A Self-Drive Through Florida's Paradise Coast

Thirteen nights from Orlando to the Gulf Coast, self-drive, combining the theme parks with the Everglades, arranged for a family.

The split is the sense of it: five days of theme parks, then eight days of beaches and water, which is roughly the point at which most children have had enough of queuing.

Five nights at the Four Seasons Orlando open it, inside the Walt Disney World resort and minutes from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, with Universal and the Wizarding World, Legoland and the Crayola Experience all within reach. Naples follows after a three-and-a-half-hour drive across the state, with five nights at the Ritz-Carlton, white sand beaches, the shopping and galleries of Fifth Avenue South, kayaking through the mangrove tunnels of the Ten Thousand Islands, fishing in the Gulf and an airboat run into the Everglades. Three nights at the JW Marriott on Marco Island close it, with three miles of private beach and another Everglades trip available.

The rental car, the named properties, economy flights from London, the transfers and UK airport lounge passes are all included; the theme park tickets, the airboat tour, the kayak tour and the fishing charter are all extra, which on a trip with this many activities is worth budgeting for properly. The price shown is per person. No wildlife sighting can be promised. December to April avoids both the summer humidity and the hurricane season. Fourteen days arranged this way means one long drive and then nothing but short ones, which with children in the car is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The Gulf beaches at Naples and Marco Island are calm and shallow, which is the other reason the second half works for families.