Orlando is the parks. Then it is manatees, rockets and airboats.
Which manatee swim puts a guide in the water with you. What the Kennedy Space Center bus tour adds to the ticket. Whether the glow paddle is worth a late night. Reviews of the days out you can book from Orlando.
Four rides out of Orlando
from $76Car 1 · The springsMost Popular 3hr Manatee Swim Tour + In-Water Guide!
from $83Car 2 · The launch padsKennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Ticket
from $37Car 3 · The marshFlorida Everglades Airboat Tour and Wild Florida Admission with Optional Lunch
from $75Car 4 · After darkBioluminescence Night Kayaking Tour of Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
Central Florida keeps its best water 72 degrees all year. Pick how you get in.
Kings Bay manatees, a clear hull over Silver River, an airboat across the marsh or a paddle through the glowing lagoon. Five ways onto Florida water, what each costs, and where it starts.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Rock Springs 2-Hour Glass Bottom Guided Kayak Eco Tour
Manatee snorkelsSnorkel beside them in Kings Bay, a guide in the water.
Clear-kayak springsA see-through hull over the Silver River boils.
Airboat runsFast and flat across the marsh, gators on the bank.
Glowing night paddlesEvery stroke lights up the lagoon on warm, dark nights.
Dolphins and mangrovesTunnels through the Thousand Islands, pods in the Banana River.
All 137 Orlando kayak days →
Orlando is the base. The Gulf coast and the Space Coast are each a drive away.
The parks and the lakes in town, airboat marsh to the south, manatee springs two hours west, rockets and surf an hour east.
SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, Universal: Orlando’s gate tickets and the shows after dark.
The park ticket is the one booking nearly every Orlando trip makes. Buy it before you land, then add a dinner show for the evening the feet give out.
An hour east of Orlando, the rockets still go up from Cape Canaveral.
Shuttle Atlantis and a Saturn V under one roof at Kennedy Space Center, then the barrier island: dolphins in the Banana River, a surf lesson off Cocoa Beach, the lagoon after dark.
Rocket halls, manatee boats, airboats: the Orlando bookings at the top.
Every Orlando tour review →The days out more Orlando visitors pay for than any others, and the reason each one sells.
1
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Ticket
Spend a day at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island. Your ticket covers Space Shuttle Atlantis, the Apollo/Saturn V Center, the Rocket Garden, shows, films and most attractions. Ride the Shuttle Launch Experience, explore Gateway and the new gantry at Launch Complex 39, and allow plenty of time: the site is large, and a live launch is possible but never guaranteed.
From · $83
Read our review →
2
Kennedy Space Center: Entry Ticket with Explore Bus Tour
from $92
3
Most Popular 3hr Manatee Swim Tour + In-Water Guide!
from $76
4
Florida Everglades Airboat Tour and Wild Florida Admission with Optional Lunch
from $37
5
The ‘OG’ Manatee Snorkel Tour with In-Water Guide/Photographer
from $76
6
Rock Springs 2-Hour Glass Bottom Guided Kayak Eco Tour
from $115
7
Manatee Swim Tour with In Water Photographer
8
Crystal River Three Sisters Springs and Manatee Clear Kayak Tours
Three things you will not find on the Orlando park maps.
Theme parks get built anywhere with enough land. Warm springs full of manatees, a lagoon that lights up and the marsh where the Everglades begin do not.
The Crystal River Manatees
When the Gulf cools below the high sixties, West Indian manatees move up into Kings Bay, where the springs hold at 72 degrees all year. On a cold January morning hundreds crowd in. It is the one place in the United States where you can legally get in the water with them, under passive-observation rules: float, look, never chase or touch.
- 1Most Popular 3hr Manatee Swim Tour + In-Water Guide!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,782 reviews
- 2The ‘OG’ Manatee Snorkel Tour with In-Water Guide/Photographer★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,539 reviews
- 3Manatee Swim Tour with In Water Photographer★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,300 reviews
The Indian River Glow
Through the warm months the Indian River Lagoon fills with plankton that flash blue-green when the water moves, so every paddle stroke and every passing mullet leaves a trail of light. Later in the year the comb jellies take over. It only shows against a dark sky, which is why the trips run late and follow the moon.
- 1Bioluminescence Kayak Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 831 reviews
- 2Bioluminescence Night Kayaking Tour of Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 605 reviews
- 3Florida Bioluminescence Kayaking Tour (Titusville)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 350 reviews
Airboats on the Kissimmee Marsh
The Everglades start south of Orlando. The chain of lakes drains through the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee and on into the sawgrass, and the shallow marsh around Lake Toho is airboat country, flat and full of alligators sunning on the banks. Rides run from half an hour to a whole afternoon, and the morning ones see the most birds.
- 1Florida Everglades Airboat Tour and Wild Florida Admission with Optional Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,576 reviews
- 2Everglades Airboat Ride and Wildlife Park Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,459 reviews
- 390 minute Everglades Airboat Tour near Orlando Florida★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,222 reviews
Four Orlando bookings that run on someone else’s calendar.
Most of a Central Florida week can be sorted the night before. These four run on seasons, launch schedules and the moon, and the good dates go early.
- 01Most Popular 3hr Manatee Swim Tour + In-Water Guide!Manatee season is November to March, when the cold pushes them into the springs. Winter weekend boats out of Kings Bay fill first.
- 02Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex TicketLaunch days bring crowds to the complex. Check the launch schedule before you pick a date, whichever way you want it.
- 03Bioluminescence Kayak TourThe glow needs warm water and a dark sky, so trips bunch around the new moon in summer and the small groups sell out.
- 045 Hour Scalloping Charter for 4 people from Crystal RiverBay scallop season in Citrus County runs from July to late September only. Outside it, nobody is collecting.
From June to September, the Orlando sky opens most afternoons.
Summer storms build over Central Florida after lunch, pour for an hour and clear by dinner. Lightning shuts the lakes, the springs and the open-air rides while it lasts. Swim and paddle in the morning, then sit the storm out under a roof.
What a day out from Orlando actually costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by price per person. An airboat ride and a gator park cost less than a park parking pass and a lunch.
Airboat rides, attraction tickets, dolphin runs and the cheaper kayak trips.
Manatee swims, clear-kayak springs, Kennedy Space Center with the bus tour.
Park-hopper tickets, private helicopter flights and charters for the whole group.
Orlando, the Gulf springs and back to the Atlantic in a week.
Kissimmee
Cape CanaveralBy place: the city, the springs, the coast
By kind of day: water, wildlife, tickets or a night out
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