2-Week Florida Itinerary: Orlando, Springs, Gulf Coast, Everglades and Keys Route

FLORIDA · 2-WEEK ITINERARY · ORLANDO TO KEY WEST

Two weeks is the first length of trip that lets you cross Florida from one side to the other. You start among Orlando’s roller coasters and float in spring water that holds its temperature every day of the year. From there you trade the Atlantic for Gulf sunsets at Clearwater and Siesta Key, drive the Tamiami Trail straight through the Everglades to Miami, and finish where US-1 runs out of road, at Key West.

A single week stays in the south (our 7-day itinerary runs Miami, the Everglades and the Keys), and ten days usually add Orlando and ride the Brightline train down. Fourteen days open a different road altogether: north into limestone spring country, down the Gulf coast, then east across the sawgrass. Nothing on it is driven twice.

On this page

• The full route with nights13 nights from Orlando to Key West
• How many days in Orlando3 days: theme parks and Kennedy Space Center
• Which Florida springs to stop atBlue Spring, Wekiwa and Silver Springs
• Where to see manatees in FloridaCrystal River, November 15 to March 31
• Tampa without a car and Clearwater beachesFree streetcar, $4 bus cap, Honeymoon Island
• Is Siesta Key worth a stop976 parking spaces, a free trolley, three beaches
• Everglades between the Gulf and MiamiEverglades City, Shark Valley and the $35 pass
• Miami to Key West drive time3 h 40 to 4 h nonstop, plus the Dry Tortugas ferry
• What to reserve firstSix bookings in order of lead time
• Best month for a Florida road tripManatee winter or swimming summer
• Florida road trip with kidsCar-seat law, free parks under 6, the reverse loop

Fly into Orlando International (MCO), Florida’s busiest airport with 27,859,783 passengers boarded in 2024, and home from Key West’s own airport, EYW, or drive back to Miami International: about 155 miles, close to 3 h 40. Pick up the car at MCO with a toll plan in place, because the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike down to Florida City has no cash booths. Our car rental guide covers transponders, and the Florida trip cost guide prices the loop.

Florida itinerary 2 weeks from Orlando to the Gulf coast and the Keys

From Orlando the route heads into spring country, drops down the Gulf coast through Crystal River, Tampa, Clearwater and Siesta Key, then turns east across the state on the Tamiami Trail. You enter Everglades National Park at the Gulf Coast entrance in Everglades City and pass Shark Valley on the western edge of Miami. The Overseas Highway closes the loop at Key West, and the Everglades becomes the road between the two coasts instead of a side trip. We give no drive times between Orlando, the springs, the Gulf and Miami because we could not verify them: treat each change of base as its own day with stops.

Three nights in Orlando, one among the springs, one at Crystal River, two on Tampa Bay, two on Siesta Key, two in Miami after the Everglades crossing and two in Key West add up to 13 nights, with day 13 kept for the Dry Tortugas boat and day 14 for the flight home.

Even fifteen days leave two Floridas outside. The western Panhandle runs on Central time: the clock line follows the Apalachicola River, so Destin and the 30A beaches sit an hour behind Orlando, and South Walton makes a trip of its own. St. Augustine, the Spanish old town in the northeast, belongs to another loop out of Orlando, sketched in our weekend getaways from Orlando.

3 days in Orlando

Land at MCO and choose your park days before you look at a single price. Disney and Universal price dynamically by date, so any ticket figure printed today goes stale within weeks, and the operator’s own calendar is the only place to check. Mind March: family school holidays fill the Orlando parks that month, while college spring break weighs on the beach towns instead, spread across several weeks as university calendars differ. Our theme parks guide weighs one park against another.

If rockets beat rides in your family, give one of the three days to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with dated tickets. Standard admission is commonly described as covering Space Shuttle Atlantis, the Rocket Garden and the bus tour to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, and the complex can close at short notice on launch days. Plan the rest with our Orlando guide and the Space Coast guide.

Florida springs road trip

Spring country covers the northern half of Florida, well away from the beaches, where limestone comes close to the surface in a karst landscape of sinkholes, sinking streams and underground caverns. One water management district alone names 155 springs, and it calls Rainbow Springs one of the largest in the world. That geography puts Silver Springs near Ocala, Blue Spring at Orange City and Wekiwa near Apopka right on the way from Orlando to the Gulf.

Get in and you feel the whole appeal at once. A Florida spring holds the same temperature every day of the year: on September 11, 2026, the USGS read a median of 73.4°F (23.0°C) across its monitored springs, in a band from 69.6 to 75.6°F. On a 95°F August afternoon the water is a jolt, and on a 50°F January morning it steams. The clarity comes from volume: Silver Springs was pushing 264 cubic feet per second, Blue Spring 160, water moving too fast for anything to grow. Our springs guide maps the rest.

Near Orlando, Blue Spring has 187 parking spaces and frequently closes to new arrivals when they fill, so arrive before 9 a.m. in winter. Wekiwa Springs, with 325 spaces, now requires a day-use entry reservation for every guest, passholders included: it opens up to 60 days ahead, with same-day slots until the limit is met. We could not read individual park fees or hours, since the state parks site blocks automated reads. Florida state parks as a system open 8 a.m. to sundown.

Your season decides what the springs are for. Manatee season runs November 15 to March 31, and from November 15 Blue Spring closes its spring and run to swimming, snorkeling, diving, tubing and paddling, reopening when the manatees leave. Paddle craft may enter Three Sisters Springs only from April 1 to November 14, outside manatee season. Come in winter to watch, in summer to swim, and read our manatee season guide before picking dates.

Crystal River manatees on the way to Tampa

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1983, is the only refuge the Fish and Wildlife Service created specifically to protect the manatee. It runs no tours of its own. In-water viewing in Kings Bay is run by businesses holding a Special Use Permit, and the refuge publishes Manatee Manners guidance framing the swim as a privilege toward a threatened species.

Much of the refuge is reachable only by water, while Three Sisters Springs has a boardwalk for watching from above, its trails open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Tour sites often say Crystal River is the only place in the United States where swimming with manatees is legal. That line appears on none of the Fish and Wildlife Service pages we read, so we leave it out. We verified no tour price either: operators change rates each season, and the Three Sisters trail fee is set by the City of Crystal River.

Two more state spring parks sit within reach of Tampa, Homosassa Springs with 197 parking spaces and Weeki Wachee with 255 and a swimming area.

2 days in Tampa and Clearwater Beach

Park the car for a day in Tampa. The TECO Line Streetcar is free and runs 2.7 miles from downtown through the Channel District to Ybor City every 15 minutes. The Riverwalk follows the Hillsborough River for 2.6 miles, linking Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, the Tampa Museum of Art and the Tampa Bay History Center. HART buses cost $2.00 by card or app, and the day caps at $4.00. Our Tampa guide fills in the city.

Clearwater Beach lies 20 to 25 miles from Tampa International. Just north, Honeymoon Island State Park holds 2,021 parking spaces, the most of any state park in the 2024 inventory, with 4 miles of beach. Its neighbors count none at all: Caladesi Island (3 miles of beach) and Anclote Key (6.7 miles) are reached by ferry or by your own boat. Our Clearwater guide sorts the three.

Add 12 percent to any quoted nightly rate on Tampa Bay. Hillsborough County, which covers Tampa, and Pinellas County, which covers Clearwater, each levy a 6 percent transient rental tax on top of the 6 percent state sales tax. A resort fee comes on top of that, set by the property itself.

Is Siesta Key worth it on a Florida road trip

Yes, for the sand alone. Siesta Beach is known for quartz-crystal sand and soft turquoise water, and U.S. News & World Report ranked it the Best Beach in the U.S. for 2026. Siesta Key Public Beach has 976 parking spaces, and Visit Sarasota warns they fill fast in peak season, January to April, so plan to arrive as early as you can. Our Siesta Key Beach guide has the full layout.

Staying two nights lets you skip the lot. The 77 Islander Siesta trolley is free and runs daily, roughly every 30 minutes, with Visit Sarasota listing service from 8 to 10. Numbered beach accesses 2, 3, 10 and 13 are pedestrian only. Turtle Beach and Crescent Beach are separate beaches on the key, each with its own character, so check which one a rental sits on.

Driving the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades

On day 10 the crossing from the Gulf to Miami runs through the park itself. Start at the Gulf Coast entrance in Everglades City, the park’s door on the west coast, then follow the Tamiami Trail east to Shark Valley, on the same road west of Miami. Give it a full day as both a driving day and a park day. We found no verified drive time for the crossing, so leave the clock open. Our Everglades guide covers all three entrances.

One ticket covers the whole route. Everglades National Park charges $35 per private vehicle, valid seven consecutive days at all park entrances. Paid in Everglades City on day 10, it still covers the Homestead entrance, the Anhinga Trail and the road to Flamingo on day 11 or on the way to the Keys. Our Florida national parks guide compares passes.

Shark Valley is a 15-mile paved loop. Guided trams cover it, bikes ride it self-guided, and an observation tower stands halfway round. In peak season, December through April, the park advises arriving before 10 a.m. or after 3 p.m. Coming from the Gulf, the afternoon slot usually fits. For a night inside the park, see Everglades camping.

Miami to Key West road trip

Give Miami one or two days. The Miami Beach trolley is free, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on five routes, the Metromover serves Downtown and Brickell for free, and Vizcaya in Coconut Grove closes on Tuesdays. From Miami the Keys run about 155 miles, 3 h 40 to 4 h without stops and six to eight hours with them, the last 113 on the Overseas Highway from Florida City. Our Miami guide and 7-day itinerary cover the stops mile by mile.

Stay two or three nights in Key West, whose Old Town is the largest wooden historic district in North America, flat and built for feet and bicycles. Garage parking runs $48 a day. Book the Dry Tortugas ferry before anything else: the Yankee Freedom III leaves daily at 8 a.m., check-in before 7:30, for about $250 per adult in 2026, including park fee, snorkel gear, breakfast and lunch. It sells out weeks ahead. See our Key West guide and the Dry Tortugas guide.

What to book first for 2 weeks in Florida

Book in this order. The Dry Tortugas ferry comes first because it sells out weeks ahead, and the Key West nights follow its date. Wekiwa’s entry reservation opens 60 days out. In season, the manatee tour and the park days are next. For the car, a portable SunPass costs about $4.99 at Publix, CVS or Walgreens and beats a rental program after two toll days, when Hertz charges about $10 a day. Without a transponder you also lose access to managed lanes.

Best time for a 2-week Florida road trip

Winter delivers the manatees between November 15 and March 31, inside a statewide dry season that runs November through April, with South Florida’s warm, dry stretch from December to April at roughly 65 to 80°F. Siesta Key’s lots fill from January to April, and hotel rates peak from February to April. Blue Spring becomes a boardwalk visit rather than a swim. Our month-by-month guide goes further, and Where to Go in December makes the early-winter case.

Summer turns the springs into the swim of the trip: Blue Spring’s swimming season runs April 1 to November 14, and kayaks return to Three Sisters. Expect highs near 90°F, humidity of 85 to 90 percent and afternoon thunderstorms, with the lowest hotel rates from August to October. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks on September 10, so compare cancellation clauses before comparing rates. Our Florida safety guide covers storm planning.

2 weeks in Florida with kids

Children under six enter Florida state parks free by rule, so the springs make low-cost days with no ride lines, only a parking lot to beat by 9 a.m. Blue Spring’s 3,050 feet of boardwalk and three platforms suit small legs. Pack for the car: Florida law requires an approved restraint for every child aged 5 or younger, a separate carrier or integrated seat through age 3, a booster allowed at 4 and 5. A breach costs 3 license points. Shorten the Keys driving day and keep two full Orlando days.

Starting in Miami and ending in Orlando runs the same road backward. The Keys and the Dry Tortugas come first, the $35 Everglades pass bought at Homestead still covers Shark Valley and Everglades City if you cross within seven days, and the theme parks become the reward at the end. Wekiwa’s 60-day booking window then lines up with the last days of the trip. Our Florida road trip guide has other routes.

The last word

Choose the season first and the route follows: winter for manatees and Gulf sand, summer for swimming in 73°F springs. Then leave room on the Keys day for Marathon. There is no safe place to stop on the Seven Mile Bridge itself, but the restored two-mile span of the old bridge alongside is open to walkers and cyclists, with a car park at the Marathon end and Pigeon Key in the middle. In Key West, the Mallory Square Sunset Celebration starts about two hours before sunset, every night of the year, weather permitting.

Sources & data for this guide

• Spring temperatures and discharge · U.S. Geological Survey, NWIS · checked Sep 24, 2026 (one site returning the no-value code excluded)
• Spring geography and manatee mechanism · Southwest Florida Water Management District, The Hydrology and Water Quality of Select Springs · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Manatee season, Three Sisters paddle dates, refuge rules · U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Crystal River NWR · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Blue Spring and Wekiwa rules · Florida State Parks, read through a search index because the site returns 403 to direct reads · checked Sep 24, 2026. We could not read individual park fees or hours.
• Parking counts (Honeymoon, Caladesi, Anclote, Weeki Wachee, Homosassa) · Florida DEP Recreational Facilities Inventory 2024 · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Tampa streetcar, Riverwalk, HART fares · HART and City of Tampa · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Siesta Key parking, trolley, 2026 ranking · Visit Sarasota County · checked Sep 2026
• Everglades fee, entrances, Shark Valley · National Park Service · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Keys drive times, Dry Tortugas ferry · Florida Keys, Yankee Freedom, NPS Dry Tortugas · checked Sep 24, 2026 (fare subject to change)
• Tolls and child restraints · Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, Florida Statutes s. 316.613 · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Hurricane season · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 24, 2026
• We verified no drive time between Orlando, the springs, the Gulf coast and Miami, and we print no theme-park, manatee-tour or hotel price. Check operators when you book.

To plan your stay

• Best Time to Visit Florida: Dry Season, Hurricane Months and Spring Break Crowds
• Where to Stay in Florida: Hotel Tax by County, Resort Fees and the Eight Bases
• Getting Around Florida: Tolls, Rental Fees, Brightline and Free Transit
• Things to Know Before Going to Florida: Time Zones, Beach Access, Taxes and REAL ID