Driving from Fort Lauderdale - places to stop

[emmacg]

Hi,

We will be staying in Fort Lauderdale for our first 2 nights and then driving to orlando. Does anyone have any hints or tips about good places to stop along the way?

[toonarmani]

It’s only 3 hours, will you need to stop? We drove straight through apart from topping up fuel at a service station.

[archibald]

You can call in at the Everglades Holiday Park for an airboat ride and alligator show (it's very close to Fort Lauders though, almost before you've set off! Or go up the coast a little further to Boca Raton to the Turtle Rescue place. There's also a good sushi lunch to be had at Santos (or something similar).

Personal favourite would be to stop at West Palm Beach and get the little boat out to Peanut Island for a few hours - amazing snorkelling.

There's also Vero Beach or Melbourne Beach.

If you're going up the 27 there's a Sugar Plantation Tour to visit somewhere near Clewiston if i remember correctly, but we didn't get the chance to go.

ETA The turtle rescue is actually called the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center! When we visited it was donations rather than a fixed fee - it also included a really nice butterfly garden.

[emmacg]

We check out of our hotel at 10am and can't check in the next hotel until 4pm so we have at least 6 hours to kill. Thought we might as well make a day of the drive and do a bit of exploring rather than rush to get there.

[Simon & Suzann]

Gatorama in Palmdale on the US27?
Its about half way to the championsgate area.

[archibald]

Originally Posted by emmacg

We check out of our hotel at 10am and can't check in the next hotel until 4pm so we have at least 6 hours to kill. Thought we might as well make a day of the drive and do a bit of exploring rather than rush to get there.

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Good plan - too many people are in too much of a rush to get to straight to Orlando, they miss out on so much.

[Jimsdadhalifax]

Serpentarium at St Cloud is a great place to stop for a couple of hours

If you like BBQ, Jimmy Bears in St Cloud is fantastic

[emmacg]

Thanks I will look into all of these options - any others very gratefully received also.

[NewtoOrlando]

We have driven up from Miami a few times. We always stop at Vero Beach for lunch, the beautiful and Mulligans beach house for lunch has the most amazing views of the ocean, that usually takes up a few hours. We like to stop a few times, be it for a toilet break, some food or just to stretch our legs. Makes the journey a little bit more interesting!

[EatandPlay]

If you're not in a rush to get to Orlando, skip the Turnpike and take I-95 about 60 minutes north to West Palm Beach. Check out downtown West Palm and cross over the bridge to Palm Beach to see how the ultra rich live. First check out Worth Avenue then of course drive up Ocean Blvd. You'll drive right by Mar-a-Lago.