• Top Restaurants
• Downtown Orlando
• Off The Beaten Track
• Events
• Public Holidays

Downtown Orlando:
Orlando is a city in its own right. Once the outta-town attractions are pared away, Orlando's main distractions comprise the Harry P Leu Gardens, an estate with over 2000 varieties of camellia and an 18th-century mansion; the Orlando Science Center, which has a gator hole and the physics-friendly Tunnel of Discovery; and the Orlando Museum of Art, which showcases Mayan archeological finds. Given these heart-pounding highlights, most visitors use Orlando as a base from which to make excursions to nearby theme parks.

Off the Beaten Track
Blue Spring State Park:
For hundreds of years the Blue Spring area was home to the Timucuan Indians, until settlers killed them off in the mid-1800s. Today, Blue Spring State Park is practicing karmic retribution by doing everything it can to protect a beleaguered resident of a different kind - the endangered manatee.

This park is the best place in the state to see manatees in their natural habitat, especially between November and March, when the St John's River to the north gets cold enough to drive the manatees to Blue Spring's warmer waters. There are campsites and cabins within the park, but book ahead as things get crowded and you can't see a manatee through somebody else's tent.Blue Spring State Park is about 65km (40mi) north of Orlando off I-4, near a town called Cassadaga.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge:
NASA only uses 5% of its land area for making things go boom. It turned over its unused land to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1963, who in turn established the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, where migrating birds stop on their way to and from South America. Manatees, alligators and turtles also inhabit the refuge. The best time to visit is from October to May. Black Point Wildlife Drive, a 6-mile (10km) loop, is a good road for self-guided tours. A two-hour bus tour leaves from the Kennedy Space Center, taking visitors around the coast.

Ocala National Forest:
The Ocala National Forest is a gigantic, old established Florida park with several natural springs and lakes, and fantastic hiking, canoeing, fishing and swimming. You can camp anywhere in the park. Three major spring areas make up the park: Juniper Springs, Salt Springs and Alexander Springs.

Juniper Springs are incredibly clear and beautiful and offer great canoeing. Salt Springs and Alexander Springs have trails through cypress forests. The Lake Eaton Sinkhole is 24m (80ft) deep and 135m (450ft) in diameter, and a staircase leads down into the hole. Nearby Lake Eaton is a good spot for swimming and sunning.

The Ocala National Forest is 16km (10mi) east of Ocala, which is about 96km (60mi) northwest of Orlando and is the best base for exploring the forest. Highway 19 runs north-south through the park and Highway 40 east-west. You'll need private transportation to get there.

Events:
Orlando 's festivals are not exactly major league, though it must be hard to organise a brouhaha in the shadow of a theme park that wants you to believe that every day's a holiday. Locals step out of Fantasyland long enough to celebrate some of Florida 's traditional pastimes like gardening, rodeo and golf.

The Silver Spurs Rodeo has been putting on a fine show since 1944, drawing 50,000 spectators and some of the top rodeo athletes to Orlando in mid-February and again in July. It's the largest rodeo in the eastern US. The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is a big to-do at Walt Disney World in mid to late April. The highlight of October is the Oldsmobile Scramble, when 100,000 amateur golfers putt it out at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Oldsmobile Classic for pros follows. Although Gay Day at Disney is not officially recognized, it's very popular, occurring on the first Saturday in June. In 2002, over 125,000 gay and lesbian visitors descended on Cinderella's Castle, turning the Magic Kingdom into the gayest place on earth on that bright June day.

Public Holidays:
4 Jul - Independence Day
11 Nov - Veterans Day
Second Mon in Oct - Columbus Day
First Mon in Sep - Labor Day
Third Mon in Jan - Martin Luther King Day
Fourth Thu in Nov - Thanksgiving
1 Jan - New Year's Day
25 Dec - Christmas Day
Third Mon in Feb - Presidents' Day
Last Mon in May - Memorial Day
Apr/Mar - Easter