Beautiful beaches, pampering resorts, great shopping and dining, fishing and golf. Now you know what each region of the Florida peninsula has in common. But what sets each area apart probably makes the greater, and more memorable, impact on visitors.
“Florida’s regional variety adds a special flavor to each geographic area,” says Cheryl Hatcher, director of marketing and events for Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation. “Going from north to south and into the Florida Keys is like discovering a new world each time. It’s part of what makes Florida such a popular destination for travelers from across the globe.”
It might also help you decide where to site your next meeting, or even convince you to give each region a try.
North Florida
It started out Spanish, then the British were coming, and finally North Florida became a U.S. territory and state. You’ll find vestiges of each time period in the region stretching from the Atlantic to the Alabama border. In fact, the 500th anniversary of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon’s landing is being celebrated year-round all over North Florida, from Pensacola to Tallahassee and the place that holds the title of “America’s Oldest City,” St. Augustine.
However, it’s North Florida’s Southern flavor that is perhaps its most striking characteristic, whether you’re visiting an antebellum plantation home, driving down a magnificent canopy road or exploring a Civil War-era fort.
“There’s a saying that the farther north in Florida you get, the farther South you get,” says Gary Stogner, senior marketing director for Visit Tallahassee. “Few things scream ‘Southern’ more than oak trees draped in moss, and we certainly have that, along with the hills, which a lot of people don’t expect.”
Indeed, it was the just-like-home landscape that drew early settlers from Georgia and the Carolinas to North Florida in the early to mid-1800s. They set about creating the grand plantations that still exist today in the rolling countryside surrounding Tallahassee and including the towns of Monticello—a typical Southern locale complete with a courthouse square and opera house—and Havana, a former hub of the cigar industry and now known for its many antique shops.
While the genteel South lives on in North Florida’s plantation homes and historic districts that include Fernandina Beach, filled with Victorian homes, many now operating as B&Bs, remnants of the region’s rough-and-tumble frontier days are everywhere. One example is the Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site in Milton, an industrial park of the 1830s and ’40s, according to Lynne Robertson, chief curator of West Florida Historic Preservation and Historic Pensacola Village.
“It was the first major textile mill in Florida and they produced an incredible amount of material in a short time,” she says.
The site offers a visitor center and museum, as well as an elevated boardwalk through the archaeological remains of the mills.
Other remnants of frontier Florida can be found at the Forest Capital Museum State Park in Perry, home to a museum dedicated to the state’s early forest industry, and the Tallahassee Museum, where a re-created 1880s farmstead includes a real garden planted with corn, sweet potatoes and cotton. PageBreak
Central Florida
Not to be outdone in the history department, Central Florida is bracketed by two major historical enclaves: New Smyrna Beach on the east and Ybor City on the west, the former one of the largest single attempts at British colonization in the New World and the latter a former cigar capital that was a flourishing hub of industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Today, the modern town of New Smyrna Beach, a surfing and arts mecca, surrounds the remnants of a sugar mill dating to 1832 as well as the purported homesite of the city’s founder, Scottish physician Andrew Turnbull. Meanwhile, Ybor City, also known as Tampa’s Latin Quarter, is as lively as it was a hundred years ago, with restaurants galore, social clubs, shopping enclaves and frequent festivals.
But a momentous event from Central Florida’s more recent history has come to define the entire region—the day Walt Disney decided to open his second amusement park in the rich pastureland surrounding Orlando and Kissimmee. More than 40 years after the Magic Kingdom first opened, not only has Disney World expanded to encompass four theme parks and 35 resorts, but all of Central Florida is known for a thriving attractions scene that spans every interest, from the exotic cultures and animals of Africa at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay to the wonders of space exploration at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
But just as Disney has expanded over the past four decades, more growth is on tap for Central Florida’s attractions.
“We’re so fortunate because so many people in the destination are so visionary and realize that it’s not about today, it’s about tomorrow,” says Danielle Courtenay, chief marketing officer for Visit Orlando, pointing to an expanded Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom among the many ongoing improvements throughout the region.
“All the theme parks have new things,” she says. “Universal relaunched Spiderman. SeaWorld will also be opening their new Antarctica experience, and Animal Kingdom will start construction on Avatar Land.”
Courtenay adds that the Atlantis orbiter decommissioned space shuttle will be landing in a new $100 million hangar at the Kennedy Space Center this summer.
Even before Disney came to town, though, this region was still attractions central in the Sunshine State, beloved by travelers for unique sites like Silver Springs near Ocala, home of the famed glass-bottom boat tours that glide across crystal-clear springs, and Weeki Wachee, which is located north of Tarpon Springs and features daily mermaid performances. PageBreak
South Florida and the Keys
Huge wilderness expanses like Everglades National Park, set between Southeast and Southwest Florida, and the Babcock/Webb Wildlife Management Area in Punta Gorda often come as a surprise to those who identify South Florida more closely with its glittering cities and bustling urban areas. In Miami, visitors hope to see and be seen along the busy streets of South Beach, home of critically acclaimed restaurants, casual outdoor cafes, designer shops, laid-back lounges, extreme clubs and an entire universe of entertainment options, from art galleries and live theater to trekking through history.
To the north, Fort Lauderdale’s trendy Las Olas Boulevard is touted as the place “where the beach meets chic,” and you might agree, strolling this “style mile” lined with boutiques featuring everything from couture and jewelry to home decor and art galleries. When the sun sets, Las Olas restaurants stay up late with live bands and full dance floors.
In Palm Beach, art meets shopping and dining in a number of cultural districts, including stylish Worth Avenue, Florida’s answer to Rodeo Drive; downtown West Palm Beach’s Clematis Street, featuring weekly open-air concerts; and the CityPlace District, featuring shops, galleries, nightclubs and restaurants that are accented by tranquil fountains.
“We think Palm Beach is the best way to experience Florida,” says Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of the Palm Beach County CVB, noting the county’s mix of cultural opportunities and outdoor activities, including golf, polo and croquet.
Across the state in picturesque, walkable downtown Naples, trendy restaurants and galleries line popular Fifth Avenue South while downtown Fort Myers and the River District host such regular events as monthly music and art walks.
Past the southern tip of the peninsula, the islands of the Florida Keys hopscotch across Florida Bay and the Atlantic toward the tiny island of Key West, which is as removed from the everyday as it is from the Florida mainland.
By day, Old Town Key West’s Duval Street bustles with activity as visitors check out the art galleries, souvenir shops and outdoor cafes. Following the nightly sunset celebration in Mallory Square, though, Old Town lights up with dining, clubbing and live entertainment, as revelers do the “Duval Crawl,” a 2.5-hour trek through the island’s famous (and infamous) drinking establishments.
