This popular destination is famous for being the land of Mickey, but there are many things to do in Orlando other than Disney or getting lost in the maze of an outlet mall.
Here I list parks and preserves I’ve visited that offer a range of fun outdoor activities. Some are right in the Orlando area, and some are within an approximately 1.5-hour drive.
And most of them are free.
Trails in Florida are flat and easy, and a treasure chest for birders. The challenge is dealing with the oppressing heat, the sun, the humidity, and the bugs. Your best friends will be your hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellent, and your refillable water bottle. Your feet will thank you for using proper shoes, no flip flops.
Read on to find out about things to do in Orlando for adults and learn where to run when you need a break from the 11th rollercoaster ride, and the ubiquitous souvenir store awaiting you at every single exit.
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Table of Contents
The Tibet-Butler Preserve
See how many of the 500 species of birds identified in Florida you can spot along the six trails on this preserve, part of the Great Florida Birding Trail.
The Tibet-Butler Preserve is right in the Windermere area in Orlando. You can explore its 438 acres with the help of an Interpretive Trail Guide showing points of interest that teach you about the surrounding environment.
The trailhead for all the interconnected loops is next to the Vera Carter Environmental Center, where you’ll find educational displays.
We started with the Fallen Log Crossing (0.54 miles), with a boardwalk that elevated us over a bay swamp (great to see reptiles and birds) before entering the pine flatwoods.
Two short trails spring out of it.
The Tarflower Loop is a 0.49 miles loop inside an oak scrub section where the trees, dotted with lichens, form a tunnel-like canopy and the saw palmettos make a pointy balustrade on both sides of the sandy path.
The Osprey Overlook (0.13 miles) welcomes you with a dense patch of vivid green ferns as it takes you to a platform overlooking Lake Tibet Butler, via a boardwalk over a freshwater open marsh.
This is the playground of river otters, ospreys, alligators, snakes, and a variety of aquatic wildlife that lives surrounded by water lilies, sawgrass, and cypress trees.
We turned back and tried to take the longest loop, the Palmetto Passage (1.08 miles). Unfortunately, it was too flooded and messy -a common occurrence- so we went back all the way to take the Screech Owl Trail (0.11 miles) to walk on soft ground across more pine flatwoods.
Our last walk was along the Pine Circle Trail (0.86 miles), surrounded by pine trees overlooking low shrubs on grass-covered with fallen pine needles, with a small oak hammock covered in Spanish Moss.
Keep your eyes peeled for Carolina wrens, northern cardinals, red-shouldered hawks, eagles, gopher tortoises, and don’t miss the Butterfly Garden.
Tibet-Butler Preserve
8777 Winter Garden – Vineland Rd., Orlando
1.407.254.1940
Open daily: 8AM-6PM
Free admission
No bicycles allowed and no dogs allowed (other than ADA service animals)
The Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve
Yes, I know the word Disney is in the reserve’s name and this is a post about things to do near Orlando that aren’t theme parks, but I’m still keeping my promise. Here, you won’t see Mickey, rides, or gift shops. Not even the famous mouse ears.
What is the name doing there, then?
In 1992 The Walt Disney Company bought this former ranch land in the Kissimmee area and donated it to the Nature Conservancy, which owns and manages the preserve.
Thanks to the Clean Air Act this mitigation project (mitigation as in preserving an area to compensate for damage caused by humans in another area) saved 11,500 acres where research and conservation are the main goals.
The freshwater flowing through this preserve travels south 200 miles through lakes and streams to feed the Everglades, ending up in the Florida Bay and playing a key role in the survival of the whole area and everything that lives in it.
Once you arrive you sign in at the Welcome Center before exploring the trails, where you’ll see 10 natural communities including marsh, pine flatwoods (tons of this!), floodplain swamp, cypress dome, and mixed hardwood forest.
You’ll find two major loops and a short one, the White “Harden” Trail (0.5 miles), all with a picnic area and some benches along the way.
The Red “Wilderness” Trail is 2.5 miles, but you can choose to do the small loop which is only one mile.
You can reach one of my favourite spots in the preserve by taking the spurt that ends up on Lake Russell where you’ll see cypress trees that could easily be the backdrop of a mystery movie.
The Red Trail connects with the Yellow Trail, which is 3.6 miles. Both combined total six miles of mainly pine flatwoods with saw palmetto, sprinkled with yellow and violet wildflowers.
Before embarking on the long route take a good look at this picture, because you’ll see a lot of this. A lot.
Undisturbed Floridian landscape. As you can see, there’s not much shade here so come prepared.
The gods of the outdoors weren’t happy with us that day. Other than two big birds we could not identify, we didn’t see any wildlife. But the gods may be in a better mood when you visit and you may encounter white-tailed deers, owls, bald eagles, wood storks, sandhill cranes, and even the elusive Florida panther.
The Disney Wilderness Preserve
2700 Scrub Jay Trail, Orlando
1.407.935.0002
Call for days of operation. 9AM-4:30PM
Free admission
The Econ River Wilderness Area
Right in the middle of a suburban area, around 30 minutes northeast of Orlando, you’ll find 240 acres with three miles of interconnected trails crossing an enchanting landscape.
Your first steps on the park take you through the ever-present pine flatwoods with saw palmettos before you reach a big pond speckled with water lilies.
A massive gopher tortoise welcomed us at the start of another piney section leading to a tunnel created by the arches of sand live oaks.
We followed the ERW 01 arrow towards the boardwalk crossing a wetland and entered the ERW 02 loop to be surrounded by a forest of giant pine trees, shaded from time to time under the domes knitted by more sand live oaks, with hawks spying on us from above.
More beauty awaited us as we reached the shores of the Econlockhatchee River resembling a black mirror that reflected the ancient cypress and the twisted arms of the live oaks.
After completing the loop we took ERW 03, delighting in the light and shade patterns drawn by the sun rays shining through the trees.
Some of the wildlife you may see around include alligators, bobcats, white-tailed deers, and great-horned owls.
3795 Old Lockwood Rd., Oviedo
1.407.349.0769
Open daily: 8AM-5PM
Dogs allowed
Free admission
Lake Louisa State Park
A 35-minute drive west of Orlando is Lake Louisa State Park, where the nature lover in you will feel like a cat at a fishing pier.
You’ll find nine interconnected loops going from 0.5 miles up to 5.5 miles totaling 20 miles of unpaved, multi-use trails where you can hike along ten lakes and see plenty of wildlife (gopher tortoises, white-tailed deers, bobcats, American bald eagles, and more).
Bring your mountain bike to hit the off-road trails or rent one at Dixie Lake to explore the seven miles of paved roads, paddle around the lake on your own kayak or canoe, or rent one on-site.
Come for a day and have a picnic, or stay overnight and do some camping, glamping, or stay in your RV.
You can even bring your horse (or reserve a horse trail ride) and hit the equestrian trails.
We only had a few hours to spend at the park and we spent them hiking around Hammond Lake and Dixie Lake spotting ospreys and painted turtles.
7305 U.S.Highway 27, Clermont
1.352.394.3969
Open daily: 8AM till sundown
Admission Fees: $5 per vehicle (2 – 8 people),$4 single-occupant vehicle,$2 pedestrians and bicycles Additional fees for cabins and camping.
The Rainbow River in Dunnellon
If I would only have time for one outdoor adventure near Orlando, I would pick this.
Drive approximately 1.5-hour from Orlando to kayak along the Rainbow River, where over 100 spring vents pour nearly 500 million gallons of crystal clear water every day.
In the distance, the water looks like a shiny tapestry that mixes patches of turquoise, deep greens, grays, and blues.
Close up the water is like clean glass that lets you see all the life underwater, with eelgrass waving in the water like long hair in the wind.
You’ll be able to see up close the birds resting in the inlets, the coves, and the marshes so bring your camera as it’s a great opportunity for taking wildlife pictures.
We saw cormorants, tricoloured herons, little blue herons, anhingas, Florida red-bellied turtle, wood ducks, and great blue herons. You may also find alligators and manatees.
We rented the kayak from Rainbow River Canoe & Kayak. After parking at their office, we hopped on a bus that dropped us at the KP Hole Float where we boarded the kayak.
We first headed towards the headwaters of the Rainbow River in the Rainbow Springs State Park before turning around to let the current carry us down 4.5 miles back to our departing point.
If you’re up for a longer trip you can take the forest float along the Withlacoochee River for a nine-mile trip lasting four to six hours.
Other options include tubing, scuba diving, canoeing, and stand-up paddleboarding.
12121 River View, Dunnellon
1.352.489.7854
Hours of operation vary according to the season
The Silver Springs State Park
We started our visit to this 4,000 acres park strolling along the elevated boardwalk around Ross Allen Island searching for creatures in the swamp, watching the kayakers paddling along the river, and spotting northern cardinals and cormorants.
We then followed the nearby Spring Trail blue arrows to access the network of colour-coded hiking trail loops (eight in total) that vary from 0.8 miles to 4.5 miles.
You’ll find the typical Floridian landscape of pine flatwoods with saw palmetto, pockets of scrub oaks providing more than welcomed shade, hardwood forests, and birds of prey cruising the sky.
Head to the Swamp Trail, a 1.9 miles loop, if you’re up for a mysterious experience. I love swamps: their dark tones, their vivid greens, the stillness of the black water, the odd-looking cypress knees, and the excitement of spotting the lurking critters.
I always feel like I’m going to encounter a mischievous fairy hiding behind the curve as if I would’ve been sucked into a dark fantasy book.
Have fun the entire day exploring the different environments along the trails and doing other activities available on site.
You can also take a glass-bottom boat tour or rent a canoe, a kayak, or a paddleboard to explore the river on your own.
There are bicycle trails, equestrian trails, camping facilities, a museum, and a restaurant on site.
You can experience all this only a 1.5-hour drive from Orlando.
5656 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Silver Springs
1.352.261.5840
Open daily: 8AM till sundown
Admission fee: $2
Dogs allowed (must be leashed at all times)
The Juniper Springs at the Ocala National Forest
Drive around 1.5 hours northwest of Orlando and you’ll be in a bubbly place. Literally.
The hundreds of springs make the water look like a giant amber and turquoise boiling soup (the water temperature is a constant 72 degrees), with a lid made of palms and oaks, and condiments in the shape of turtles and alligators. See the video.
You can see this show put on by nature by walking on the Juniper Creek Nature Trail, a 0.8-mile trail with a long boardwalk section connecting the swimming pond and the Fern Hammock Springs. Be on the lookout for all sorts of little critters hiding in the dense vegetation.
Spend the whole day here having a picnic, canoeing or kayaking on the Juniper Creek, camping, or hiking in the nearby Juniper Prairie Wilderness Trail.
We did a section of this trail after visiting the recreation area and walked among the sand pine forest – a unique scrub area typical of Florida- overlooking ponds and lakes, and a thriving habitat for black bears.
Whaaat?!?
You may have known this already but this was big news for me as I always associate bears with mountains, but Florida is flatter than a pancake. So if you didn’t know, now you know.
We didn’t see any bears, but we found different animal prints on the sand. I think the one below belongs to a coyote.
Yearning for more outdoor activities? You’re already at the right place. Explore the rest of the Ocala National Forest for more springs, bicycling, and hiking.
Juniper Springs Recreation Area
26701 E. Highway 40, Silver Springs
1.352.625.3147
Admission fee: $7+tax p/p (Mon-Fri); $10+tax p/p (Sat-Sun)
Sholom Park
Sholom Park is an excellent addition to your visit to Silver Springs State Park or to your Rainbow River kayak expedition, located approximately 25 minutes by car from either site.
This is a privately owned park that is open to the public where two miles of trails take you around 44 acres of nature where the main soundtrack is the chant of birds.
Walk under the shade of the Enchanted Forest, wind around the labyrinth to stop and smell the roses, or relax on a bench and see the giant pine trees elongated to no end by their reflection on the pond.
Don’t miss the giant live oak trees oozing Spanish Moss and the calming Koi pond.
Drop by any time to enjoy the serenity of this beautiful park or check the event calendar to schedule your visit with yoga sessions, movie nights, concerts, gardening workshops, and festivals.
7110 SW 80th Ave., Ocala
1.352.873.0848, ext. 7650
Open daily (hours vary per season)
Free admission (special events may have an entrance fee)
These parks and nature preserves around Orlando are packed with outdoor activities perfect to take a break from long days at a theme park or to skip them altogether. Explore the nearby trails, rivers, and springs, and admire the beauty and abundance of Florida’s wildlife.
What would be your number one thing to do in Orlando without stepping inside the kingdom of Mickey?
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