East Central Florida

East Central Florida is a region of Florida in the Southeastern United States, lying between South Florida and the culturally Southern North Florida to the north.

Regions

The region's primary tourist cities and attractions

Space Coast The home of Kennedy Space Center and the Brevard County Manatees baseball team.

Lake County A destination for many natural attractions, including part of Ocala National Forest, part of Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, Lake Griffin State Park, Lake Louisa State Park, and Rock Springs Run State Reserve.

Greater Orlando Home to Orlando, Walt Disney World, and Houston Astros Spring Training Baseball.

Volusia County Roughly the size of Rhode Island, the county promotes the area as being the "Fun Coast," as the local area code 386 spells out the word "fun."

Cities

• 1 Cape Canaveral - Home of the Kennedy Space Center and Port Canaveral
• 2 Cocoa Beach - Beach community near Kennedy Space Center
• 3 Daytona Beach - Home of Daytona International Speedway and the Daytona Cubs baseball team
• 4 Melbourne - A principal city of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville metropolitan area
• 5 New Smyrna Beach - Offers miles of beautiful beaches
• 6 Orlando - Home of Universal Studios and SeaWorld
• 7 Ormond Beach - Offers miles of beautiful beaches
• 8 Sanford - Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens
• 9 Titusville - west of the Kennedy Space Center

Other destinations

• 1 Blue Spring State Park
• 2 Canaveral National Seashore
• 3 Disney World
• 4 Ocala National Forest
• 5 Universal Orlando

Understand

The central part of Florida's peninsula has few geographical features, and those that exist do not separate central Florida into regions. The large Orlando metropolitan area is the most significant feature that comes between the eastern and western coasts, but due to the presence of Daytona Beach and other coastal cities with little in common with the inland metropolis, the term "East Central Florida" is not a shared cultural identity. It is more accurately a group of neighboring counties — Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, and Brevard — with little in common.

East Central Florida is most accurately divided into two regions, though these do not correspond with county lines. First is the coastal region, which attracts tourists visiting beaches and the Kennedy Space Center. Second is the inland region, dominated by Orlando and known for Orlando Airport and theme parks. The dividing line between the coast and inland regions roughly follows the route of I-95, a few miles inland from the Intracoastal Waterway, which separates the tourist islands and the mainland.

Talk

English is the official language of the state. However, the Spanish language is making inroads throughout the state. Native-born Floridians will usually speak in a southern accent. However, after the migration of millions of Americans from other states to Florida, the southern dialect is becoming diluted with other accents.

Get in

By plane

• Orlando International Airport (MCO ^IATA) - close to Disney World and the surrounding attractions south of Downtown Orlando. It airport offers car rentals and free shuttles to Disney World for visitors.
• Orlando-Sanford International Airport - in Sanford, north of Orlando. Orlando-Sanford is geared to airlines that operate charter services, such as Allegiant Airlines in the United States, and a host of flights from the United Kingdom. Icelandair offers nonstop flights to Iceland. The airport is approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of Orlando International Airport.
• Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB ^IATA) - the largest airport in Volusia County, which is served by Delta, JetBlue, and American Airlines.
• Melbourne International Airport (MLB ^IATA) - fly directly into Melbourne Beach and hop right on to a surf board!

By bus

East Central Florida is served by Greyhound Bus Lines, which has scheduled stops in Orlando and other cities. The Greyhound routes connect with other major cities in the United States of America.

Get around

By train

• Sun Rail, ☏ +1-855-724-5411. M-F 5AM-11:30PM. Sun Rail is a north-south train on weekdays through Sanford, Orlando, and Kissimmee, from Poinciana at its southern end, and DeBary at its the northern end. Bus connection is provided from Orlando International Airport to the Sand Lake Road station by Links 11, 42 and 111; and from Orlando-Sanford International Airport to the Sanford station by Link 46E. $2-5 one way. (updated Jan 2019)

By bus

• LYNX - Public transportation by Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority. With the main hub centered on Orlando, bus service provided in Osceola, Orange, and Seminole Counties. Some buses link to neighboring counties. Service to Disney World is available.
• SCAT - Public Transportation by Space Coast Area Transit, offers bus service around Brevard County.
• VOTRAN - Volusia County Transportation service. Offers buses, shuttles, special services for the disabled and elderly. Connection offered with LYNX to reach Orlando.

See

• John F. Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center in Cape Canaveral
• Canaveral National Seashore - 24 miles of undeveloped beach, sea turtle nesting.
• Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge features manatee, bird, and other wildlife watching, hiking, canoeing and kayaking.
• Public Beaches - Brevard County and Volusia County.

Do

• Surfing in Cocoa-Rockledge and Daytona Beach

Eat

In Titusville, rock shrimp and other local seafood are specialty.

Stay safe

General information about safety in Florida is found at Florida#Stay safe, while specific details about safety can be found in individual city articles.

Go next

• West Central Florida