Unique Experiences You Can Only Have In Florida

Florida is the only state in America with a tropical climate, endowing it with the astounding, alluring natural beauty of plants and animals found nowhere else in the country. That beauty seduces people from all over the world, resulting in a unique culture influenced by the American South, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Snowbelt snowbirds, and so much more. Combine that ecological and cultural diversity with theme parks, spaceships, swamps, skyscrapers, and endless tropical beaches — sometimes within striking distance of one another — and you have a state full of one-of-a-kind experiences.

We've compiled some experiences you can only have in Florida. Some are truly singular, like dancing mermaids or Hemingway lookalike festivals. Others are unique simply because they have that It Factor, that confluence of quality, quantity, and magic. You can go to all kinds of theme parks, but there's only one Walt Disney World. Nightclubs abound, but there's only one South Beach. And there are a lot of wonderful warm places in the world, but there's only one Florida.

We start in the northeast of the state, in ancient, quirky St. Augustine, and travel clockwise around the large peninsula, enjoying flamingos, dolphins, salsa, mangroves, and mermaids, until we end in a warm, aquamarine spring, swimming next to a manatee. Without further ado, here are some experiences you can only find in the Sunshine State.

What's more Florida — and Florida man — than zip-lining over an alligator lagoon? St. Augustine is home to one of the state's many alligator parks. Both the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park and Orlando's 110-acre Gatorland offer visitors this adrenaline-filled rush. At Gatorland, visitors can also board a gritty 12-foot monster vehicle on the Stompin' Gator Off-Road Adventure that thunders through a gator-infested marsh.

If you're feeling brave enough for both alligators and Florida in August, visit the Hatching Festival at Gatorama in Palmdale. You may get the chance to become an honorary alligator parent by helping a baby alligator peel out of its egg and be the first thing it sees in the world. The alligator love fest continues at the Alligator & Wildlife Discovery Center in Madeira Beach, one of the few places you can kiss a gator and live to tell the tale.

These are just a few of the many alligator parks all around the state offering shows, tours, and opportunities to pose with and hold the gators. Many of them, especially the ones in the Everglades, also offer a variety of other wildlife, including turtles, birds, cranes, snakes, and more.

There are 35 spaceports around the world capable of launching rockets into outer space, but only one is located just an hour away from the theme park capital of the world. The Kennedy Space Center has blended an active NASA facility with just the right amount of Orlando showmanship to make rocket launches and outer space as entertaining and accessible as possible. The center allows visitors to get just a couple miles away from the launch at Cape Canaveral, closer than any other rocket launch viewing point in the world. In some ways, it's not all that different from watching a sports game. Guests purchase tickets, sit in bleachers, and listen to live expert commentary.

Even if you don't catch a launch, you can still enjoy plenty of out-of-this-world thrills. Visitors can travel inside Atlantis, a former space shuttle that made 33 missions and orbited the Earth over 4,000 times, and experience the brief thrill of zero gravity. Visitors can also take the Kennedy Center Space Center Bus Tour to visit restricted NASA facilities, see where rockets are assembled, and even see Apollo 8, the first human spaceflight to reach the moon. You can even touch a piece of the moon brought back by astronauts.

When someone mentions Miami, many immediately think of one particular Miami Beach neighborhood: South Beach. Equal parts glitzy, glamorous, and raucous, this pulsing peninsula is one of the world's premiere capitals for partying under palm trees. For an unforgettable night, head down to the iconic Art Deco District along Ocean Drive, where beautiful pastel-colored Art Deco buildings from the 1920s and '30s have been refurbished into world-class hotels, galleries, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Particularly famous clubs around this district include Exchange, Voodoo Lounge, Basement, Mango's Tropical Café, and Do Not Sit On The Furniture. For a famously eclectic crowd, consider Mac's Club Deuce, or for a rooftop pool, try Strawberry Moon. If you want to party right on the beach, head to Nikki Beach.

After the sun comes up and the hangover subsides, South Beach is chock full of amazing things to do. Of course, there are plenty of gorgeous, palm-strewn beaches on all sides of this narrow peninsula, including South Beach, Lummus Park Beach, and, at the very southern tip, South Pointe Park. For world-class shopping, head to Lincoln Road Mall, an eight-block pedestrian mall brimming with plants, public art, and over 200 boutiques and restaurants, or the charming Española Way, a European-style pedestrian road full of cafés, galleries, and boutiques inside beautiful old Mediterranean buildings.

The airboat to Everglades National Park is what the gondola is to Venice. These boats and their large propellers may not be the greenest or quietest way to get around the 1.5-million-acre park, but many would say that no trip along the "River of Grass" is complete without one. Numerous tours offer rides that spend about an hour gliding through the sawgrass marsh, cypress swamp, and mangrove forests that constitute the enchanting UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve at the state's southern tip. Airboat tours often feature a knowledgeable driver pointing out nearby alligators, egrets, herons, or any of the other hundreds of species of birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles who call this wetland wonderland home.

When it comes to fully exploring the Everglades, an airboat is just the tip of the sawgrass. For a slower, quieter pace, visitors should consider a ranger-guided kayak or canoe tour. For a much wetter experience, brave visitors can consider wading through the wetlands on a ranger-guided Slough Slogging tour. For an altogether drier experience, the park offers dozens of walking trails. The Anhinga Trail is your best bet if you are looking for alligators. For the magic of birds inside a dense forest, try the Pineland Trail or Mahogany Hammock Trail. For a completely magical experience, take a two-hour pontoon boat to Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, a large chain of deserted islands home to dolphins, manatees, and mangroves.

After exuberant festivals in the Keys, you may be craving some peace and quiet. That's exactly what you'll get at the Dry Tortugas National Park, a chain of seven remote islands 70 miles west of Key West. As 99% of those islands are underwater, the park is only accessible by boat or expensive, solidly-booked ferries and seaplanes, which makes Dry Tortugas one of the country's least-visited national parks. So, while it may be tricky to get there, visitors who make the effort will be rewarded with a car-free, unspoiled tropical paradise almost entirely to themselves.

The most popular island is Garden Key, the site of the striking, imposing, unfinished Fort Jefferson. This abandoned 19th-century military structure and prison is the largest brick building in the United States. Its 16 million bricks form a hexagon that wraps around most of the island, fortified by a moat. The crystal clear, calm, shallow water around the moat wall is perfect for snorkelers of any level. As you swim around a piece of history, you'll enjoy the wonders of the world's third-largest barrier reef, teeming with tropical fish and historical artifacts.

Nearby, the remains of two docks for 19th-century coal ships have created another vibrant coral reef full of beautiful fish, turtles, octopi, lobsters, and even the occasional shark. Once night falls, Garden Key offers a camping site with toilets, charcoal grills, picnic tables, and a staggeringly beautiful night sky.

In addition to dancing mermaids, the clear, warm springs of West Florida have another famous resident: the manatee.

These 10-foot-long, 1,000-pound "gentle giants," distantly related to elephants, swim up in large numbers each winter for the warm waters of the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, dubbed the "Manatee Capital of the World" and designed specifically to protect them. It is the only spot in the United States where you can swim with manatees, and numerous local tour companies receive licenses to bring visitors out to meet these sweet and social mammals. Depending on your interest, you can swim, snorkel, kayak, or paddleboard in designated spots, with trained guides providing guidance and gear.

It's important to stay within the designated spots. Many parts of the springs are critical nesting grounds for the endangered species, and venturing into restricted areas can come with a hefty fine or even jail time. Guides also emphasize "passive interaction," or, more simply, "look, don't touch." Swimmers should keep a comfortable distance and avoid chasing manatees, particularly those that are still and resting. Luckily, manatees are friendly, playful, curious, and completely harmless — they're herbivores who eat mostly seagrass and don't have predators or prey. They will often come to swimmers and glide alongside them, a truly profound and totally Florida experience.