Hotels near Winter Park

Winter Park has the walkable, tree-lined feel of a small New England town dropped into central Florida, and the hour-long Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour is the classic way to experience it. Pontoon boats leave every hour on the hour from 10am to 4pm, cruising a chain of three lakes and their connecting canals past cypress trees, Rollins College's lakeside campus, and some of the most expensive private homes in Florida. Tickets cost $18 adults and $10 children (ages 2-11), cash only.

The tour dock is a two-block walk from Park Avenue, the neighbourhood's main street of boutiques, restaurants and museums. Give time to the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art at 445 N Park Ave, which holds the world's largest collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany's works including his stained-glass chapel from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Admission is $8 adults, free after 4pm on Fridays November through April.

Pro Tip: Combine the 11am boat tour with a lunch reservation at The Glass Knife at 276 S Orange Ave for its patisserie brunch, then finish at the Morse Museum in the afternoon - the whole loop fits inside a four-hour block and stays entirely walkable from the SunRail station.