Orlando needs no introduction. Its fame as a family destination for theme parks resounds around the world and draws visitors from every corner of said world. But this larger-than-life playground has more to offer than what lies behind turnstile gates. Visitors of all ages find shopping on scale with its other attractions as well as museums, sports, performance arts, green oases and outlying towns and neighborhoods with their own distinct personality.
    Walt Disney World created the town of Lake Buena Vista, where its empire of fantasy continually grows. From Magic Kingdom in the beginning, the wonderful world has expanded to include futuristic Epcot, entertainment world’s Disney-MGM Studios, and nature’s Animal Kingdom. Throw in a couple of water parks, some miniature golf, a high-tech video arcade, golf and a huge sports complex with a Richard Petty racecar driving experience, and you have just about every entertainment base covered. Downtown Disney complexes provide the ultimate in shopping, nightlife and dining, using the same special effects and gimmicks as the parks. Resorts have kept up with the growth and many have themes spanning motifs from Caribbean to western lodge and from sports to music.

The Keys, dangling somewhere between Florida and the Caribbean – both geographically and philosophically – the Florida Keys are all together someplace else. Just as cleanly as they break from the mainland, they depart from mainstream tempos. Their easy-going attitude, renegade spirit and vibrant coral reefs make them a favorite destination for families, couples, watersports enthusiasts and escapees of all kinds.
    The jumping-off point from reality, Key Largo, leads this journey into island life at its most colorful and outrageous. Addresses along Highway 1 are described in mile marker numbers and shorts and flip-flops are the official uniform of the so-called "Conch Republic."
    Beginning in Key Largo, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protects aquarium-clear waters, its reefs and marine life for the benefit of fishermen, snorkelers and divers. Game and other tropical fish, sea turtles, shells, sea fans and other awesome spectacles await underwater sightseers. Dive shops can set you up with all the gear, courses and transportation you need. One of the most popular spots, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park runs charters to Christ of the Deep, a 4,000-pound bronze statue resting on the sea’s bottoms, and other natural coral formations.

Fort Lauderdale, the fun in big-city, starts at the beach and spreads wide to a full slate of cultural, historical and social activities. Beach-blanket movies such as Where the Boys Are made Fort Lauderdale famous among the young decades ago. It has grown up now. Still a bustling center of sunning, watersports, nightlife and other happy goings-on, it also appeals to families and couples with a science museum, shopping, fine restaurants and beachside festivities.
    The beach action centers along Atlantic Boulevard and Beach Promenade, popular with walkers, cyclists and inline skaters. At its heart, Atlantic Boulevard meets up with Las Olas Boulevard, the chic strip for shopping and noshing. Poke around the edgy galleries and distinctive boutiques. Nearby Beach Place provides another festive shopping scene right across the street from the beach.
    From Las Olas, walk over to the riverside Stranahan House, the city’s oldest home, to learn about Fort Lauderdale’s early days as a turn-of-the-20th-century Indian trading post. Continue then along Riverwalk, which skirts the New River as a linear recreational area perfect for strolling or cycling. Show up the first Sunday of each month for Jazz Brunch. The mile walk passes close to most of the city’s best cultural and social fare: the Museum of Art featuring changing exhibits, Museum of Discovery and Science (hands-down one of the best hands-on museums in Florida), Fort Lauderdale Historical Society’s Old Fort Lauderdale Village & Museum, and Las Olas Riverfront shopping, dining and entertainment district.

Miami, vibrant and charged with the energy of Caribbean rhythms. Miami means big-city sophistication and seductive beaches to those who plug into its unique brand of electric charge. A railroad into the old Indian trading post started Miami down its path as Florida’s most dynamic city and a few works of modern engineering made Miami Beach a sudden hotspot of the 1920s. With a colorful arts scene, world-class shopping, watersports splendor, professional sports and a load of family attractions, Miami makes one of the nation’s most well-rounded metropolitan destinations.
    The greatest influence upon the city’s modern-day personality came with the influx of Cuban refugees that began in the 1960s. They settled in an area dubbed Little Havana, where salsa music blares, men play dominoes in the park and breezes carry strong whiffs of café con leche. Miami’s overall cuisine and arts scene sway Cuban, blended with other local Caribbean influence. Floribbean cooking, a Miami invention, fuses Florida and island technique and products into one of the most popular styles to have hit in many decades.

Palm Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale, the coast continues with a stimulating metropolitan dynamic, but the level of exclusivity, wealth and cultural offerings jump up a notch. Perhaps that’s how it earned its nickname as the Gold Coast. Or perhaps it’s the golden sands that line 47 miles of beach.
    Palm Beach, in the center of all this, epitomizes the social climate as a centuries-old playground of the rich and celebrated. Ever since railroad mogul Henry Flagler brought his railroad to town and erected fabulous hotels for his passengers, the town has been synonymous with luxury. One of the favorite pastimes for modern-day visitors is to simply drive around the island and gaze at the magnificent mansions, then head to one of its landmark restaurants to try and spot a star or government somebody.

Panama City life is a beach and an amusement park ride in Panama City Beach. Two of life’s greatest pleasures come together in one big playground. A favorite for families, especially in spring and summer, Panama City Beach lays out a dizzying selection of parks offering kiddy rides, go-kart tracks, batting cages, paintball, laser tag, a maze, water attractions and miniature golf. Equal in number and variety, its watersports concessions and charters accommodate with glass-bottom boat tours, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving, parasailing, kayaking, waverunning and anything else water-bound you can fantasize. Choose from a high-speed powerboat ride to a leisurely sail aboard a pirate ship or dinner cruise yacht. Divers take advantage of Panama City Beach’s reputation for shipwrecks dating back to World War II. Fishermen cast for billfish, especially during July’s Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament, as well as cobia, mackerel, redfish, pompano and ladyfish.
    Some boating excursions take you to unbridged Shell Island for shelling, beaching and snorkeling totally away from it all. The island is part of St. Andrews State Park, and a shuttle departs from its docks for the short ride across the pass, rich with fish and other marine life. Snorkel equipment is available for rent. The park also offers beaching, fishing piers gulfside and bayside, camping, a historic turpentine still exhibit, and nature trails.
    Other popular beach accesses are the expanding Aaron Bessant Park, across from Dan Russell Pier, and M.B. Miller County Pier, where the fishing is fine. The town’s beaches consistently rank high for their fishing, cleanliness, surfing waves, and pure vacation value. The beach’s best attractions lie along Front Beach Road, including Coconut Creek Family Fun Park, Museum of Man and the Sea and Gulf World Marine Park, which does educational shows and dolphin encounters.

St. Petersburg, a big city that boasts a waterfront downtown scene that pulses with energy. Center of attention, The Pier takes the futuristic shape of an upside down pyramid with a glass elevator to transport you from its ground-level fishermen’s catwalks, boutiques and food court up to restaurants, a marine aquarium attraction, and a five-story view of Tampa Bay.
    At the approach to The Pier sit two of St. Petersburg’s superlative museums: the St. Petersburg Museum of History and Museum of Fine Arts. Other fascinating museums include the Salvador Dali Museum, Florida International Museum, Florida Holocaust Museum and Heritage Village.
    Downtown boasts the domed Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and BayWalk, an entertainment-shopping complex. Hotels in the downtown area range from Victorian B&Bs to the grand and historic Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club; restaurants, from an outdoors purveyor of smoked fish and a favorite breakfast joint marked by a giant chicken to houses of haute fusion. Visit St. Petersburg’s charming waterfront communities – Safety Harbor and Gulfport – for more fun dining and shopping.

Tampa Bay, more than just a big city with all the sophistication, culture, industry and services that implies, Tampa is also a place for family vacations and encounters of the natural kind. Situated on Florida’s largest inlet, Tampa Bay, which separates it from sister city St. Petersburg, Tampa has a lot of shipping history in its past, and in its present. With its strategic position, it began as a Seminole War fort. Later its quick access to the Gulf of Mexico and deep port brought cigar-making and Spanish-American War preparations to town.
    The cigar industry, moved here from Key West, centered in the district of Ybor City. With the factories came immigrant workers from Cuba, Italy, Germany and Spain to flavor the town with the chatter, food and traditions of many cultures. The Cuban influence has stuck most tenaciously and today Cuban restaurants, a redolent coffee-roasting plant, cigar shops and lively Latin festivals persist even though the factories are gone. Shopping and entertainment’s Centro Ybor occupies one of the colorful neighborhood’s historic buildings. Ybor City Museum State Park resides in the old bakery. An inn, restaurants and shops line main street Seventh Avenue, home of the original Columbia Restaurant. Progenitor to a line of Spanish restaurant spin-offs throughout Florida, it stands out with its elaborate tiled exterior and flamenco dancing shows.