Getaways to the authentic Florida
Unique Florida restaurants and bars, authentic Florida fish houses and seafood shacks, crab shacks, tiki bars, beach bars and raw bars.
My idea of a great choice for a place to eat on vacation is a restaurant with a story behind it. Here are eight historic restaurants that fit that criteria — from Prohibition rum-runners to 1980s drug-runners; from authentic 1920s grand hotel to an authentic 1950s diner.
Driving U.S. 1 north of Titusville, you would never know Oak Hill even existed. But this gateway to the Mosquito Lagoon is worth finding. There’s fascinating history, a great fishing pier and the sort of atmospheric, out-of-the-way waterfront seafood shack that we love to discover.
If you want to savor the flavor of the Florida Keys, spend a little time at a tiki bar. Our favorites profiled here are unpretentious waterfront spots where you’ll get good fresh fish, fried everything and a big serving of Keys atmosphere.
At Fruit and Spice Park, you can taste exotic tropical fruit and learn about unusual plants that grow in this fertile rural area in Homestead. There are 500 varieties of fruit, spices and nuts from around the world.
Perhaps you think Florida only produces fruit in winter. Not so. Summer is the time to pick blueberries at Rooney’s Front Porch Farm in Live Oak and Shadrick’s in Pinetta, blackberries at Sweet Berry Farms in Williston and lemons at Camellia Groves in Winter Haven. Some farms have fields of sunflowers in May and June. Check with the individual farms in our guide.
The Fairchild Tropical Garden Mango Festival is June 13-14, 2026. For fanatics, it’s a delight. We attended in 2024 and brought home four unusual varieties for our own mango taste test.
Robbie’s Marina is a don’t-miss stop as you drive through the Florida Keys. Dozens of tarpon, some more than 6 feet long, gather at the dock and lunge for fish from visitors. The restaurant there, the Hungry Tarpon, is highly recommended , too.
The best road food along the Overseas Highway is served out of a handful of iconic kitchens, legendary Florida Keys diners and dive bars.
This weekend’s St. Augustine Lions Club Spring Festival has reimagined its seafood festival past.
The Marathon Seafood Festival calls itself the Original Marathon Seafood Festival to emphasize it’s the real deal – indigenous and authentic. Marathon is a fishing town, and you don’t get fish any fresher than here, unless you catch it yourself.
Four of my favorite stops in the Keys are a little hard to find, and that’s part of their charm. They’re off the Overseas Highway in neighborhoods — and they’re worth discovering.