The seat of Lake County is a lovely waterfront city among the Harris Chain of Lakes. With so much water all around, people needed an alternative way to travel long distances. This is the seaplane, and Tavares has long been known as America’s Seaplane City, with a base right on Lake Dora next to downtown. …
At the north end of the Jacksonville Beaches, Atlantic Beach is a shorefront community, bordering Jax but about 25 minutes from downtown. This part of the coastline was first developed at the turn of the 20th century with the arrival of the railroad. Atlantic Beach quickly became an elevated tourism hotspot, with an enormous luxury …
Directly north of Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami Springs is a city that sprang up overnight in the 1920s. More than a century later the golf course at the core of the planned development is still going strong. Elsewhere you can find a lot of other clues from those early days. One is the home …
Visiting this upscale island paradise, I had to remind myself that I was 15 minutes from downtown Miami. Bookended by a state park and sprawling county park, Key Biscayne feels a lot more secluded than it really is. To the south is Cape Florida, commanded by a lighthouse that has stood here for 200 years. …
The oldest city in the United States has been continuously inhabited since 1565. St. Augustine is as pretty as it is old, and I could spend whole days under the spell of Castillo de San Marcos or the Colonial Quarter. More than almost any American city, St. Augustine has a European atmosphere. You can feel …
I doubt there are many places on planet Earth that feel quite like Florida city. This is the southernmost city in the United States, not on an island. Florida City is the final stop before US 1 takes to the water and visits the Keys. By the highway are shopping centers, charming roadside attractions, eateries, …
Covering just 4.5 square miles, Holly Hill is a quiet, mostly residential city between Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach. Holly Hill sits on the Halifax River, and there’s a picturesque waterfront park where you can catch the sunrise, take a picnic or launch a boat. The majority of Holly Hill’s businesses can be found on …
One of the oldest incorporated cities in Pinellas County, Gulfport is a place with its own personality. At once creative, progressive and open, the city has a large LGBTQ+ community, many local businesses, and a lot of fun events. One of many things that won me over about this city is how walkable everything is. …
Fronting the Halifax River next to Daytona Beach, South Daytona was incorporated in 1951. The first Euro-Americans settled here in the 1870s, and there was a post office and railroad state by the 1880s. Today, South Daytona benefits from an exceptional location, where it feels like nothing is more than a short drive away. That …
Near where the Manatee River meets Tampa Bay, Palmetto is an understated but attractive city. An historic district reaches down to the riverbank and preserves more than 150 years of history here. On these streets you’ll find a charming historical park, showing off pieces of old Palmetto, and there’s a museum recording the history of …