Gulf Coast Getaway II
8 days / 7 nights
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Day
1
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MIAMI BEACH
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Start your day by exploring the Art Deco Historic District, the largest display of Art Deco architecture in the world. It consists of hotels and apartment buildings from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Take a stroll along the Ocean Drive – north-south boulevard that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Visit the Lummus Park, which runs along the Ocean Beach. The park offers a great view of Ocean Drive and its line-up of Art Deco Hotels. Other places of interest, worth seeing are: Washington Avenue, Lincoln Road Mall, Collins Avenue and Collins Park, Bass Museum of Art.
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Day
2
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MIAMI BEACH
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Back on the mainland, Miami offers a vast array of sights and attractions. Downtown Miami emanates the lively atmosphere of a Latin city. Visit the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, which recounts the region’s colorful past. Grab a bite at Bayside Marketplace, which overlooks the Biscayne Bay. Walk the streets of Little Havana, one the city’s most vibrant and exotic neighborhoods.
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Day
3
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MIAMI BEACH » NAPLES (130 mi / 208 km)
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Naples, an upscale town reminiscent of Palm Beach, is the last urban settlement before the Everglades and the Big Cypress Swamp. Due to its great concentration of golf courses - about 40 of them - Naples is the self-proclaimed "Golf Capital of the World". The downtown Naples district is perfect for lingering around, with its shaded courtyards offering tea- and coffee sipping possibilities, and art galleries lining 3rd St South. The area is especially a shopper’s haven with numerous individually owned shops instead of chain-stores, offering merchandise of a refreshingly individual and outspoken character. For specimens of the upscale regular retail outlet variety, head for 3rd St South. After sunset, get a bite and enjoy the festive atmosphere courtesy of the keyboard soloists, tape-backed crooners, Elvis impersonators and other archaic street side delights
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Day
4
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NAPLES » ST PETERSBURG (155 mi / 248 km)
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Where Tampa exudes the vibe of a fast business center, St. Petersburg defines Tampa on vacation. St. Petersburg and surroundings possess a double personality: while the west side sports busy and bustling St. Petersburg Beach with a long row of extended beaches up the Gulf coast, the east coast on the Tampa Bay is home to downtown St. Petersburg, which is the cultural center of the region, and home to several exquisite museums (Salvador Dali Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida International Museum).
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Day
5
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ST PETERSBURG » ORLANDO (110 mi / 176 km)
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Before departing for Naples, you can visit Tampa, one of Florida’s more robust cities sporting a sizable harbor, is an active business and trade center. To boot, Tampa boasts a busy cultural life and the region largest theme parks (Busch Gardens). Downtown Tampa brings you amongst others the splendid Florida Aquarium, the highly respectable Tampa Museum of Art and the breathtakingly bizarre former Tampa Bay Hotel, while the quintessentially Cuban neighborhood of Ybor City, the former “Cigar Capital of the World”, has become a popular tourist attraction buzzing with day- and nightlife
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Day
6
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ORLANDO
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Visit Walt Disney World Resort, a city within a city, which is twice the size of Manhattan Island. Four extensive theme parks – Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney MGM Studio – will keep you occupied for the rest of your day. If Walt Disney World Resort was not enough, check out Universal Orlando Resort, the second largest resort in Orlando after Disney. Get in touch with nature at Seaworld Orlando, the 200 acre marine adventure park. It combines entertainment and education in its numerous animal shows, touch pools and aquariums. Continue your bond with Mother Nature at Discovery Cove. Its main attraction is the 45 minute lecture and guided interaction with a bottlenose dolphin at Dolphin Lagoon.
As an alternative to theme parks, visit Wekiwa Springs State Park (20 min north of Orlando). It has a vast network of 13.5 miles of trails allowing for hiking, bicycling and horseback riding.
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Day
7
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ORLANDO » MIAMI BEACH (270 mi / 435 km)
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Depart Orlando early in the morning and head towards the “Space Coast”. It is home to Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s launch headquarters. Here you can tour the launch areas, see giant rockets, train in spaceflight simulators or even experience a launch. After the Space Center drive to Cocoa Beach an internationally famous stretch of Atlantic beach. Cocoa Beach Pier is THE place for bars, restaurants, gift shops, fishing and live music. Once back on the road, going towards Miami Beach, do not forget to make a pit stop in Palm Beach, famous for its lavish multimillion – dollar mansions.
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