A 'chilling out' week - if gulf coast a no-go - would you do east coast or Orlando itself?

[Halsteragain]

We plan on having a chilling out week in a villa with a pool after 2 hectic weeks on site doing the parks. If the gulf cost is out due to, say, red tide would you stay on the East coast or stay in Orlando itself? Nowhere along the East coast is particularly grabbing me (looking for somewhere similar to AMI but I am prepared to be enlightened!). So it occured to me that maybe we could just book a villa in Orlando for this last week (a swanky one at that as they seem to be much cheaper than the ones on the coast). Relax by the pool, do a day trip to the coast, do an airboat ride, visit a few state parks, bit of shopping... or should we head for the coast? We fly out of Miami. Thanks.

[limmy]

We've booked into the "space coast" at Melbourne Beach for 2 nights before our cruise. We are staying at a place called Tuckaway Shores. Right on the beach. There's a sea turtle place nearby but the whole area just looks chilled out. I haven't been but apparently people have seen dolphins from their rooms and obviously the sea turtles too.

[Erial]

We did 10 days just chilling in Orlando this year. It was lovely just having lazy mornings, relaxing by the pool, doing a bit of shopping and then eating in our favourite restaurants in an evening. I did wonder if we'd get bored but we didn't and it was nice being in familiar surroundings.

If you do decide to stay East Coast we've previously stayed at Margaritaville in Hollywood Beach (so nice and close for getting back to Miami). Granted, it isn't the Gulf Coast but we actually found the sea to be really warm and calm and the beaches were nice too. There's also still plenty of good shopping to be done nearby too!

Claire
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[Guest]

St Augustine. Every time 😁

Edit - just realised you are flying out from Miami so might be wrong direction for you depending on which part of your holiday you are chilling for!

[neatfrk]

What about somewhere higher up the east coast...like Outer Banks, NC, Tybee Island, GA, Myrtle Beach, SC?


Ahh... if flying into Miami - none of those spots work either. Unless you take a cheap domestic flight from MIA to one of them for a few days.

[barryp1]

When you say similar to AMI what is it in particular you are referring to?


I can think of many places on the East coast which are better than AMI such as
St Augustine
Flagler Beach
Ormond Beach
Daytona Beach
New Smyrna Beach
Vero Beach
Deerfield Beach


All of the above are not overdeveloped barrier islands, but still have greater choices of restaurants than AMI, and easy to find parking.

[duchy]

If you want a laid back beach vibe then Melbourne or Vero Beach , if you just want to chill around a pool then Orlando would do.

[pretty71]

If you want to just chill out why not still go to the Gulf coast, just stay off the beaches like we did this year. We stayed in Hank's villa in Rotonda West (see my trip report) and although we did miss visiting the beaches it did not spoil our holiday at all. If you are thinking Orlando may be an option then the beaches are not really an issue? There are so many other things to do and its a 3 hour drive over to Miami for your flight back

[FloRidaLvr]

If you are flying out of Miami maybe somewhere in the Keys.

[Halsteragain]

Thanks all. Will Def not rule out the East coast then and will check out your recommendations. Quite excited!