Can you believe that growing up in Florida there are so many places that I still haven’t visited or done? Yea well actually I bet you can. It’s pretty normal for people not to take advantage of being a tourist in their hometown, right?

Well, I’m no different. Orlando is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the US and the state of Florida has so much to offer that anyone who comes to visit should definitely take advantage and soak up some rays in the Sunshine State. I had a friend who wanted to come visit me so naturally, I assumed that she wanted to hit up the parks and shopping because that’s what you do when you come to Orlando. But to my surprise, she gave me an interesting proposal.

She said, “No Theme parks, minimal shopping, just show me Florida”

And I said “Challenge Accepted”

The first thing that came to my mind was that we need to go on and road trip and check out some stops that are “Only in Florida” stops.  So I started investigating the best things to do in Florida and I got a lot of beaches, Springs, swamps, zoos, shopping, beaches, springs, and more swamps. We packed our bags and a small cooler for our week-long trip. This is what we did:

Day 1: Orlando-Miami

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8 AM: We started our morning with one of my favorite spots for breakfast in Orlando called Keke’s Breakfast Cafe where we created our own breakfast combo. We stuffed ourselves with waffles and endless coffee and took the Beachline Expressway (Florida State 528) towards Cocoa Beach. Take a pit stop in the world’s largest surf shop, Ron Jon’s Surf Shop. Check out the beach if you want but it’s not the most beautiful beach in Florida.

12 NOON: Stop in one of the oldest attractions in Florida called Lion Country Safari. It’s one of the first “cageless” zoos in the United States where you can take an audio tour in your car while you drive around and get up close and personal with some animals. My favorite part was getting to feed a giraffe and if ya’ll know anything about me; I LOVE giraffes!

4 PM: We were missing the beach so we decided to take a quick hour nap in Palm Beach. We took the same road from the Lion Country Safari straight east until we ran into the ocean. Once our energies were restored we continued down A1A until we reached Ft. Lauderdale beach. There are some incredible beach houses along the coast and the view is wonderful. Once it was getting dark,  we jumped down to I-95 until we arrived to Miami.

8 PM: We were staying with some Chilean friends who live in Miami so they welcomed us into their home with Pisco and a delicious picoteo (an assortment of appetizers like cheese, guacamole, crackers, chips, olives, etc) as we ended the night just chatting away.

Day 2: Full Day in Miami

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11 AM: We made it to Española Way on South beach for some sangria and Spanish food.  Española Way is a beautiful pedestrian walkway filled with restaurants from around the world and gift shops to stock up on souvenirs. We parked on the street near 14th street.

We couldn’t come to Miami without seeing Ocean Drive and South Beach…just to put our toes in the sand. So we decided to walk from 14th street to 7th street down Ocean Drive. You never know what you’re going to see when you’re walking down Ocean Drive. We saw a drag show that left us mesmerized.  One of the main queens stopped a city bus and twerked right in front of it. Yes, you read that correctly. She twerked in front of a city bus. And caused a traffic jam. It was amazing.

We made our way until 7th street where my mom had once told me about a store that sells beautiful Brazilian bikinis. We stopped in, tried on everything in the store and walked out with a hot pink bikini bottom. They say it helps you looks tanner.  #proudpurchase

4 PM: We saw a sign for Star Island. If you don’t know what this place is, it’s where famous celebrities like Michael Jordan, Rosie o Donald, and Gloria Estefan lives. I’ve been to Miami thousands of times and I had no idea they just let you in to look around. We just drove up to the gate and asked if we could check if Ricky Martin was home and they said: “Sure, why not?!”

7 PM: We ended the night in La pequeña Havana or “little Havana” for dinner at one the most popular places called “La Carreta” for some Cuban Food. This a must if you come to Miami.

Day 3:  Full Day 2 in Miami

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The morning work up ugly pretty cloudy but it was our last day in Miami so had to take advantage of the day. We made it to Wynwood walls early to check out all the beautiful murals in the area. I’ll just let the murals speak for themselves.

We stopped for lunch at Coyo-Taco and it would be safe for me to say that this was the best burrito in Miami. Seriously. It was life-changing. I would come back to Miami just for this burrito. Once our bellies were full we went to check out the local brewery. The day we went they were offering a tour of the brewery with the purchase of a beer. Every day they have different things going on so just check out their facebook page for updates.

We headed to the Brickell area for dinner. On the weekends you will find a variety of restaurants and pubs open for the locals. We weren’t very hungry so we decided to stop in 100 Montaditos for some Spanish tapas to share.

Day 4: Miami- St. Petersberg

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8 AM: We headed west towards the Everglades National Park to take an airboat ride with Captain Jack’s through the mangroves. What an experience! Just take a look at the video. 

12 NOON: We got back onto the 75 and drove towards Marco Island. We stopped for lunch at Snook Island Inn. We shared Gator Tail and Conch Fritters (things you only find in Florida). It was right next to the intercoastal, the view was beautiful. We saw people cruising through on their boats and even spotted dolphins playing in the water.

2 PM: To access the beach you only have a few options on the island as its full of private residences and hotels along the coast. Tigertail Beach has public beach access, you just have to pay for parking. The guard told us that we had to cross the inlet to have beachfront access. Now, I’ve always been cautious with open water. I nervously crossed the inlet and what I found was beautiful. We walked the shore searching for shells as the area is known for the large variety. It was perfect. We cruised up the coast until we found a good spot to watch the sunset and then grabbed I-75 towards St. Petersburg to sleep.

Day 5: Siesta Key Beach Day

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The weather was perfect and so we got up early to visit to one of the most beautiful beach destinations in Florida, Siesta Key. We stopped by Publix Supermarkets to get an “only in Florida” Publix sub, fresh fruit and some drinks to fill up our cooler. Amazing beach day. Amazing nap on the beach. Amazing walk down the beach. Amazing sunset. Overall, amazing day.   

Day 6:  St. Petersberg- Ginnie Springs- Orlando

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Besides having beautiful beaches in Florida, Florida has some incredible natural springs. It’s said that Florida might just have the largest collection of freshwater springs in the world. It was hard to just pick one but we ended up going to Ginnie Springs which is just outside of Gainesville. The spring water stays at a cool 72 degrees all year around so on a hot summer day, it’s perfect. You can go river tubing, swimming, snorkeling, scuba and even cave diving.Bring your insect repellent and pack a picnic.

We made a pit stop in Gainesville for some ice cream and to see the University of Florida before heading back to Orlando.

Day 7:  Kennedy Space Center

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Since we didn’t want to do the theme parks, we went to Kennedy Space Center for the day and let me say THIS WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT! We saved the best for last. I had been since I was a kid. What a pleasant surprise. The things you can’t miss out is the bus tour of the spacesport, the IMAX shows and of course Space Shuttle Atlantis. We didn’t want to leave. Don’t believe anyone when they say that you can see everything is half-a-day. If you like Space, NASA, Planets or anything related to that, you’re going to want to spend the entire day. The security team basically had to walk us to gate to make sure that we left.

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So that’s Florida in a week. There are so many other spots that we didn’t get to see. We totally missed out Florida’s panhandle. They say that they beaches are beautiful. We also didn’t get to see the northern east coast of Florida with towns such as Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. I guess that means another road trip needs to be planned sooner than later!

Do you have a spot that you love in Florida that I missed? Let me know in the comments below!