For years I have been trying to convince my family to do a destination Christmas someplace warm. I’m not a fan of winter and love the idea of being able to celebrate Christmas without having to don enough layers to make me look like a plain-clothes version of Mrs. Claus.
One year, a few family members actually agreed this was a good idea and we starting discussing possible locations. To my surprise, they all poo-pooed Florida on the grounds that they didn’t want to go to Disneyworld and weren’t beach people. I was puzzled. I’ve been visiting Florida every winter for years and knew that there was so much more to it than beaches and theme parks. Those things are definitely available for those who seek them, but Florida has so much more to keep you entertained. (See my post about kayaking, bird watching, and more in Sanibel Island, FL.)
Nature Preserves and Parks
Florida is home to dozens of nature preserves and state parks that have nothing to do with the beach as well as Everglades National Park. (Florida’s two other national parks—Biscane and Dry Tortugas—protect beach and/or marine areas.) You can find great rambling/hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, and camping in these protected areas, not to mention terrific wildlife, including numerous bird species, the Florida panther, and brown bears. Okay, so you don’t want to run into a bear or panther in the wild, but the bird-watching is fantastic.
Big Cyprus National Preserve and the Everglades together make up a unique ecosystem that allows hundreds of plant and animal species to thrive. You can tour both of them without once seeing a roller coaster.
In Ocala National Forest, in the middle of the state, you’ll find pine cones as big as your head when you hike a stretch of the ~1,300-mile-long scenic Florida Trail, which stretches the length of the state and across the Florida panhandle.
Did you know you can see manatees up-close, in the wild, in Florida? Did you know you can even swim with them? During the winter months, manatees head inland seeking the warm waters of natural hot springs, while they are widely dispersed throughout Florida’s waterways during the rest of the year. You can see them in the wild in places such as Blue Springs State Park, which is about an hour north of Orlando. Click here for a list of other places to get up close to these interesting creatures.
Click here for a list of more nature preserves and parks in Florida.
Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral
For anyone who ever dreamed of going to space camp, loves Star Trek, or just appreciates science and exploration, Kennedy Space Center is one cool destination. Located just an hour or so east of Orlando, the space center is an all-day excursion that is well worth the cost of admission.
You’ll learn about the history of the space program, see gigantic real-life rockets, including the Apollo boosters and capsules, enjoy an IMAX movie (I saw an amazing show about the Hubble space telescope narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio), take a bus tour of the shuttle launch sites, and see the magnificent space shuttle Atlantis. I swear, I took at least 50 photos of Atlantis and could have stared at her for hours.
For an extra fee, you can have lunch with an astronaut and take behind-the-scenes tours of the launch control center, one of the launch pads, and the press center. The site also offers a half-day astronaut training experience and the immersive Cosmic Quest game in which you can enact real NASA missions.
My friend Sue and I spent the better part of a day at the space center and wished we’d had more time. For me, the Kennedy Space Center is only rivaled by Universal’s Harry Potter World for coolest thing I’ve done in Florida. And the space center might even win.
Colonial History in St. Augustine
The charming town of St. Augustine, on Florida’s northeast coast, was founded by Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century and has been inhabited ever since. The city exhibits quaint, historical charm with its architecture, monuments, and lighthouse.
You can learn about history by visiting old forts—including the imposing Castillo de San Marcos—and participating in interactive historical attractions in the city’s car-free Colonial Quarter. The Pirate & Treasure Museum, founded and owned by a modern-day treasure-hunter, features an impressive collection of real pirate booty, a treasure hunt, and educational exhibits about famous pirates during the golden age of pirate.
All this and warm winters too! This list isn’t even comprehensive and yet it should be enough to convince you to start planning a trip to Florida, even if you have no intention of setting foot on a beach or getting on a ride. And if you do like those things, you won’t go home disappointed either.
What else would you add to this list?
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