fairly ordinary stretch, scenery wise.


Andona

Thanks for the tip! Did you do anything around Fort Myers itself?

That bridge mentioned by Andona is good fun. Tampa is a city - office buildings and shops - if that is what you are after.
a more touristy place would be Tarpon Springs - the sponge capital of the world! Settled by people from Greece, they have recreated a Greek sea side village. they grow and harvest sponges, and have lots of fishing boats and nets and greek tavernas and octopus and paint things blue.

A bit further north of Tampa is Crystal River & Homosassa - where you can go on "swim with the manatee" tours - or stand on the boat/river bank and look at them. there are several of them - I went with Manatees in Paradise for a more private tour experience. there are numerous national parks / reserves that have boardwalks through the springs and you can wander through the forest and cypress and they have viewing platforms over the water.

enjoy a different view of florida!

Oooh that sounds really interesting. Going to go check out Tarpon Springs and Crystal Rivers! this is probably very inappropriate, but everything I look at Tarpon Springs, I read it as something else...

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a lovely trip, Shushh.


Those places are on my bucket list; but despite his love of music, DH does not like country music. So, Nashville is not high on his list. Funnily, neither is Memphis.

 

[zanzibar138]

Ooh sounds like a great tr in the making!

 

[Andona]

Thanks for the tip! Did you do anything around Fort Myers itself?..

Hi Shushh, sorry for slow reply!

We had come all the way from Key West (via the Everglades) that day and didn't get to Fort Myers till late afternoon, the next day we were heading to WDW and I just wanted to get there as quickly as possible - so, no, we didn't do any sightseeing in Fort Myers.

The one place that I'd really liked to have visited if we'd had more time is the Edison/Ford winter estate. I would rally like to have visited the museul there with Edison's inventions ( and those of others) The gardens are supposed to be really nice too.
http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/

Hope the remaining planning is going well!

Andona