Pensacola to Orlando road trip: Drive time, distance & best stops
The best road trip stops on the Pensacola to Orlando drive are Marianna FL, Tallahassee FL and Gainesville FL. The distance from Pensacola to Orlando by car is 450 miles, with a 6h18m driving time.
Planning a Pensacola to Orlando road trip itinerary
The Pensacola to Orlando drive takes you from the western end of the Florida Panhandle to the world’s theme park capital.
The westernmost city on the Florida Panhandle, Pensacola is home to a major US Naval Station. But for most visitors, interest will lie in the white sand beaches and barrier islands.
Top Pensacola activities include nighttime kayaking with colourful LEDs lighting up the kayaks, and dolphin-watching cruises around the bay.
Other ways of exploring include downtown food tours, ghost and graveyard tours, guided pub crawls, Segway tours and sunset cruises.
For beachside Pensacola accommodation with great guest reviews, take a look at the Pensacola Beach Resort and the SpringHill Suites Pensacola Beach.
Orlando is known worldwide as the home of Disney World, but there’s far more to it than Mickey and Co. You can get crazy selfies at the Museum of Illusions or WonderWorks, learn how chocolate is made at Chocolate Kingdom and ride the Wheel at ICON Park or Orlando StarFlyer. Alternatively, visit Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, play adventure golf at Pirates’ Cove and say hi to the stingrays at Sea Life.
In the evenings, there’s the Polynesian Fire Luau and Dinner Show, Cirque du Soleil’s Drawn To Life and the Outta Control magic comedy show.
Other Orlando experiences include glow-in-the-dark kayaking, foodie walking tours and kayaking through Cypress forest.
Pensacola to Orlando distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Pensacola to Orlando is 450 miles. That makes for a driving time of around six hours and 18 minutes. The quickest route is along the I-10, I-75 and Florida Turnpike.
The best road trip stops along the Pensacola to Orlando drive are Marianna FL, Tallahassee and Gainesville FL.
For more suggestions, check out the guides to the individual legs of the journey:
Pensacola to Orlando road trip attractions: Marianna FL
Get Up and Go Kayaking in Marianna FL offers clear-bottomed kayak tours through cypress tree-lined waters. The tours also take you to underwater caves and dramatic limestone bluffs, stopping off for a refreshing swim at a natural spring.
There’s plenty of wildlife to see along the way, including herons, eagles, fish and turtles.
Best stops between Pensacola and Orlando: Tallahassee
Top Tallahassee experiences include the Museum of Florida History, which tells the tale of the Sunshine State. That covers everything from prehistoric mastodons to the Spanish conquest and Disney.
The Tallahassee Museum, meanwhile, flits all over the place, from sculpture to birds of prey. For natural beauty, head to the Alfred B Maclay Gardens State Park.
Pensacola to Orlando drive: Gainesville FL
Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, and will be best known to college football fans as the home of the Florida Gators.
For everyone else, there’s the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Harn Museum of Art and the Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park. The latter is based around a limestone sinkhole.
More Pensacola road trips
Atlanta to Pensacola | Biloxi to Pensacola | Birmingham AL to Pensacola | Dallas to Pensacola | Pensacola to Destin | Pensacola to Fort Lauderdale | Pensacola to Fort Walton Beach | Pensacola to Gulf Shores | Houston to Pensacola | Jacksonville to Pensacola | Memphis to Pensacola | Pensacola to Miami | Mobile to Pensacola | Nashville to Pensacola | Pensacola to New Orleans | Pensacola to Orange Beach | Pensacola to Panama City | Tallahassee to Pensacola | Tampa to Pensacola.
More Orlando road trips
Albany GA to Orlando | Asheville to Orlando | Atlanta to Orlando | Augusta to Orlando | Austin to Orlando | Baton Rouge to Orlando | Orlando to Daytona Beach | Orlando to Destin | Gainesville to Orlando | Houston to Orlando | Huntsville AL to Orlando | Jacksonville to Orlando | Lakeland to Orlando | Macon GA to Orlando | Nashville to Orlando | New Orleans to Orlando | Orlando to Palm Coast | Panama City to Orlando | Ocala to Orlando | Orlando to St Augustine | Tallahassee to Orlando | Orlando to Tampa | Valdosta to Orlando.