Getting Around Florida: By Car

Full Florida Travel Guide »    Florida Interactive Map »    Print This Article »

Car rental agencies abound in Florida and many are available at every major airport. Orlando, in particular, known as the "Car Rental Capital of the World". The following companies are found at multiple airports throughout the state: Avis, Dollar, Enterprise www.enterprise.com, E-Z Rent-A-Car www.e-zrentacar.com/locations~airport-rental_car+state-florida.html, Hertz www.hertz.com, Payless Car Rental, Thrifty. And with Florida being the US most visited state, car rental rates here are among (if not the) lowest rates in the country.

Florida's major highways include:

• Interstate 4 crosses diagonally from Tampa, heads east through Plant City & Lakeland, then heads northeast past Kissimmee, Walt Disney World, Orlando, and ends at Interstate 95 near Daytona Beach. Interstate 4 is the most traversed highway in Florida and due to the large volume of traffic, high speeds (70 outside of urban areas), construction (which is almost complete), and large number of tourists it is the most dangerous highway in the state, in terms of the number of accidents.
• Interstate 95 enters Florida from Georgia north of Jacksonville and travels near the Atlantic coast (never more than 20mi or so), past St.Augustine, Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and ends at US 1 just south of downtown Miami.
• Interstate 10 enters Florida from Alabama near Pensacola and travels across the Panhandle, past Tallahassee,and through north Florida to its terminus in Jacksonville.
• Interstate 75 enters Florida from Georgia and runs south through Gainesville, Ocala, just east of Tampa, then parallels the Gulf coast past Bradenton, Sarasota, Fort Meyers, Naples, and then crosses due east across the Everglades swamp (a section known as 'Alligator Alley') to the Miami suburbs.
• Florida's Turnpike is a toll road which runs from Interstate 75 south of Ocala, through Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ft.Lauderdale, and ending south of Miami. It provides the easiest access to Orlando and southeast Florida for persons entering the state via I-75 or I-10.
• Interstate 275 is a secondary interstate which runs from I-75 north of Bradenton, past downtown St. Petersburg & downtown Tampa, before rejoining I-75 north of the Tampa area. Interstate 275 crosses the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, 5.5mi (8.8km) long and with a 193ft(58.8m) clearance, across the mouth of Tampa Bay and later across the Howard Frankland Bridge over Old Tampa Bay. (Note: Interstate 75 does not provide access to these areas, it passes through rural/suburban areas 10 miles (at closest) from Tampa. I-4 approaches Tampa from the east, but ends at I-275 just before downtown.)
• U.S. Highway 1 is a historic and scenic highway which originates in Key West and continues up the east coast.
• State Road A1A runs parallel to US 1 and Interstate 95, but lies to the east of the Intercoastal Waterway (mainly on the barrier islands) and running mostly along the ocean.
• US 98 enters Florida from Alabama at Pensacola and travels a very scenic route along the Gulf Coast of the Panhandle, it continues diagonally across the peninsula to its terminus in West Palm Beach.
• US 27 is a well-traveled alternative to the Florida's Turnpike and runs from Miami, along Lake Okeechobee, through the mostly-rural heartland of Florida, Ocala, Gainesville, Tallahassee
• US 41 runs from Miami, makes a scenic 2-lane journey through the Everglades, and travels along the Gulf Coast , the east side of Tampa Bay, and north into Georgia.

• www.enterprise.com
• www.e-zrentacar.com/locations~airport-rental_car+state-florida.html
• www.hertz.com