Florida bucket list: 65 fun things to do, places to visit from the Keys to the Panhandle
Summer is the perfect time to explore Florida and to help we have updated our annual bucket list of the best things to do and places to visit in the Sunshine State. The travel experts at Tripadvisor recently unveiled the winners of their 2023 Travelers' Choice Best of the Best "Things to Do" Awards, and you'll find the top picks from Florida on our list as well, plus many more fun options.
Our picks include world-famous attractions and hidden treasures, with destinations spanning from the Panhandle to Central Florida and Key West. From charming beach towns along the Atlantic coastline to those nestled along the Gulf of Mexico, there is something for everyone. Our bucket list of 65 essential things to do and places to visit features contributions from USA TODAY Network staff members based in communities throughout Florida. So go ahead and enjoy exploring the Sunshine State!
Best waterfront restaurants in Florida: 15 favorites for food, drinks and fun!
Florida's best rooftop restaurants, bars Our favorites from across the state
15 of Florida's best burgers: From restaurants and food trucks to a bait shop and a boat
Play in the sugary soft sand at Siesta Beach, recently ranked the second best beach in the U.S. by Tripadvisor, and among the most popular attractions in Sarasota County.
Bucket list: Discover Sarasota's 100 best restaurants, fun things to do, places to visit
2. Bring the kids, bring the dog, bring an appetite, then sit back and enjoy the music at Boxi Park, an Orlando-area eating and entertainment venue on Lake Nona built from shipping containers.
3. Canoe or kayak down the Great Calusa Blueway.
4. Dine on authentic Spanish and Cuban cuisine at Columbia, the oldest restaurant in Florida. Then explore surrounding Ybor City, the historic cigar manufacturing neighborhood that has been home in recent decades to many of Tampa’s top restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
5. Dinner and a show don't get much better than in downtown Sarasota, which is home to a vibrant restaurant scene and theater district with nearby luxury hotels including a Ritz-Carlton and Art Ovation.
6. Drive through Lion Country Safari, a four-mile preserve in Loxahatchee that’s roaming with some of the nation's largest wild herds (think rhinos, giraffes and zebras). There’s an adventure park onsite as well, offering children’s rides, water slides, animal feeding and a safari tour boat.
7. Eat, drink and play on the 26-acre St. Pete Pier. It's equipped with everything from a splash pad and nature walk to waterfront restaurants such as Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, which is named after the main character in over 20 novels by bestselling Sanibel Island author Randy Wayne White.
8. Sip Florida's best beer at Hell 'n Blazes in downtown Melbourne. The brewery's Huggins Hefeweizen was named the best beer in Florida in 2023. If that leaves you wanting more, traverse the Space Coast Beer Trail and visit all the breweries on the Launches and Lagers list to earn your very own mission patch.
9. Enjoy a fantastic meal in a setting you’re unlikely to find anywhere else when you visit the iconic McGuire's Irish Pub in downtown Pensacola. With more than $1 million stapled to the ceilings and walls throughout the original 1927 old firehouse filled with themed rooms, no two visits will be the same. You can also get the same great food at their newest location in Destin.
10. Even if you’re one of those classy folks who eschew theme parks, it’s hard to resist the allure of Walt Disney World: traipsing around the World Showcase at Epcot, shopping and dining at Disney Springs, meeting the Na’vi in Pandora at Animal Kingdom, stepping into the movies at Hollywood Studios and ending your night under the fireworks at Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom.
11. Experience Florida culture with a swamp buggy race in Naples.
12. While in Naples, visit the Revs Institute ― one of the 10 best auto museums in the world.
13. Explore the mangroves with an airboat ride out of Everglades City.
14. Feed the giant, snappy tarpon at Robbie’s, an Islamorada marina that features a restaurant and funky artisan marketplace. They’ll cook your catch here and delight you with island-y merch.
15. Find your particular brand of fun along the 2.5-mile Tampa Riverwalk. It's dotted with restaurants, bars and hotels plus an aquarium, hockey arena, performing arts center, children’s museum and a public waterfront park.
16. Float down the Ichetucknee River on a tube, kayak or canoe, where the crystal-clear water is 72 degrees, regardless of the weather.
17. The Brevard Zoo consistently lands on lists Best Zoos in the United States. The rest of the country has realized what we've known all along. Take the Treetop Trek and zipline over monkeys and other critters. Kayak by past giraffes, rhinos and lemurs in Expedition Africa, or just wander the trails and discover what (or who) is waiting around the corner.
18. Get lost in the lush wonderland that’s the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in southern Coral Gables. More than a stretch of manicured greens and lakes, this is an 83-acre garden that has only diversified in flora since its founding in 1938.
19. Get your prehistoric reptile fix and see all the gators, from babies to 14-footers, including the blue-eyed, white leucistic alligators at Gatorland in Orlando.
20. Go shelling on Sanibel Island.
21. Go to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Gateway to the Panhandle Section of the Great Florida Birding Trail, it's where you can see as many as 250 different species throughout the year.
22. Grab a rumrunner to go from The Jetty Lounge – with a floater on top if you're feeling adventurous – and take a walk among the fishermen along the South Jetty. Watch the waves crash inside the Fort Pierce Inlet and possibly catch a glimpse of curious manatees or dolphins.
23. Grab unexpected views of Miami and Biscayne Bay from the eastern steps at the Pérez Art Museum Miami downtown. Sure, you can take in the same view from the terrace at Verde, the PAMM’s waterfront eatery. But you can also buy a cortadito at the Verde café stand and find a quiet space on the steps. Look all around. You’ll feel as if you’re viewing the metropolis from the deck of a boat.
24. If you’re coming to Pensacola, and you should, you’ve got to do it on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when you can almost always watch a free Blue Angels practice show from June to October as they perform their mind-blowing maneuvers from NAS Pensacola.
25. Just about any Saturday, a parking lot under the bridge that carries I-95 over the St. Johns River in Jacksonville becomes the Riverside Arts Market, where visitors can buy original arts and crafts, locally grown produce and the best kettle corn in the state.
26. Look a reticulated giraffe in the eye from the elevated platform at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ Savanna Blooms Overlook.
Jacksonville bucket list: 25 things to see, places to go on Florida's First Coast
27. Meet Superman, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Swift, Shaq and Jimmy Fallon – or at least take a picture with them – at Madame Tussauds, “the world’s greatest wax museum,” in Orlando.
28. No trip to St. Augustine is complete without a walk down St. George Street, which is lined with shops and restaurants and sunburned tourists.
29. On a clear day, take in the view from the 22nd floor observation deck of the Florida Capitol.
30. Pack your skateboard, bicycle, running shoes, volleyball, dog and/or child and spend the day or several nights at Bradenton Riverwalk, which also includes a splash park and playground along with restaurants, bars and a couple of waterfront hotels.
31. Regardless if you’re interested in viewing 16th European paintings in its Museum of Art, exploring the first-of-its-kind Circus Museum or simply relaxing on the Ca' d'Zan terrace overlooking Sarasota Bay, there are lots of fun and educational activities at The Ringling, which was founded by Florida’s famed circus magnate John Ringling in 1927. He also established the nearby shopping and dining destination St. Armands Circle.
32. Road trip to Key West and have your photo taken at the Mile Marker 0 sign before having a few drinks at the nearby Green Parrot Bar.
33. Savor super fresh seafood while dining on the docks of Star Fish Company in the historic commercial fishing village of Cortez, which is located on north Sarasota Bay in Manatee County by Anna Maria Island.
34. See a sunset at the Naples Pier – and clap with the crowd when the sun goes down.
35. Swim with the manatees in Crystal River, which recently made Tripadvisor's list of Top 10 Experiences in the U.S.
36. Shop, sip, eat, repeat, then check out the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Morse Museum in Winter Park.
37. Sip a frothy milkshake at the vintage Robert Is Here fruit stand in Homestead, a favorite stop for travelers headed south to the Florida Keys. Your options are deliciously tropical: guava, mamey, mango, papaya and others. Founded in 1959, the place is thoroughly Old Florida.
38. Spend the day window shopping or a night of eating and bar hopping in Panama City's historic St. Andrews, which includes the St. Andrews Marina and is regularly the site of music events, farmer's markets and more.
39. Have a drink and listen to live music at St. Pete Beach landmark Jimmy B’s, one of our favorite beach bars in Florida.
40. Spend quality time in each of the three adorable cities found on charming Anna Maria Island, which stretches for seven miles off the coast of Manatee County just south of Tampa Bay and includes many of our favorite restaurants.
41. Stay the afternoon or perhaps a few nights on Charlotte Harbor at Fishermen’s Village, which offers restaurants, a resort and marina on the site of a pier that held fish houses.
42. Take an off-road safari among African wildlife in the heart of Tampa via Busch Gardens’ amusement and animal park, which also includes thrill rides such as Tigris, which opened in 2019 as the tallest launch coaster in Florida.
43. Take in glorious views of the iconic red Jupiter Lighthouse and inlet waters from any of the restaurants and bars perched on the shore across the waterway. Terrific options include the laid-back Square Grouper Tiki Bar (which also has a Fort Pierce location), the fancier eateries at the Charlie and Joe’s at Love Street complex and the beloved Jetty’s and U-Tiki Beach restaurants.
44. Venture to the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. Whitehall, a 75-room, 100,000-square-foot Gilded Age mansion was built by Henry Flagler as a wedding gift for his wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler.
Bucket list: 55 fun things to do in Palm Beach County
45. There are lots of places to go ziplining in Florida, but Crocodile Crossing, the course that runs over the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, may be the only one where visitors glide over a pit of hungry gators.
46. Tour the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers.
47. Visit Wakulla Springs State Park located south of Tallahassee, home of the world’s largest and deepest freshwater springs, and take a boat ride to watch for manatees, birds, alligators and more.
48. Walk the grounds of Tallahassee's Mission San Luis de Apalachee, a reconstructed Spanish Franciscan mission, to see what life was like in the 17th century.
49. Walk the wilds of Central Florida and get up close with nature at the Circle B Bar Reserve, a 1,200-acre nature park nationally renowned for its alligator activity.
50. Wander through the Norton Museum of Art, a work of art itself after a $100 million makeover in 2019. You’ll be welcomed by an 85-year-old banyan tree and a giant, pop-art typewriter eraser (by artist Claes Oldenburg). Inside the West Palm Beach institution, find world-class displays and walk below an Insta-worthy Persian Sea Life Ceiling. That's 600-pieces of underwater life recreated in Chihuly glass.
51. Watch the manatees at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, about 30 minutes west of Daytona Beach in Volusia County. When temps dip in January, it’s prime time for manatees at the park, an occasion celebrated at the annual Blue Spring Manatee Festival on Jan. 22 and 23 at nearby Valentine Park.
52. Watch the water of the Indian River Lagoon explode with bioluminescent light during a stand-up paddle board or kayak adventure on a moonless summer night, with tours leaving from Titusville and Merritt Island.
53. Witness history in the making by viewing a rocket launch from the beach, anywhere from Indialantic to the Canaveral National Seashore, then spend an afternoon at Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.
54. You can't be in Gainesville and miss a football game and some tailgating in "The Swamp," the University of Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium home to the Florida Gators and almost 90,000 roaring fans.
55. You don’t have to be a Harry Potter fan to fall in love with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure; and while at Islands of Adventure, don’t miss Jurassic World and the thrilling VelociCoaster.
56. Stop in Tallahassee during football season to catch a Florida State University Seminoles game and don’t miss the kickoff with Osceola riding out on Renegade to plant the spear on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium.
57. Late in the summer, the water in the rivers and ocean along the Space Coast sparks with light. It's a magical experience when viewed from a paddle board or kayak. Check out the "Things to Do" section at visitspacecoast.com for links to multiple companies that offer guided tours.
58. Commune with the astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island. The interactive children's area, the iMax movies, the bus tours and Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex all are amazing. And if the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit is guaranteed to move you to tears.
Brevard Bucket List: 35 things to do on the Space Coast this summer or anytime
59. Visit “The World’s Most Famous Beach” in Daytona Beach where you can swim, fish and even drive along 23 miles of coastline.
60. During the summer, take in a Minor League Baseball game and watch the Tortugas take the field at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach.61. While the Daytona 500 takes place once a year, the Daytona International Speedway is open year-round with guided tours and a museum paying tribute to the history of racing. It's a must-see for any race fan.
62. If you've ever dreamed of swimming with the dolphins, check out Marineland Dolphin Adventure in St. Augustine where you can interact with marine life one-on-one.
63. Also, consider swimming with the dolphins at The Dolphin Research Center "dolphinarium" on Grassy Key.
64. Take the Little Havana food and walking tour in Miami, which recently topped Tripadvisor's list of best Food & Culinary Experiences.
65. Catch a sunrise on an Atlantic beach and a sunset on a Gulf Coast beach on the same day. End that day with dinner and drinks at one of these waterfront restaurants.
Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida bucket list: 65 fun things to do and best travel experiences
