48 Hours In Orlando

WHY GO NOW?

WHY GO NOW?

To discover the magic that pre-dates the Magic Kingdom - the heart of an intriguing city missed by most of the million British visitors who come here every year. Besides the rides and the make-believe, Orlando has art and culture in abundance, plus some sensational places to stay and to eat.

TOUCH DOWN

British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba.com) and Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007; www.virgin-atlantic.com) both offer frequent flights from Gatwick to Orlando's main airport. You could pay anything from £250 for a low-season return ticket to £750 for a Christmas/New Year trip. The cut-price alternative, from Heathrow or Glasgow, is on Icelandair (0845 758 1111; www.icelandair.co.uk) via Reykjavik. Plenty of operators offer packages to Orlando, including Virgin Holidays (0870 220 2468; www.virginholidays.co.uk) and Thomas Cook (0870 010 0437; www.thomascook.com).

GET YOUR BEARINGS

A cab from Orlando airport to downtown will cost around $45 (£25). From concourse A at Orlando airport, bus 11 runs every half an hour and costs $1.25 (£0.70). It is slow (45 minutes), but after a long flight is a lot less stressful than negotiating Orlando's confusing road network in a rental car. The bus runs to the shiny new terminal, which opened only three weeks ago; ask for a free transfer and you can switch to any other bus within 90 minutes. The city's Lynx bus network (001 407 841 5969; www.golynx.com) is reliable and comprehensive; within the downtown area, the free Lymmo bus operates on a circular route.

CHECK IN

Top of the heap is the Westin Grand Bohemian at 325 South Orange Avenue (001 407 313 9000; www.grandbohemianhotel.com). On the outside it's standard-issue modern but the interior, from the mosaic-tiled reception to the red-lit Bösendorfer Lounge, has an Art Deco feel. It's a costly ambience though, with rooms starting at $349 (£195) for a double without breakfast.

One interesting and relaxing place to stay is the youth hostel - as was. The former Plantation Manor, built in 1923 on the eastern side of Lake Eola at 227 North Eola Drive, has been reinvented as Orlando's most imaginative hotel. The Eo Inn (001 407 481 8485; www.eoinn.com) has 17 rooms that start at $129 (£73) without breakfast but including access to the "urban spa".

Or what about a B&B? The Veranda at 115 North Summerlin Avenue (001 407 849 0321; www.theverandabandb.com) is in the residential Thornton Park area. Various small cottages, dating back a century, have been converted into rooms, suites and tiny apartments. Prices start at $99 (£55) for a double with breakfast.

TAKE A HIKE

Livingston Street, where you'll find the bus terminal, is about the northern extent of the downtown core. Walk south along Orange Avenue, one of the city's key arteries, to get a sense of the way that Victorian and Art Deco architecture has survived Walt Disney's boosting of Orlando's fortunes. After four blocks, turn left along Central Boulevard - a street redolent of America's north-east (many New Englanders settled here towards the end of the 19th century, drawn in by cheap land and the expanding railroad). Then waft up to the shore of Lake Eola, noting the instruction not to "lie or otherwise be in a horizontal position" on the park benches.

TAKE A VIEW

From the memorial on the far side of Lake Eola, you get an excellent view of the city.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

Church Street is a curious thoroughfare. In the 1990s, the part of it straddling the railway was the entertainment centre for Orlando, but lost favour and was effectively closed down. Now Church Street Station is coming back to life as a shopping and eating complex - helped by places like Everteas (001 001 407 420 6444). Besides bumper daily lunch specials for about $10 (£6), you could take afternoon tea on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 3pm - $18.95 (£11) buys the works, including your choice of 250 teas. In a less touristy part of the street, Gossips Caribbean Restaurant near the corner of Division Street (001 407 481 9227) has an all-you-can-eat lunch for $6.50 (£3.75). Alternatively, grab a take-out from Sam Snead's (001 407 999 0109) at 301 East Pine Street on the south shore of Lake Eola, where pizzas start at $7.95 (£4.50).

TAKE A RIDE

Bus 1 or 9 will take you to downtown Orlando's alter ego: the suburb of Winter Park. This was Florida's first planned community, established by a pair of New England speculators at the end of the 19th century. It retains a villagey atmosphere entirely at odds with the rest of Florida. Get off at the Amtrak rail station, which still has direct trains from New York, taking 21 hours.

Go east to the end of Morse Boulevard, where you'll find the jetty for a fascinating trip of Orlando's lake district. Tours (001 407 644 4056; www.scenicboattours.com) are operated daily, on the hour from 10am-4pm and cost $8 (£4.50).

WINDOW SHOPPING

Winter Park's 10 blocks of Park Avenue between Fairbanks Avenue and Swoope Avenue are devoted to swish shopping, with no fewer than three chocolatiers and one store devoted to clothing for dogs. At the corner with Lyman Street you can at least find more familiar retail venues such as Gap and Starbucks. If you can get to Winter Park between 7am-1pm on a Saturday, you will find the Farmers' Market at the corner of New York and New England Avenues.

Antiques and interesting bric-a-brac can be found in and around Ivanhoe Plaza at the 1800 block of Orange Avenue. For lower prices and a wider selection of goods, take bus 39 many miles north to its terminus at Sanford Flea World, America's biggest covered flea market.

AN APERITIF

Orange Avenue is a good place to start the evening - particularly if you visit One Eyed Jack's (001 407 648 2050), and then wander next door to The Loaded Hog (001 407 420 1515). If you've had enough Budweiser and crave something more sophisticated, head for Dexter's (001 407 648 2777) at 808 East Washington. From the outside, the tiled walls make it look a little like an East End pub; inside though, it has a vast selection of wine available from $6.50 (£3.60) a glass, and cheese and biscuits at $4.75 (£2.60) per portion.

DINING WITH THE LOCALS

The classiest joint in downtown is Boheme, the ground-floor restaurant of the Westin Grand Bohemian. Here, a caesar salad starter is $9 (£5) and honey-seared salmon is $22 (£12.30). For relaxed, modern fare try Hue (001 407 849 1800; www.huerestaurant.com) at 629 East Central Boulevard. The menu changes daily, and you can eat in the cool of the bar-restaurant area, or out on the terrace. Starters of crispy oysters cost $10 (£5.60); sea bass mains are $36 (£20).

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

Orlando, like most of the American South, is awash with churches. But no other city can boast the Holy Land Experience. Bus 24 will drop you at the corner of Vineland and Conroy Streets, just off the freeway at the entrance to the park whose theme is fundamental Christianity (001 407 367 2065; www.holylandexperience.com). It opens 10am-6pm daily; admission is a steep $29.95 (£17), but where else are you going to find a replica of Christ's tomb and a scale model of Jerusalem circa AD32?

OUT TO BRUNCH

Park Avenue in Winter Park is the place to be around noon on a fresh, bright Sunday. The sun should be shining on the terrace at 310 Park South, the name and the address of the top brunch location (001 407 647 7277). From 10am-2pm each Sunday, Florida-sized portions of eggs Benedict or California scramble cost around $10 (£5.50).

A WALK IN THE PARK

If your idea of walking off a large meal extends no further than a few hundred yards, wander through Central Park. For something a bit more ambitious, try the Loch Haven Cultural Park, an oasis of greenery at the centre of which is the Orlando Science Center (001 407 514 2000; www.osc.org) at 777 East Princeton Street. It's stuffed full of educational exhibits, all of which are presented on a typically vast scale, and is open 9am-5pm Tuesday-Thursday; 9am-9pm on Friday and Saturday, and noon-5pm on Sundays. Admission is $10 (£5.60).

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

Orange County Regional History Center at 65 East Central Boulevard (001 407 836 8500; www.thehistorycenter.org) is set in Orlando's old courthouse, an impressive, square-fronted building dating back to 1927. The restored Courtroom B is still in situ, all dark wood and leather, and you can even sit at the judge's chair. Elsewhere, interactive exhibits chart the history of Florida, from its time as a Seminole settlement through to the arrival of the ambitious Mr Disney. Open 10am-5pm daily (from noon on Sundays), admission $7 (£4).

WRITE A POSTCARD

Reflect on what you've learnt of Florida's cultural heritage as you propel a large plastic swan around Lake Eola. Rent a pedalo for $10 (£5.60) for half an hour from the west end.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

After the swans, the alligators. Half an hour south of the city, Boggy Creek Airboat Rides (001 407 933 4337) at 2001 East Southport runs trips to see the local wildlife. The birds of prey are impressive enough, but the sight of a 'gator slipping silently into the water nearby is terrifying. Half-hour rides cost $18.95 (£10.60). A cab from downtown should cost around $50 (£28), or the 52 bus will get you close.

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