Tallahassee to Orlando road trip: Distance, drive time & best stops

Planning a Tallahassee to Orlando road trip itinerary

The Tallahassee to Orlando drive takes you from the capital of Florida to the world’s theme park capital.

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.

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.

Tallahassee to Orlando distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Tallashassee to Orlando is 259 miles. That makes for a driving time of around three hours and 45 minutes. The quickest route is along the I-10, I-75 and Florida Turnpike.

The best stops to add to a Tallahassee to Orlando road trip itinerary are Suwannee River State Park, Gainesville FL and Ocala FL.

For more suggestions, check out the guides to the Tallahassee to Gainesville drive and Gainesville to Orlando drive.

Best stops between Tallahassee and Orlando: Suwannee River State Park

Suwannee River State Park is at the confluence of the Suwannee and Withlacoochee rivers, and the short walking trails are surprisingly interesting. The 0.8-mile Sandhill Trail is most popular, combining sandhills, pine trees and the remnants of ghost town Columbus.

The quarter-mile Earthworks Trail, meanwhile, shows off the earthen defensive mounds made by soldiers in the civil war, as well as the remains of the ferryboats that once crossed the river here.

Tallahassee 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.

Best stops between Tallahassee and Orlando: Ocala FL

Ocala is home to the Golden Gypsy Horse Farm, where visitors can meet the rare and beautiful Gypsy Vanner horses. The Appleton Museum of Art, meanwhile, mixes contemporary art with pre-Columbian artifacts and the Discovery Center does the interactive science thing.

The most important site in Ocala, however, is the Fort King National Historic Landmark. This was a major military post in the Second Seminole War, and the first inland fort in Florida.

The Wheel at ICON Park, Orlando.
The Wheel at ICON Park, Orlando. Photo by 10674425/ Pixabay.

More Tallahassee road trips

Atlanta to Tallahassee | Tallahassee to Destin | Dothan AL to Tallahassee | Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale | Tallahassee to Gainesville | Jacksonville to Tallahassee | Tallahassee to Miami | Tallahassee to Mobile AL | Nashville to Tallahassee | Tallahassee to New Orleans | Ocala to Tallahassee | Tallahassee to Panama City | Tallahassee to Pensacola | Tallahassee to Sarasota | Savannah to Tallahassee | Tallahassee to St Augustine | Tallahassee to Tampa.

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 | Pensacola to Orlando | Ocala to Orlando | Orlando to St Augustine | Orlando to Tampa | Valdosta to Orlando.