Florida Road Trip

Fort Lauderdale → Orlando → Clearwater → St. Petersburg

📅 March 4–14, 2026

About this trip

We spent 11 days in Florida.

Our route looked like this:

Fort Lauderdale → Jensen Beach → Orlando → Clearwater → St. Petersburg → Madeira Beach → Fort Lauderdale.

This trip had everything:

Universal Studios, beautiful beaches, dolphins, and incredible sunsets.

And most importantly — we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.

March 4 — Arrival

We landed at Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport.

After landing we took the free shuttle to the rental car companies and picked up our car from Sixt.

Our first hotel was

La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Ft. Lauderdale Plantation.

The hotel felt a bit tired and old. Old rooms and a pool that clearly needed cleaning.

But after a long travel day we still jumped into the pool and relaxed.

March 5 — Ocean stop

We decided that this trip must include Universal Studios in Orlando.

On the way we stopped at Jensen Beach.

It turned out to be a perfect stop between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando:

• wide beach
• free parking
• beautiful Atlantic Ocean

And this was where I saw a snake at the beach for the first time.

Luckily, people nearby warned us.

March 6 — Universal Studios

After breakfast we took an Uber and in five minutes we were at Universal. We had chosen out of the three parks to go to Islands Of Adventure.

We bought the tickets in advance and used the Universal app to track ride wait times.

First ride of the day:

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

We waited about 60 minutes, the longest line of the day.

Later we split into two groups — thrill rides and calmer attractions.

With my youngest daughter, I did:

• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
• The Cat in the Hat
• Hight in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride

Meanwhile Ievgen and Aleksandra did:

• Jurassic World VelociCoaster

• The Incredible Hulk Coaster

Together we also did:

• Skull Island: Reign of Kong
• The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

And of course a few water rides.

It was a long but amazing day.

March 7 — Clearwater Beach

We drove to the Gulf Coast and stopped at Clearwater Beach.

Our first hotel booking didn’t work out — the room smelled like smoke.

So we immediately booked another hotel:

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Clearwater.

Clean room, heated pool and the best breakfast of the trip.

March 8 — Sand Key Park

We spent the day at Sand Key Park.

Parking — $6 for the whole day.

Temperature:

Water ~ 22°C Air ~ 29–30°C

Perfect beach weather.

March 9 — Madeira Beach

We moved to

Holiday Inn Express & Suites St. Petersburg – Madeira Beach

I emailed them in advance about our anniversary and they upgraded us to a suite with a marina view.

A really nice surprise.

We also visited Florida Botanical Gardens.

There we saw two alligators — one small and one about 1.5–2 meters long.

The big one was trying to catch a blue heron and was hiding among the water lilies.

March 10 — Treasure Island Beach

This quickly became our favorite beach of the trip.

Wide beach, soft white sand, and an easy entry into the water.

All beaches we visited in Florida had:

• free restrooms
• drinking water stations
• outdoor showers

In the evening we went to Pier 60 in Clearwater to watch the sunset.

Street musicians, magicians, and performers created a great atmosphere.

Dinner at Salt Cracker Fish Camp with fresh grouper from the Gulf.

March 11 — Anniversary & Dolphins

We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on the Gulf Coast.

And the ocean gave us a very special moment — dolphins swimming very close to the shore.

They were only about 10 meters away from us and came back several times during the day.

Sunset at St. Pete Beach.

Anniversary dinner at Middle Grounds Grill.

The Mango Nut-Crusted Grouper was absolutely amazing.

March 12–13 — Unexpected extra days

Our return flight with Flair Airlines was cancelled due to a technical aircraft inspection.

Instead of flying home we suddenly had two extra days in Florida.

We explored:

• Las Olas Boulevard

• Anne Kolb Nature Center

• Hollywood North Beach Park

Mangrove forests, birds, crabs, and beautiful nature.

March 14 — Back home

We flew back to Toronto.

And landed… in snow ❄️

After 11 sunny days in Florida.

It was a wonderful trip and a perfect way to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

Florida, we will see you again!

Written, Translated, and Revised by Aleksandra Tsygankova