Planning my first Florida trip and trying to game out some planning.
From Orlando, I'm driving to Miami/Homestead. I assume I'll want to take the Turnpike at least to Port St. Lucie, but is there any reason to avoid I-95 from PSL to Dadeland? Endless suburbia doesn't bother me, and I assume neither route is any more scenic than the other.
On the return, I'm planning on driving up the west coast. I'll already have hit the Everglades at Flamingo by then, but should I take US 41 across the Everglades (are things substantially different from anything I'll have already seen) or go straight to I-75?
Anything worth doing on a short visit to Tampa/St. Pete with a tween?
The Turnpike is a bore, take US 27 or 441 around Lake Okeechobee instead.
This didn't get a lot of traffic in the road trip planning forum so posting here...
Planning my first Florida trip and trying to game things out.
From Orlando, I'm driving to Miami/Homestead. I assume I'll want to take the Turnpike at least to Port St. Lucie, but is there any reason to avoid I-95 from PSL to Dadeland? Endless suburbia doesn't bother me, and I assume neither route is any more scenic than the other.
On the return, I'm planning on driving up the west coast. I'll already have hit the Everglades at Flamingo by then, but should I take US 41 across the Everglades (are things substantially different from anything I'll have already seen) or go straight to I-75?
Anything worth doing on a short visit to Tampa/St. Pete with a tween?
I'll just flesh out what I said already about the roads south of Orlando. Both the Turnpike and I-95 are complete bores. When I lived in Orlando, I would generally take one of the two following ways to the Miami Area by way of Lake Okeechobee when I had to work in the Florida Keys.
Route 1
- CR 15 from east Orlando
- US 192/US 441 to Holopaw
- US 441 to Okeechobee
- Usually, I would bypass downtown Okeechobee via FL 710 but I ended up on US 98/US 441 south to Pahokee.
- FL 715 and FL 80 to US 27 in South Bay.
- US 27 through the Everglades to the Turnpike.
Route 2
- FL 528 and I-4 from east Orlando to US 27.
- US 27 south to the Turnpike through the Everglades.
- FL 17 is a good scenic alternative to the otherwise boring segment of US 27 in Sebring.
Don't waste your time with I-75/Alligator Alley if you want something interesting the Everglades. All the actual Everglades stuff is on US 41/Tamiami Trail. I would recommend trying out the Everglades Loop Road if it isn't raining out. It is a very good gravel road, and you are far more likely to see an alligator in the right-of-way than US 41.
How much of a time loss is it to take US 1 vs the interstates? Yes, part of the destination is the journey but travel with a 10 year old is still traveling with a ticking time bomb.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on January 02, 2026, 02:14:54 PMI'll just flesh out what I said already about the roads south of Orlando. Both the Turnpike and I-95 are complete bores. When I lived in Orlando, I would generally take one of the two following ways to the Miami Area by way of Lake Okeechobee when I had to work in the Florida Keys.
Route 1
- CR 15 from east Orlando
- US 192/US 441 to Holopaw
- US 441 to Okeechobee
- Usually, I would bypass downtown Okeechobee via FL 710 but I ended up on US 98/US 441 south to Pahokee.
- FL 715 and FL 80 to US 27 in South Bay.
- US 27 through the Everglades to the Turnpike.
Route 2
- FL 528 and I-4 from east Orlando to US 27.
- US 27 south to the Turnpike through the Everglades.
- FL 17 is a good scenic alternative to the otherwise boring segment of US 27 in Sebring.
Don't waste your time with I-75/Alligator Alley if you want something interesting the Everglades. All the actual Everglades stuff is on US 41/Tamiami Trail. I would recommend trying out the Everglades Loop Road if it isn't raining out. It is a very good gravel road, and you are far more likely to see an alligator in the right-of-way than US 41.
I tried driving US 1 from Melbourne FL to Islamorada in 2012. Had to give up at Hollywood. Nearly all of it was a slog.
I'll echo Max's comments that US-27 south of I-4 is a good alternative to the Turnpike and to the Interstates in general. A few years ago my wife and I were driving to Fort Myers from the Auto Train station in Sanford. I took the western beltway around Orlando (FL-429) and then I-4 was such a rat race that I got off after one exit in favor of US-27. Much more relaxing drive and it didn't take substantially longer than the all-Interstate route would have. I haven't tried going that way to the Miami area, mainly because on our last couple of trips we've flown into Fort Lauderdale, but I would not hesitate to do so. Bear in mind that the Turnpike is only two lanes on each side for a good long distance once you're south of Orlando, so if the traffic is heavy the drive can be somewhat intense even if traffic is flowing freely, this because of very high traffic speeds combined with the tailgating that is rampant throughout Florida.
(Edited to add "south of I-4" to the first sentence. Other than a very short segment immediately north of I-4, which I used to stop at an Arby's for lunch, I have not been on US-27 in Florida north of I-4, so I don't know how it is as an alternative there. For comparison, US-17 north of Palatka is a nice drive, whereas south of Palatka it's a two-lane road that is not a particularly fast two-lane road.)
It took me almost three years living in Florida to fully clinch US 1. Most of it is an urban slog fest.
Oops! I meant "Route 1" from your post, Max!
The difference was pretty negligible. The hour I might lose was often offset by not sitting in traffic.
US 27 now sucks north of Haines City depending on time of day.