Florida summer travel: 10 perfect getaways for hot weather (2024)

Summer is the off-season for most of Florida, which makes Florida summer travel cheaper and accommodations easier to book.

But lets admit the obvious: It’s too hot for many outdoor activities. I rarely hike in the summer, for example, and my bicycling and kayaking is limited to early mornings and evenings — if then.

I do look forward to swimming in the summer, however. I’m such a Floridian that I consider the water in the Atlantic or Gulf too chilly for swimming for half the year.

I have also learned that on summer getaways, I love a destination that has indoor activities like a historic site and museums that are air conditioned. It’s also a good time for scenic drives in air-conditioned cars.

With this in mind, I’ve collected 10 places around the state that can deliver a lot of summer fun.

If your favorite spot was overlooked, please use the comment box at the bottom to share it.

Florida summer travel in southeast Florida

A closer Florida Keys destination with much to offer – Islamorada

Many people think Key West is all there is to the Keys and drive right past the interesting destinations along the way. Islamorada is one of my favorites in summer because it offers picturesque waterfront tiki bars and my favorite kayak trip in the Keys, to the ghost-town island of Indian Key. Paddling there from Robbie’s Marina will be hot, but on Indian Key, you can cool down with excellent snorkeling along the shore.

During the hottest part of day, visit the Florida Keys History and Discover Center, an excellent museum where you’ll learn a lot about life and history in the Keys. You’ll read about that and more in my story on things to do in Islamorada.

Vero Beach is a charming beach town not overrun with development

There is just enough to do in Vero Beach to keep you stimulated and amused without making you feel like you have to do a whole lot. It is a beach town, after all, and if you don’t spend time walking on these beaches, swimming or just staring into the blue, you aren’t doing it right.

For a morning outing, I love the McKee Botantical Gardens, where the water lilies are at their peak bloom in summer. (There’s a lot of shade here too.)

Other things to do: Shop in the historic downtown and stop for a beer or a meal at theAmerican Icon Brewery. This large building was the 1926 Vero Beach Municipal Power Plant and one of the original diesel engines is preserved and painted to be the centerpiece of the large brewery and restaurant. It’s a terrific reuse of a historic building.

Find other spots to visit in this story on things to do in Vero Beach.

Summer getaways in southwest Florida

Venice: Beaches, bicycling, history, even shark teeth

We went to Venice to bicycle the Legacy Trail, one of Florida’s best paved bike trails. Early in the day or in the evening, the breeze on a bike makes it possible to ride almost comfortably on a summer day

On that visit we stayed on an unspoiled barrier island – Casey Key, and enjoyed one the gorgeous Venice beaches. Venice beaches offer a special attraction — ancient shark’s teeth are embedded in the sand. They’re fun to hunt for.

One thing that’s special about Venice is its history: Buildings in the Venetian style line the boulevards of this carefully planned city, built in the 1920s by a railroad union seeking investments for its members. Historic Spanish Point is a lovely Bayfront spot that tells the story of Bertha Palmer, a member of a founding family — one of those historic sites that allows you get out of the sun in the afternoon.

Here are five things to discover in the Venice area.

Sanibel: A favorite island is coming back

For decades, my family always spent a long summer weekend on Sanibel, and I have wonderful memories from there.

We spent much of time being wet — playing in the water, feeling the sandy shallow bottom for sand dollars and live shells (which we admired and released), building sand castles and designs in the sand with the plentiful shells. To mix it up, we’d go in the pool, and then return to the beach.

Is Sanibel ready for you to return? Devastated in 2022 by Hurricane Ian, Sanibel has been slow to rebuild. While manmade structures are still being rebuilt, the natural features that made Sanibel great, like its sea-shell-laden beaches, have recovered and their beauty is as awe-inspiring as ever.

For that afternoon AC break, visit the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum, whichreopened its Living Gallery of Aquariums on the first floor.(The second floor with its Great Hall of Shells is expected open later this summer.)

Here’s more on visiting Sanibel now and its recovery.

Florida summer travel in Central Florida

Pass-a-Grille and historic St. Petersburg are a great summer combo

There are hidden gems on the barrier islands on the southern end of the peninsula occupied by St. Petersburg. The Old Florida beachfront community of Pass-A-Grille has no highrises and tons of charm. From there, you have a great base for discovering all the Old Florida ambiance in St. Petersburg.

We visited Pass-a-Grille for a summer weekend; it was a perfect summer destination. In the morning, we walked on the beach, we spent hours during the heat of the day visiting a few of the many surprisingly good museums. (Here’s a Florida Rambler story on the many excellent museums in St. Petersburg.) In the evening, we’d swim in Pass-a-Grille and dine overlooking the sunset.

Other things to do: Explore Fort DeSoto County Park, with its great beaches and a historic fort. From Fort DeSoto, you can take a ferry to Egmont Key, a wild island in the mouth of the bay with a picturesque fort in ruins and lots of wildlife – birds and gopher tortoises are guaranteed.

New Smyrna Beach is one of Florida’s best little beach towns

With the long and wild Canaveral National Seashore on its southern edge, New Smyrna Beach offers extensive beachfront. The beach here is not only long, it’s also very wide. It’s walkable, bikable, drivable and great for surfing and surf fishing. You can even build a bonfire on this beach (permit required.) There are numerous natural and historic spots to explore in the vicinity.

We particularly like Ponce Inlet, with its trails, boardwalk and the stunning Ponce Inlet lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in Florida. There’s also a great bike trail here, the boringly named but excellent East Central Regional Rail Trail, which would make a great early morning ride for avid bicyclists. Here’s a guide to visiting New Smyrna Beach.

Weekend getaways in northern Florida

Flagler Beach and St. Augustine

Flagler Beach is another Old Florida beach town with lots of charm, without high-rise condos or pesky parking meters.

The broad, flat beach looks like it was sprinkled with cinnamon. The coral color comes from coquina, a soft rock made of ancient marine reefs and limestone that was used to build historicCastillo San Marcoin St. Augustine, 30 minutes away. There’s one stretch of beach south of town where you ride, bike or hike for miles without seeing a single home, save a lone high-rise.

On a hot summer day, take a drive on Scenic A1A.For beauty and history and its lack of dense development, the 30 mile stretch of Florida A1A from Ormond Beach to St. Augustine is unsurpassed. Drive 20 miles without a traffic light, much of it covered in a canopy of live Oak. If you’re a fan of scenic drives, the nearby is also excellent.

Flagler Beach is also a good base for a visit to historic St. Augustine. Here’s a good way to spend an afternoon in the AC: In St. Augustine, visit the Lightner Museum, an historic building filled with amusing and eclectic collections, or the St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum, which brings a bit of Disney-like flair to make it entertaining.

Here are 12 things to do in St. Augustine.

Amelia Island: Historic town, evocative fort, great beaches

If you love history and nature, you will find more there than you can possibly do in a weekend getaway. The Amelia Island region boasts eight state parks and a national park. There’s a walkable and appealing small historic town, Fernandina Beach.

And history! Here you can visit the oldest continually operating bar in Florida, Florida’s oldest hotel and the state’s oldest active lighthouse. Whether you hike, bike, fish, camp or enjoy beaches, you’ll find many options.

A highlight is Fort Clinch State Park at the top tip of Fernandina Beach. It preserves a stunning landscape of sprawling oak trees and a broad beautiful beach. The fort itself is fun to visit because there are re-enactors present to bring history alive. It’s also a great place for biking on the beach.

For that afternoon outing with AC, visit the Kingsley Plantation.Part of a little known national park, this beautiful site tells little-known stories of slaves and slave holders that may surprise you. This scenic and fascinating spot deserves to be better known!

Here are 11 outstanding outdoor things to do in Amelia Island.

Florida summer travel in the Panhandle

Stay in the historic lodge at Wakulla Springs and explore a less-visited Florida

The Big Bend region of Florida is unspoiled and full of wild and natural places. It’s a long way from the most populated places in Florida, and it makes a great stopover if you driving north. We’ve stayed at the historic Wakulla Spring lodge in Wakulla Springs State Park twice separated by 20 years, and each time it was memorable.

The park, with its spring, its swimming hole, its guided boat trip and its trails, is a treasure. But there’s so much to explore here – St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge for birding, hiking and a scenic lighthouse; tiny St. Marks with its historic sites, plus good opportunity for kayaking and biking on Florida’s first rail-trail, the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail. For a scenic ride in the air-conditioning, take the Big Bend Scenic Byway .

Highway 30A in the Panhandle has unparalleled beaches

Known as 30A Scenic Highway, this ribbon of Gulf Coast west of Panama City is full of seaside communities, popular restaurants and bars and several outstanding state parks. Summer is the high season in this area, where winters are too cool to enjoy the fabulous beaches. For the entire Southeastern United States, these beach communities mean summer fun.

Three things that make this area special are its picturesque sand dunes, its rare dune lakes and its sugar-fine white sand.

The beach is the main attraction here, but for a morning or evening bike ride, take the Timpoochee Trail,a paved bike path that hugs the side of 30A the whole way. It is a scenic ride but also a great form of transportation.

Our favorite places along 30A are two state parks. If you can get a cabin or campsite at these spots, nab it. Each is great for a day visit too. You’ll find coverage of the region in our stories about these state parks:

• Grayton Beach State Park has such a perfect beach that some years it has been ranked #1 in the US by the expert known as Dr. Beach.

• Topsail Hill Preserve State Park offers some of the most spectacular untouched dunes in Florida and three miles of perfect white sand beach. Bring your bikes so you can use the roads where cars are barred.

More Florida Rambler guides for planning your getaways in Florida

• Florida’s best state parks
• Florida’s best bike trails
• Florida’s best kayaking
• Florida’s best historic sites
• Florida’s best camping
• Florida’s best small beach towns
• Florida’s best gardens

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