Regions

Florida Peninsula road trips

Old Florida below the tourist line: springs and cracker cattle, treasure fleets, mermaid shows since 1947, the beach road Flagler built and the swamp road that nearly broke the men who built it. Nearly everything here predates the Mouse, and most of it outclasses him.

The Florida Peninsula has 10 back-roads routes, about 1,490 miles and 73 curated stops, and 5 ready-made itineraries use them.

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Routes in the Florida Peninsula

• A1A: Flagler's Coast
  the railroad baron's beach road
  St. Augustine → Titusville · ~135 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-95
• The Space & Treasure Coast
  rockets north, shipwreck gold south
  Titusville → Jupiter · ~135 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-95
• Old Dixie: Cassadaga to Kissimmee
  Orlando before the Mouse
  Cassadaga → Kissimmee · ~75 mi · 1 day · skips I-4
• Cross Creek & the Springs
  Rawlings country and glass-bottom water
  Palatka → Ocala · ~130 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-75
• The Nature Coast
  the Gulf the condos never found
  Perry → Tarpon Springs · ~230 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-75 (by 60 miles)
• The Florida Cracker Trail
  cow-hunter country across the ridge
  Bradenton → Fort Pierce · ~145 mi · 1 day · skips I-4 (by 80 miles)
• The Big Water
  the dike, the muck and the 1928 storm
  Around Lake Okeechobee (loop) · ~115 mi · 1 day · skips Florida's Turnpike
• The Tamiami Trail
  the road they blasted through the Glades
  Naples → Miami · ~110 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-75 (Alligator Alley)
• The Overseas Highway
  Flagler's railroad that went to sea
  Miami → Key West · ~165 mi · 2–3 days · skips nothing (there is only one road)
• US 41: The Tamiami Trail North, Tampa to Naples
  the Gulf's other coast road, Ybor City to the Everglades' door
  Tampa → Naples · ~250 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-75

Ready-made itineraries in the Florida Peninsula

• The Overseas Highway
  3 days · ~210 mi · from Miami
  US 1 to the end of the road: forty-two bridges over turquoise water to Key West, with a hurricane monument, a rescued movie boat, tiny key deer and…
• Florida's Mystic Coast
  3 days · ~280 mi · from St. Augustine
  The nation's oldest city, the beach where speed was born, and inland to a genuine 1890s Spiritualist camp — a weekend of Old Florida faith, art and…
• Cracker Trail & the Big Water
  2 days · ~260 mi · from Bradenton
  The old cattle-drive route across Florida's forgotten middle, then a loop of the vast lake at its heart — muck-city football towns, a hand-built…
• Old Florida: Springs, Swamps & the Nature Coast
  7 days · ~780 mi · from Gainesville
  The Florida the postcards forgot: crystal springs and manatees, a sponge-diving Greek town, a Cracker author's homestead, the great lake's muck…
• A1A End to End: St. Augustine to Key West
  6 days · ~520 mi · from St. Augustine
  Flagler's whole coast, top to bottom: the oldest city, the beach where speed was born, rockets and shipwreck gold, a Gold Coast transfer day, then…

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