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25 small Florida towns you should be exploring this weekend

By Orlando Weekly Staff on Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 7:36 pm

One of the great things about living in Florida is that no matter which way you drive, you'll probably cruise through a charming tiny town filled with cool shops and unique hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Time to gas up the car. Here are a few of our favorite small towns that are always worth the trip.

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Dunedin

District to explore: Main Street
Main Street is the cosmopolitan shopping and dining roadway in Dunedin, host to a miscellany of interesting storefronts. Visitors can stop for a drink at Dunedin Brewery, the oldest microbrewery in Florida; or purchase mystical oddities or curios at Enchanted Earth, the official witch shoppe of Dunedin; or get a sweet at Strachan’s Ice Cream and Desserts, which is renowned for the award-winning carrot cake and homemade waffle cones.

Photo via thehealthyhomeeconomist/Instagram

Cedar Key

District to explore: D Street
D Street is the three-block-long main street of the second-oldest town in Florida, Cedar Key. The buck doesn’t stop there, while Cedar Key is quintessential “Old Florida,” where you are more likely to find a “gone fishing” sign in a store window than a McDonald's or a Walmart, the town’s main street is awash with life and flavor from the colorful murals to the fresh clams, which are touted by locals as being some of the sweetest in the world.

Photo via Living Free/Youtube

Mount Dora

District to explore: Donnelly Street
A trip to Donnelly Street can provide the best of something old and something new. Donnelly boasts an impressive antiquing scene. Snag some treasures from the past and afterwards stop by celebrity chef Norman Van Aken's restaurant, 1921, for some modern Florida cuisine only a street away.

Photo via adh985/Instagram

Sanibel Island

District to explore: Perriwinkle Way
Enjoy a bike ride or a comfortable stroll under covered walkways that trace in and out between neotropical foliage, on the city’s main thoroughfare for shopping and dining. Along the way, stop by Periwinkle place, a 41,240-square-foot shopping experience, home to the original Chico’s, the award-winning Blue Giraffe, and 24 other shops.

Photo via sanibelstar/Instagram

Tarpon Springs

District to explore: Dodecanese Boulevard
One would be hard-pressed to find a more romantic destination than Tarpon Springs, located where a series of bayous meets the Gulf. Dodecanese Boulevard the town’s main street, historically, was the town’s major artery for the town’s sponge industry. Now, visitors can stroll down the boulevard to visit museums dedicated to the town’s industrial history, shop at the boutiques and storefronts and after soaking (pun intended) up the city cap it off with a glass of wine at Wine on the Docks.

Photo via hunterplanzo/Instagram