With years of roaming around Florida and exploring by foot, bike, and kayak, we have a pretty good feel of what we like.
Consider these destinations as a starting point for your adventures if you’re new to Florida. Each offers plenty of activities to keep you busy in our amazing outdoors.
Since it’s pretty much impossible to come up with just ten trails we’d consider tops in Florida, here’s a list of destinations worth sampling as many of the trails as possible.
The Florida Trail
The Florida Trail spans over 1,500 miles, encompassing hundreds of individual locations to hike and lengthy segments that are simply superb, like the Ocala, Suwannee, and Eglin sections.
It’s our National Scenic Trail, and it’s been around for nearly 60 years. It’s also the top destination for backpackers in Florida.
Sandra has completed it all. She’s written guides to the trail since 2001, most recently The Florida Trail Guide and the Florida Trail app for FarOut Guides.
The Florida Trail Spanning more than 1,400 miles from Pensacola Beach to the edge of the Everglades, the Florida Trail is our statewide National Scenic Trail. Discover the hundreds of hiking opportunities it offers statewide.Cross Florida Greenway
The Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway is a mile-wide piece of public land stretching from the St. Johns River to the Gulf of Mexico, full of trails.
Between Silver Springs and Dunnellon, trails run parallel through this linear corridor to provide hiking, biking, and equestrian users separate experiences.
We’ve been involved with it since its very start, with Sandra helping to plan and route the Florida Trail along it.
But it’s not just about hiking. You’ll find some very popular campgrounds on the Greenway, and several paved bike paths.
For cyclists, the Santos Trails are the top off-road destination in Florida.
You can paddle here, too, with connectivity to the Rainbow River, Withlacoochee River, Silver River, and Ocklawaha River surrounding Ocala.
Cross Florida Greenway Spanning 110 miles between the St. Johns River near Palatka and the Gulf of Mexico, the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway is a mile-wide recreational corridor.Paynes Prairie
One of Florida’s most memorable natural landforms, a vast bowl on which Gainesville perches on the rim, Paynes Prairie is an eternal enigma: sometimes marsh, sometimes lake.
We’ve seen it dotted with flocks of white pelicans and roseate spoonbills, wild horses and bison, an array of purple blooms and of water lilies stretching to the horizon, and more alligators than we could count.
While Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is the natural beginning point from which to explore the prairie, there are many public lands and trails along its rim.
Of the trails laced through it, our favorite is the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, which starts west from Boulware Springs with a rollicking ride through terrain shaped by sinkholes.
Paynes Prairie: A North Florida Gem A natural landform between Gainesville and Micanopy, Paynes Prairie is an immense and ever-changing basin.Big Cypress Swamp
While Everglades National Park draws visitors from around the globe, we find its next-door neighbor, Big Cypress National Preserve (aka the Western Everglades) to be even more fascinating.
But the Big Cypress Swamp is not contained in just one park. It spreads out across a million acres of Southwest Florida from its rain-fed beginnings near Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest.
It seeps in a sheetflow equal to the majesty of the Everglades but instead of through open prairies, concentrated in majestic strand swamps.
In these humid incubators, bromeliads and orchids and ferns and all sorts of wildflowers and wildlife thrive.
There are dozens of places to sample a bit of the Big Cypress, starting with easy boardwalks at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.
Go deeper in Collier-Seminole State Park, Picayune Strand State Forest, the glorious Fakahatchee Strand Preserve, and the trails of the national park itself, including thirty rugged and surreal miles along the Florida Trail.
Big Cypress Swamp A massive ecosystem spanning more than a million acres, Big Cypress is a mosaic of sensitive tropical landscapes seen nowhere else in the United States.The Florida Everglades
After you’ve tangled with the jungly Big Cypress Swamp, head to the wide open spaces of Everglades National Park. The sweeping vistas off the Main Park Road south of Homestead and at Shark Valley are worth the drive.
Trails are short, with the exception of the Wilderness Waterway, the famed 99-mile paddling route along the mangrove coast. Our favorite is the short immersion in the tropical hammock at Pinelands Nature Trail.
If you’ve never been to the park, be sure to stop at the Anhinga Trail and Gumbo Limbo Trail at Royal Palm Hammock. Other habitat showcases include the Pa-Hay-Okee Overlook and West Lake.
One big change to Everglades over the course of our lifetimes: we’ve watched mangroves follow saltwater intrusion from sea level rise, marching north through the park to the entrance boardwalk to the Mahogany Hammock Trail.
For an immersion into the mangrove forest on foot, take the Snake Bight Trail out to Florida Bay.
Everglades National Park In 1.5 million acres across South Florida, Everglades National Park has outdoor experiences from accessible boardwalks and paved trails to rugged adventures in harsh wilderness.Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Nowhere else in Florida will you experience the sheer quantity and quality of birds as you will on Merritt Island.
It is this refuge, created as a buffer to Kennedy Space Center, and its vast mazy marshes along the Indian River Lagoon that makes this such a compelling destination.
While hiking trails here are mostly short, you won’t mind, thanks to the views. Cyclists can go for miles on back roads, with an extension of the Florida Coast to Coast Trail slated to cross the refuge in the near future.
And paddling along the lagoon shoreline means a wild time in wild spaces, with the opportunity for night paddles with bioluminescence in season.
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge With recreational activities ranging from hiking to biking, boating, fishing, and bioluminscent kayaking, Florida's top destination for birding is also home to Kennedy Space Center.Florida Coast to Coast Trail
While it’s still a work in progress, the Coast to Coast Trail gets closer to closing the gaps every year. Only one significant one remains west of Clermont.
John is very excited about this state-spanning paved bike path, which stretches from our home in Titusville on the Atlantic Coast to St. Petersburg on the Gulf Coast.
The route is more than 220 miles. We’re knocking it off a bit at a time.
Florida Coast to Coast Trail With a corridor spanning more than 220 miles across nine Florida counties, the Florida Coast to Coast Trail (C2C) is Central Florida's long distance bike path.St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge
Birds. History. Wide open spaces with coastal views. What’s not to like?
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge hugs Florida’s wildest coastline south of Tallahassee, and it’s thanks to this preserve that this region has maintained its rugged, scenic character.
While most visitors head straight to Lighthouse Drive, the truth is there are many ways to experience the refuge, from the water and on a bike.
You can also backpack across the entire 45-mile width of it along the Florida Trail.
But don’t expect any beaches here, other than tiny spits like the one at the lighthouse. This is marshland along the Big Bend, busy with birds and alligators.
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge Stretching across 86,000 acres in Florida's Big Bend, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge protects one of Florida's longest wild shorelines, more than 43 miles in three counties.Ocala National Forest
Home to more than 100 miles of the Florida Trail as well as dozens of other trails, the Ocala National Forest offers compact access to a Florida treasure: first-magnitude springs.
The oldest National Forest west of the Mississippi on the U.S. continent, the Ocala has an amazing quantity and variety of springs.
Swim, paddle, or just marvel at their hues of aquamarine and robin’s-egg blue.
Ocala National Forest Established in 1908 as the first National Forest east of the Mississippi, the Ocala National Forest is a mecca for hikers and campers, and the birthplace of the Florida Trail.Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail
A 61-mile spur off the Florida Trail through the wilds of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, the Ocean-to-Lake Hiking Trail restores your faith in keeping a portion of this rapidly urbanizing region wild.
Along its length, you’ll experience a microcosm (or as our friend Mary says, a fractal) of everything the Florida Trail has to offer.
Trail runners find it a compelling destination. Thanks to established campsites, you can backpack between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Okeechobee.
With new trailheads and access points being added, day hikers have a growing number of options as well.
But one thing all trail users have in common: wet feet. These wilds are the ancient Northern Everglades, habitats that can be seasonally dry but are often very soggy.
Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail A 61-mile spur of the Florida Trail from Port Mayaca on the east side of Lake Okeechobee through forested landscapes to Hobe Sound Beach on the Atlantic Ocean.Withlacoochee State Forest
The biggest state forest in the Florida peninsula, Withlacoochee State Forest is made up of scattered tracts between Dunnellon and Dade City, all with a single theme: connectivity to this north-flowing river, either along its banks or its tributaries.
Of these, Richloam, Croom, and especially Citrus – home to the Citrus Hiking Trail, one of Florida’s longest loop hikes – are beloved of hikers for their backpacking loops, established in the 1970s by the Florida Trail Association.
Withlacoochee State Forest With more than 155,000 acres spread over several counties, Withlacoochee State Forest is Florida’s second largest state forest, and arguably the most popular for outdoor recreationMyakka River State Park
There are a handful of places where you can stand in the middle of a vast prairie in Florida and see nothing but natural surroundings, but a hike on the Myakka Hiking Trail puts you out in this vastness on a gentle, well-cared-for footpath.
Myakka River State Park also boasts what was the state’s original canopy walk, a boardwalk for birding along the Myakka River, great camping, and some of the biggest alligators you’ll see anywhere.
Myakka River State Park With tall waving grasses, saw palmetto, and the sound of birds, Myakka River State Park is Florida's Big Sky country, blanketing more than 37,000 acres east of Sarasota.