As vacation season approaches us, we are pretty sure we want to go to FL this year. So i am thinking of what part i want to go to and where i want to stay. We did myrtle beach, sc last year and it was great. We stayed right on the beach, had a great view, and left the back door and was on the beach in less then 1 minute. I want the same thing again .


So lets throw out some ideas of places. I want to start looking and what not. Any ideas would be appriciated and if you have a place that you have stayed at and have feedback that would be awesome.

Ft. Lauderdale is my favorite Florida destination (helps having free lodging on the beach though, too).

My #2 place (of all places)...believe it or not is Tallahassee. Beautiful town and not too far from the beaches.

Ft. Lauderdale is a must see for me, too. I had alot of fun there. Spent the week there, then the weekend on Key West. We drove down there. Don't miss that. Unforgettable experience driving down the keys.

In Myrtle I stay at the Kingston Plantation.
When I go to FLA it is either Orange Lake in Orlando Or Seminole Hard Rock In Tampa.

Well you have a number of options, but you need to let us know your preferences first.

Do you have kids?

Want access to touristy stuff like theme parks or more laid back and mellow?

Are you wanting to rent a home/condo/motel for this access?

In general, for those that want a calm relaxing peacefull beach experience with minimal craziness and some opportunity to shell hunt, I recommend the west coast locations of Florida, like Sarasota, Venice, Fort Meyers, Sanibel, Marco Island, etc.

For those that want more tourist action, and heavier surf for ocean activities, try the East coast of Florida. I am personally not a fan of Daytona Beach beachside, since I find it loud and annoying, but some of the areas north and south of there are very nice and give you easy 1 hour +/- access to the theme parks.

When we went to myrtle we stayed in the Beach colony resort. It was beautiful and didnt hurt the wallet. So we were able to do alot more stuff on that vacation. We did a night in NYC, a whole day in washington dc, a night in fredricksbugh va, and a whole day in charleston sc. Plus on our trip to charleston we did a few plantation tours which was nice.


So that is kinda my goal. Find a nice place on the beach, pretty cheap and be able to do like wren said drive down to the keys or something and have a great time and really enjoy it. I mean the things that stick out from the last trip is what i wrote above the little side trips and what not. So i am going to start looking into Ft. Lauderdale. If anyone has ideas, places to see what not throw out any info. I mean i am not going til january so i want to start planning ideas now.

No kids. It will be myself, my gf, and my brother.

No theme parks or anything. More or less nice weather, sandy beach, sun.

I would like a hotel on the beach like i had in myrtle.

I would like the more mellow areas, a little less people, but the occational night life. I was looking into the siesta key area in the past. Which is close to sarastoa on the west coast.

If you want cheap and mellow Ft. Lauderdale probably isn't the best place for you. It'* an expensive place to visit. However, the nighlife and beach scenery is fabulous.

:?:

Ditch the brother...unless he'* paying, of course

Another vote for cruising the keys...there is nothing else like it in the continental US.

P.*., do you fish?

Brother is a major contributor. It is much cheaper to spilt things 3 ways then 2. We saved literally hundreds with 3 people instead of 2. Plus we take his vechile