Why safe and thriving Florida is the perfect alternative to California

The Sunshine State’s decision to eschew Covid lockdowns kick-started a tourism boom that continues four years on

He may have just finished a gruelling shift serving 400 runners enjoying a post-exercise drink, but Joey Smith was under no illusions as to how fortunate he is to have his job at a trendy Orlando taproom. 
He’s pretty sure that the Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company would not be in business had it been based anywhere other than Florida these past four years, explaining that many of its rivals in other states had not survived the years of on-off restrictions they were forced to endure during Covid.
“We were only closed for about two months,” he said, pouring me a glass of coffee-flavoured porter. “Then once we started selling pizzas we were considered an ‘essential business’ and allowed to reopen.”
With his ponytail and hipster beard, Smith didn’t strike me as a likely Republican voter. But, like everyone I met travelling through Florida, he has a grudging respect for its no-nonsense Right-wing governor, Ron DeSantis. 
The Republican politician remains popular in his home state for the way he handled the Covid pandemic, lifting restrictions early and thus sparing companies such as Ivanhoe Park the fate that befell hundreds of thousands of businesses across the United States. This bold decision kick-started an economic boom that saw Florida become the number-one state for internal migration, business start-ups and domestic holidays. 
Four years later and the tourism explosion continues – 40.6 million people visited Florida during the first quarter of 2024, an all-time record. I joined the throng to find out what’s luring so many holidaymakers. 
For many people, Florida means theme parks – and to meet the soaring demand, the number of options is growing. Disney recently unveiled plans to open a fifth theme park in Orlando. Universal Orlando, meanwhile, is midway through building its fourth park, which is due to open next year and will include a Super Nintendo-themed zone and rides, as well as a How to Train Your Dragon quarter complete with a Viking-style mead hall. 
Universal’s existing parks are also being crammed with extra rides, with a new DreamWorks-themed zone opening at the original Universal Studios Florida just weeks before my arrival. It’s aimed at kids rather than those in their 30s, but I couldn’t resist. I haven’t been to Universal since I was 16, so almost all the attractions are new to me, from the neck-craning ramparts of Hogwarts (opened in 2010) to the neck-jarring VelociCoaster in the Jurassic Park section (opened in June 2021).
But Florida’s not all loop-the-loops and Shrek animatronics. Orlando itself is unfairly overlooked, full of low-key dining and drinking districts such as North Mills Avenue and the North Quarter, where I enjoyed Brazilian food and a late-night kayak safari (from £45pp) just a 20-minute drive from the parks.
Wherever I went I found signs of robust economic health. There were freshly poured highways and handsome new flyovers – the fruits of an almost £65 billion investment in Florida’s road network made possible by all the new residents, businesses and tourists. Graffiti was almost non-existent, litter even rarer, and its verges were neatly mowed.
It was the same story elsewhere in the state, from mega-cities such as Miami to sleepy, pastel-coloured fishing towns on the Atlantic coast.
How different it all was from the vibe on the opposite side of the country, in America’s other big holiday draw. Like many Britons, I’ve been lured to California in the past, and yet the Golden State has really lost its shine in recent years. Los Angeles and San Francisco, in particular, have become known for their homeless encampments and petty crime. Of course, you can still have a decent holiday in California, but I wouldn’t, for example, spend the afternoon strolling Venice Beach’s iconic boardwalk, like I did Miami Beach’s, stopping for swims in the ocean, my bag left unattended on its white sands. 
Instagrammers visiting Miami love Wynwood for its street-art murals and achingly trendy hangouts serving pricey tapas, natural wines and cold-pressed coffees. I much preferred the cigar factories and taquerias of Little Havana, and the poolside cabanas and pretty people of Mid-Beach.
You could easily spend a week overdosing on Miami’s Cuban cooking and glamorous pool parties, before making the 3½-hour drive north to Orlando for some all-American, white-knuckle adventure. But, keen to explore some of the Sunshine State’s lesser-known bits, I’d interrupted my road trip with a few nights halfway between the two cities, on a quieter stretch of coast that only locals know about.
Stuart, two hours north of Miami in Martin County, was voted America’s “best small coastal town” by the readers of daily newspaper USA Today earlier this year. Like me, they must have been charmed by its quirky boutiques and lively courtyard bars.
If you like sailing and fishing, Stuart and the inlets and barrier islands of Martin County are a real catch – its seas fizz with life, as I discovered during a two-hour sundown sailing trip (from £38pp). Florida’s waters have always been rich with wildlife, from alligators (which you can spot on a guided kayak safari, £50pp) – to turtles, whose hatchlings I watched battling their way to the sea on a free trip organised through the Martin County website.
But good governance has also played a role, according to Anthony Burnett of the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center (£14pp), who told me that billions have been spent on schemes to clean up the state’s rivers and coastline. The investment – funded in part by Florida’s tourism boom – appears to have yielded results. I learnt, for instance, that orcas had been sighted off Martin County’s coast the day before I arrived. 
“Someone spotted them while sitting on the porch outside,” said Catherine Larsen, a chatty local, who was miffed to have missed the sighting by minutes. “I didn’t know orcas came to Florida but I checked Google, and they’re getting lots of sightings now because the water is so clear.” She then showed me a video on her phone of 25 manatees mobbing her boat. Larsen works at the curiously named House of Refuge Museum (£7.50), the last survivor of 10 clapboard cabins built in the 19th century by the federal government as a shelter for shipwreck survivors, back when there were few towns or villages on Florida’s now bustling coast.
In the 1870s, families were paid $400 a year to move here in order to man these lonely stations, which stretched from Miami towards the Georgia border. A century and a half on, no incentive is needed to visit the safe, clean and booming Sunshine State. Even orcas know Florida is the place to be.
America As You Like It (020 8742 8299) has a 13-night trip combining five nights in Orlando, three nights in Miami, and five nights at the Hutchinson Shores Resort & Spa in Martin County, from £1,895pp, including flights from Heathrow, accommodation and 10 days’ car hire.