In preparing for your next trip can be an ominous task. Searching for the perfect destination, with enough attractions to hold your attention, while at the same time getting the right price on air, hotel and potential car rental. Why make it challenging? Expedia.com has a plethora of resources as well as Expedia coupons to make booking travel easier, thereby creating the feeling as if your vacation just started.
For most people, Orlando is an image of theme parks, especially Disney World. In fact, it has many more things to offer. Downtown Orlando includes no major amusment parks, but some other awesome ideas for your enjoyment.
Getting There
The city is visited by several travelers between June and August and another peak time is the period between March and April. The best times to visit are those when there are less travelers. Orlando has balmy, warm springs and autumns, usually hot summers with regular thunderstorms and temperate winters. You can arrive to Orlando by commercial air via Orlando International Airport. The airport is located southeast of downtown Orlando.
Theme Parks and Retail Stores
Orlando is a fantastic tourist destination because of the resorts and nearby amusement parks. In the City of Lake Buena Vista located close to Orlando, is the Walt Disney World home, the extravagant private tourist destination in the world. It hosts two water parks, four amusement parks, dozens of hotels, eight golf courses, three shopping districts and much more. Other attractions are Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Adventure Park Orlando, Aquatica, Discovery Cove, Holy Land and Gatorland.
Eating Out and Nightlife
Dining out in Orlando is a hard decision. There are an abundance of pubs, restaurants, bistros and fast food joints and it is impossible not to find something for your particular taste. Some of the recommended places to eat out are: Alexander’s, for contemporary American food, Calypso Bar and Grill, with a themed dinning inspired by Key West, Bubbalou’Bodacious for sandwiches and smoke delights, Rossi’s Pizza for the great taste of the 12 inch thin-crusted pepperoni or Stefano’s Trattoria, a Sicilian restaurant here Stefano himself walks around the tables and makes recommendations.
Orlando’s nightlife is mostly centered on Orange Avenue and Central Boulevard in downtown Orlando. On these streets one can find a lot of bars, or just a short walk away, is the minuscule Thornton Park District, positioned near the crossroads of Summerlin and Washington. Amongst the dozens of pubs and cafés, you may stop in for a quick meal and a libation at Dexter’s on Washington. Most of the downtown avenue crowd comprises of the twenty something generation, but if you are in your thirties or more, you may experience the pleasure of live jazz on a lot of evenings in the lounge of the Westin Grand Bohemian Hotel. It is here that the jazz is excellent and the ambience is relaxed.
Cultural Attractions
There are also a lot of museums in Orlando. Museums can be your solution to enjoying a superb afternoon suitable for any art or history admirer. Some museums to see include; Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, The Orlando Museum of Art, The Orlando Science Center, International Trolley and Train Museum, The Holy Land Experience or Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and Orlando Odditorium.
Arboretum and Recreation Areas
You can experience long walks in some of the Orlando’s gardens and parks. The Arboretum of the University of Central Florida hosting an arboretum and botanical garden on over 80 acres contains over 600 species of plants. The Harry P. Leu Gardens is acclaimed worldwide since 1936 and is the home of the greatest rose garden in Florida.
