TRAVEL GUIDE TO OLD FLORIDA
July 26, 2021
The rapid population growth and unchecked development of the past half century have us left us long time Floridians bewildered and saddened for the Florida we have lost.
We remember the way it was and wish it were still the same. We know that can never be, so I created this website to help you find the places that still have that “Old Florida” feeling.
You may be surprised that some of these places are in large urban areas. You just have to know how to get off the beaten path and enjoy the quiet places that exist almost everywhere.
OUR MOST POPULAR PAGES
Florida Road Maps are fun and make travel more enjoyable even in this modern age of GPS and smart phone apps. You can choose a free Florida road map from the 9 on this page that include downloadable PDFs and clickable zoomable versions that can viewed on smart phone, tablet, or desktop. This page also links to a collection of vintage Florida maps that track the state's growth from 1764 to today.
FLORIDA DAY TRIPS BY
THEME OF INTEREST
You may be a person who likes to plan your Florida day trip around a particular theme. You may be interested in outdoor adventure, history, museums, nature centers, historic buildings, or any number of other themes. We can think of at least 23 themes that have been of interest to many people that might also interest you.
FLORIDA DAY TRIPS IN A
100 MILE RADIUS
You can choose a day trip within a 100 mile radius of any of 8 major Florida cities: Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Gainesville, The Villages, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami. The day trips include a wide variety of places and experiences, both by location and theme of interest and cover all of Florida.
FLORIDA ROAD TRIPS AND SCENIC DRIVES
The Florida road trips, and scenic drives you will learn about on this website go through Old Florida on the back roads. Each of our road trip pages include driving maps, photos, and links to information about places along the way. These road trips are where you can still see the Old Florida that is rapidly vanishing.
Some of the best towns and cities in Florida are ones you may never have heard of. This page tells you about more than 200 places, large and small, that can be good places to visit or live. We tell you the history of each town as well as things to do, places to stay and eat, and more.
FLORIDA TOWNS AT THE END OF THE ROAD
Florida end of road towns such as Key West and Cedar Key attract the nonconformist. Maybe it's because once you get there you have no place else to go except the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Florida has at least 25 of these towns, each with its own unique personality.
TOP 200 FLORIDA TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
Everybody knows about the giant Central Florida attractions and theme parks, but there are also many neat places to visit that are just as much fun. Our favorite Florida tourist attractions include small amusement parks, zoos, museums, state parks, theme parks, and oddities.
Florida fish camps are great places to experience authentic Old Florida. They are sometimes overlooked as lodging choices, but many of them do have guest rooms or cabins. This makes them great places to get away for a few days or weeks and experience natural Florida.
The reviews on this website are places that I have actually tried and liked. Many of them have been published before in our free ezine, Florida Heritage Travel. I don't publish bad reviews on this website or in the ezine. You will only see reviews only for restaurants I've tried and liked.
Small inns, motels and hotels are often the most rewarding and economical way to enjoy the delights that Florida has to offer. The places you will learn about on this website have been vetted either by me, my friends or a trusted organization and will not disappoint you.
Campgrounds in Florida enjoy the state's temperate climate that allows camping all year round. This page contains information and links to all of the campgrounds we know about in Florida, from state, local and national parks to private RV parks and more.
The Florida history timeline begins about 12,000 years ago with the first known human inhabitants. There were several ancient Native American tribes that lived in Florida thousands of years before the Seminoles arrived. Florida was first colonized by Spain in 1565 and it has enjoyed an interesting history up through today.
Memories of Florida the way it used to be, especially within our own lifetime. The older you are, the more memories you have. The collection of images, postcards, stories, history, and culture on this website try to take us back to these times.
Our Facebook page has more than 108,003 followers who love off the beaten path Florida: towns, tourist attractions, maps, lodging, food, festivals, scenic road trips, day trips, history, culture, nostalgia, and more.
Take a look. If you enjoy what you see, please give us a like.
Subscribe to our Free Florida Backroads Travel Ezine
Mike Miller of FloridaBackroadsTravel.com has written 25 books on Florida.
Click on the cover display to see his Amazon author page.
Florida Back Roads Travel is not affiliated with or endorsed by Backroads, a California-based tour operator which arranges and conducts travel programs throughout the world.
By Mike Miller, Copyright 2009-2021 Florida-Back-Roads-Travel.com