37 Best Sights in Orlando, Florida

This appealing sanctuary of plants, flowers, trees, and wildlife has been something of a local secret for years. Shady paths meander through pine forests with silvery moats, mockingbirds and swans, blooming thickets, and hidden sundials. The majestic, 200-foot Bok Tower is constructed of coquina—from seashells—and pink, white, and gray marble. The tower houses a carillon with 60 bronze bells that ring out each day at 1 and 3 pm during 30-minute recitals that might include early American folk songs, Appalachian tunes, Irish ballads, or Latin hymns. The bells are also featured in recordings every half hour after 10 am; sometimes there are even moonlight recitals. The Blue Palmetto Cafe offers salads, soups, and sandwiches, as well as beer and wine.

The landscape was designed in 1928 by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., son of the planner of New York's Central Park. The grounds include the 20-room, Mediterranean-style El Retiro Estate, built in 1930 and open for self-guided touring. From January through April, guides lead 60-minute tours of the gardens (included in the admission price); tours of the inside of the tower are a benefit of membership.

Given to the City of Winter Park by the Genius family (benefactors of the Morse Museum), this 11-acre green space has manicured lawns, specimen plantings, a beautiful rose garden available for private functions, a fountain, and a gazebo. If you take a seat and listen as the Amtrak passenger train rolls by, it's not hard to imagine how Winter Park looked and sounded in the late 19th century. The SunRail commuter and Amtrak trains stop right within the park, giving great car-free access, particularly during the packed art festivals, to and from Downtown Orlando, Kissimmee, and Sanford. The Winter Park Farmers' Market draws people to the southwest corner on Saturday between 8 am and 1 pm. If you don't want to browse in the shops across the street, a walk beneath the park's moss-covered trees is a delightful alternative. There's free Wi-Fi within the park, as well.

The world's most comprehensive and important collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany—including immense stained-glass windows, lamps, watercolors, jewelry, and desk sets—is in this museum, which also contains American decorative art and paintings from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Among the draws is the 1,082-square-foot Tiffany Chapel, originally built for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. It took craftsmen 2½ years to painstakingly reassemble the chapel here.

Many of the works were rescued from Tiffany's Long Island estate, Laurelton Hall, after a 1957 fire destroyed much of the property. The 12,000-square-foot Laurelton Hall wing allows for much more of the estate's collection to be displayed at one time, including architectural and decorative elements from the dining room, living room, and Fountain Court reception hall. There's also a re-creation of the striking Daffodil Terrace, so named for the glass daffodils that festoon the capitals of the terrace's marble columns. Admission is free on Friday after 4 pm from November through April.

Just blocks from Downtown—on the former lakefront estate of a citrus entrepreneur—is this 50-acre garden. Among the highlights are a collection of historical blooms (many varieties of which were established before 1900), ancient oaks, a 50-foot floral clock, and one of the largest camellia collections in eastern North America (in bloom November–March). Mary Jane's Rose Garden, named after Leu's wife, is filled with more than 1,000 bushes; it's the largest formal rose garden south of Atlanta. The simple, 19th-century Leu House Museum, once the Leu home, preserves the furnishings and appointments of a well-to-do, turn-of-the-20th-century Florida family. A sound-and-light program is often presented in the evenings. Admission is free on the first Monday of the month.

Ringed by modern high-rises, this peaceful, beautifully landscaped, 43-acre park is the verdant heart of Downtown. Its mile-long walking path attracts families, health enthusiasts out for a run, and culture mavens exploring area offerings; its well-lighted playground is alive with children; and ducks, geese, swans, and native Florida birds like cormorants call its lake home. A popular farmers' market takes up residence on Sunday; the lakeside Walt Disney Amphitheater is a dramatic site for concerts, festivals, and July 4 fireworks; and a landmark fountain sometimes features LED-and-music shows.

Don't resist the park's biggest draw: a ride in a swan-shape paddleboat that can comfortably accommodate up to five people (children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult). The Relax Grill, by the swan-boat launch, is a great place for lunch, and the park is surrounded by a variety of restaurants and lounges in both Downtown and Thornton Park.

In addition to its 1:20-scale LEGO reproductions of U.S. cities and sights, this theme park has more than 50 rides, shows, and attractions throughout 10 zones. The Danish toy company's philosophy is to help children "play well." And play they do, as attractions here are very hands-on. Kids can hoist themselves to the top of a tower, power a fire truck, or navigate a LEGO robot. Sights include huge LEGO dragons, wizards, knights, pirates, castles, roller coasters, racetracks, villages, and cities. In the heart of the park, you'll also find a marvelous botanical garden, which preserves one of the world's largest banyan trees and is a remnant of the original Cypress Gardens theme park.

The cityscapes in Miniland USA fascinate children and adults, who delight in discovering what's possible when you have enough bricks. Miniland opens with Kennedy Space Center, where a 6-foot shuttle waits on the launchpad. Miami Beach features bikini-clad bathers and Art Deco hotels; St. Augustine and its historic fort play into LEGO's pirate theme; Key West's Mallory Square is accurate right down to the trained cats leaping through rings of fire. The rest of the country is not ignored: New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., all have intricate, often-amusing details (like New York's purse snatcher) hidden in each.

Among other highlights are Ninjago, where kids battle computer-generated bad guys; LEGO Kingdoms, whose castle towers over a jousting area and a roller coaster and where knights, damsels, dragons, and ogres are found; Land of Adventure, where you can explore hidden tombs and hunt for treasure; and the Imagination Zone, showcasing LEGO Mindstorms robots and where a giant head of Albert Einstein invites kids to explore and invent. Things get wild in LEGO Technic, the most active of the park's zones, where Test Track, Aquazone Wave Racers, and Technicycle let the family expend some energy.

During the live Brickbeard's Watersport Stuntshow, seafaring sailors wearing LEGO suits defend a huge ship from attacking pirates on water skis. LEGO Movie World features rides and attractions from the blockbuster, including Splash Battle, Masters of Flight, where guests soar above The LEGO Movie universe aboard a triple-decker flying couch, and Unikitty's Disco Drop, taking riders to the top of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

LEGOLAND Water Park features a wave pool; Build-a-Raft, where families construct a LEGO vessel and float down a lazy river; a 375-foot pair of intertwined waterslides that plunge riders into a pool; and a DUPLO toddler water play area. Three on-site hotels offer LEGO-theme accommodations and park packages. While you're here, you might want to also check out the neighboring, stand-alone Peppa Pig Theme Park, which delights preschoolers with its six rides, play spaces, splash pads, and characters.

SEA LIFE Florida Aquarium, with 10 underwater galleries bustling with marine life, 25 interactive exhibits that include rock pools where you can touch critters, and a stingray bay, opened here in June 2025. You can buy tickets just to SEA LIFE or opt for packages that wrap in the other LEGOLAND attractions, too.

One of the few museums in the United States devoted to folk art has intimate galleries, some with lovely lakefront views. Look for the nation's most extensive permanent collection of Earl Cunningham paintings, as well as works by many other self-taught artists. There's a wonderful video about Cunningham and his "curio shop" in St. Augustine, Florida. Temporary exhibitions have included the works of Wyeth, Cassatt, and Michael Eastman. 

At the museum shop you can purchase folk-art books, toys, and unusual gifts. The Marilyn L. Mennello Sculpture Garden is always open to the public. Oversized outdoor sculptures include works by Alice Aycock and Barbara Sorensen, shown alongside the 350-year-old live oak tree called “The Mayor.” The Mennello is also the site of the free annual Orlando Indie-Folkfest held the last weekend of October.

A refined and dazzling private collection of American and international pieces by mid-20th-century modernist artists features the work of George Nakashima, Wendell Castle, and the more radical Memphis Group, as well as pieces collected by musician David Bowie. The museum shares resources and a gift shop with the 1921 restaurant across the street, so special dining and exhibition events are held throughout the year.

With exhibits about the human body, mechanics, computers, math, nature, the solar system, and optics, the science center has something for every child's (or adult's) inner geek. The 11,000-square-foot KidsTown is the most popular attraction, and traveling shows have included those on the astronaut experience and the science of human anatomy. There's also an annual interactive technology expo called Spark STEM Fest.

The four-story, internal atrium is home to live gators and turtles, giving you a glimpse of Old Florida. The 300-seat Dr. Phillips CineDome, a movie theater with a giant eight-story screen, offers films and planetarium programs. The Crosby Observatory and Florida's largest publicly accessible refractor telescope are here, as are several smaller telescopes. Late-evening weekend date nights make the observatory a fun draw for adults, who can also enjoy events like the annual Science of Wine and the very popular monthly Science Night Live.

On the Rollins College campus, this museum (formerly known as the Cornell Fine Arts Museum) houses Florida's oldest art collection (its first paintings acquired in 1896)—one with more than 5,000 pieces, from Italian Renaissance works to 19th- and 20th-century American and European paintings. Special exhibitions feature everything from Native American artifacts to Soviet propaganda posters. Outside the museum, a small but charming garden overlooks Lake Virginia. Some of the museum's collection graces the walls of the nearby, Rollins-owned, Alfond Inn. The museum is free to visit; free guided tours are offered on most Saturdays at 1 pm. Note, too, that a new downtown home for this museum is in the fundraising stages.

In the shadow of a 400-foot observation wheel and within the ICON Park entertainment complex stands a kaleidoscope of underwater colors, where you can see some 3,000 sea creatures and experience various habitats. Plan to spend the better part of an afternoon exploring, as all ages delight at the close encounters with the aquarium’s sharks, green sea turtles, and jellyfish. With an emphasis on education and conservation, exhibits are playful and informative, with fun features that include a 360-degree ocean tunnel and a virtual shark dive. Combo tickets are available for the aquarium, The Wheel at ICON Park, and Madame Tussauds.

Wekiva is a Creek word meaning "flowing water," and wekiwa means "spring of water," so the different spellings you might see are both correct. Regardless, this 7,000-acre state park is, indeed, well suited to swimming, canoeing, and fishing (license required), as well as hiking, cycling, riding, picnicking, and camping. The area is also full of Florida wildlife: otters, raccoons, alligators, bobcats, deer, turtles, birds, and bears.

Park canoe or kayak rentals cost $35 for two hours, and trips can range from a simple paddle around a lagoon where you can observe a colony of water turtles to a full-day excursion through less-congested stretches of the river. Some of the park's 60 campsites are "canoe sites" accessible only via the river; others are "trail sites" that require hiking a good bit of the park's 13½-mile trail to reach them. Most sites, however, are for the less hardy—you can drive right up to them, and they have electric and water hookups.

The star ICON Park attraction is the 400-foot-tall observation wheel known simply as The Orlando Eye at ICON Park, which offers an almost unobstructed view of all the distant theme parks, lush green landscape, and the soaring buildings of the City Beautiful. Visibility on clear days can be more than 50 miles, reaching all the way east to Cape Canaveral. The Eye's 30 high-tech capsules complete a rotation every 30 minutes, and riders can use onboard Apple iPad Air tablets to locate points of interest. Rent a private capsule for up to 15 people, with champagne, for a sky-high experience. Ticket packages for ICON Park attractions are available.

Stroll along on a guided tour through gardens showcasing the graceful sculptures created by internationally known Czech sculptor Albin Polasek (1879–1965). The late artist's home, studio, galleries, and private chapel are centered on 3 acres of exquisitely tended lawns, colorful flower beds, and tropical foliage at the edge of Lake Osceola. Paths and walkways lead past classical life-size figurative sculptures and whimsical mythological pieces. Inside the museum are works by Hawthorne, Chase, and Mucha. The Capen House, a historic 1885 building, has been moved to the grounds to be used for public events.

The racing legend lent his name to this entertainment facility that offers boutique bowling on black-lit lanes, a video game and pinball arcade, virtual reality attractions, a shoot-em-up 7-D dark ride, and, naturally, racing. Pro-racing simulators add motion, vibrations, sound effects, and even add tension in the seatbelt so you feel as if you're on an actual racetrack. When you're ready to actually race, three indoor tracks let you whip around corners, change elevation, and zip into banked curves on small, high-torque karts. Add laser tag, a restaurant, and more than 100 screens tuned into the day's top sporting events, and you have a lot of entertainment packed into one exciting complex.

In terms of water thrills, SeaWorld's 59-acre Aquatica holds its own against the water parks at Disney and Universal. It offers more than 40 waterslides, from the gentle Kata's Kookaburra Cove to the free-fall experience of Ihu's Breakaway Falls, as well as beaches and lagoons, fast and slow rivers, and massive wave pools. Younger children are attracted to Walkabout Waters, a 60-foot-tall water-soaking jungle gym, where they can climb, slide, and get soaked. Teens and adults flock to the Dolphin Plunge, where two side-by-side, transparent tubes allow riders to join a pod of black-and-white dolphins underwater. The Ray Rush family raft ride offers multiple high-speed paths through enclosed tubes and transparent spheres. There are height requirements of at least 42 inches for some rides, and all visitors need to know how to swim.

This group of museums, divided into two campuses a block apart, includes the Maitland Art Center, the Maitland Historical Museum, the Waterhouse Residence Museum, and the quirky Telephone Museum. Hidden down a tree-lined side street, the Maitland Art Center is a collection of 23 buildings in the Maya Revival style—with Mesoamerican motifs—that contain an art gallery and artists’ studios. The restored Waterhouse museum reflects the life of a middle-class Victorian family during the early days of the City of Maitland. Recognized by Florida as a historic site and on the National Register of Historic Places, the center was founded as an art colony in 1937 by American artist and architect André Smith (1880–1959). It continues his tradition of art instruction and houses a major collection of his works.

More than 20 bird species, including hawks, eagles, owls, falcons, and vultures, make their home at this wildlife rehabilitation center on Lake Sybelia. You can take a self-guided conservation tour with interactive exhibits and walkways through the wetlands, or you can call ahead for a private tour ($30 annual pass), which includes an up-close look at different birds in the center. There's an earnestness to this working facility, which takes in more than 800 injured wild birds of prey each year. Fewer than half can return to the wild; some permanently injured birds continue to live at the center and can be seen in aviaries along the pathways. To get here, take U.S. 17–92, and turn west on Lake Avenue and then north on East Street.

Sanford has had a zoo since 1923, and there's a certain charm about the place. In addition to 400-plus animals, including giraffes (you can feed them), cheetahs, monkeys, and crocodiles, there's the Seminole Aerial Adventures, with rope bridges and a zipline through the treetops, and the Wharton-Smith Tropical Splash Ground, a mini water playground. Evening events for grown-ups are as popular as summer camps for kids. The Florida black-bear habitat and Florida Trek are delightful, as is the ¼-scale model of an Atlantic Coast Line Railroad streamliner train that travels around the grounds. Burgers, salads, and kids' meals are available

Housed in one of Downtown's oldest buildings, this charming, small gallery features mostly local and regional artists.

One of Crayola's five "experiences" in the country is a 70,000-square-foot haven of color at the Florida Mall. The two-floor center contains an overwhelming 27 interactive stations, including painting and modeling stations, where tykes can create animals out of clay and melted crayons. Don’t miss the younger set’s favorite: You Design, a virtual studio for coloring and digitally accessorizing a car or fashioning a wardrobe and then seeing the design projected on a large screen. Also be sure to check out the Crayon Factory, where live demonstrations show crayon creation—from wax to wrapper. Purchase tickets online and save $3.

The only theme park in Orlando that can be called "exclusive" offers relaxing swims and uncrowded, daylong encounters with dolphins, otters, sharks, and rays—all located right in the heart of Orlando. You can enjoy resort-style amenities amid tropical landscaping, white-sand beaches, waterfalls, and vast freshwater pools. Lockers, wet suits, parking, breakfast, lunch, drinks, and snacks are included in the regular admission price, as are snorkeling with tropical fish and rays in the Grand Reef, hand-feeding exotic birds in the Explorer's Aviary, or just floating on the Wind Away lazy river.

Add-ons—such as using a diving helmet in the Grand Reef, swimming with the sharks, or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin swim experiences—are available for an additional cost and often sell out, requiring reservations to be booked well in advance. Note that there are ticket options that get you into this park as well as SeaWorld, Aquatica, and Busch Gardens in Tampa (and varying combos of the four). Ticket prices vary wildly depending on day, the season, and the package options (there are many).

You can see the neon-lit rides from miles away as you approach International Drive. Four go-kart tracks offer a variety of driving experiences. Though drivers must be at least 10 years old and meet height requirements, parents can drive younger children in two-seater cars on several of the tracks, including the Conquest Track. Nineteen rides range from the dizzying Enterprise to an old-fashioned Ferris wheel to the twirling toddler Teacups.

Fun Spot, reminiscent of an old-fashioned fair, features Central Florida's only wooden roller coaster as well as the Freedom Flyer steel suspension family coaster, a kiddie coaster, and SkyCoaster—part skydive, part hang glide. There's also an arcade, and throwback rides such as the Tilt-a-Whirl. Gator Spot, created in partnership with the iconic Gatorland and starring several live alligators and other Florida wildlife, is a throwback to the old days of Orlando roadside attractions.

Almost crowded out by the glitz of new shops, restaurants, and art galleries is the original, once-thriving area of Hannibal Square, one of the oldest African-American communities in the country and home to Pullman porter families to this day. The Heritage Center has a permanent collection of photographs and oral histories of the significant West Winter Park area. It's a touching and important memorial to a neighborhood that influenced American history.

Enormous cypress trees shade this 5-acre public park on the shores of Lake Maitland. It's hidden within an upscale neighborhood and comes alive with heady color from January through March. The thousands of blooming azaleas (hence the name) make a perfect backdrop for romantic strolls, and sunset weddings are common at the park's Exedra monument overlooking the lake.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this country inn, built in 1883, overlooks 4,500-acre Lake Dora and is Florida's oldest continuously operating hotel. A stroll around the grounds, where seaplane passengers board or disembark, makes you feel as if you've stepped into the pages of The Great Gatsby. You, too, can book a seaplane tour or a cruise; both leave from the inn's large dock. Three restaurants offer indoor and outdoor dining. There are 90 guest rooms if you have time in your schedule for an overnight stay.

Featuring wax copies of real and fictional characters, Madame Tussauds lets you grab a selfie with the faux superheroes, including Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, as well as celebrities both living and dead—from Taylor Swift and Pink to Pitbull and Michael Jackson—and the rich and famous from politics and sports. Combo tickets are available for this museum, The Wheel at ICON Park, and SEA LIFE Orlando Aquarium.

Local and national artists are highlighted in this lovely art center, which grew out of the annual arts festival. The center is a focal point for the community, serving as headquarters of the arts festival, a gallery, a gift shop, and a place to take art lessons. A new facility is in the works.

The center takes you on a journey back in time to discover how Florida's Indigenous peoples hunted and fished the land, what the Sunshine State was like when the Spaniards arrived, and how life in Florida was different when citrus was king. Exhibitions also include displays on the history of citrus growing in Central Florida and the advancement of theme parks, samples of work by the famed Highwaymen painters, a diorama showing how an infamous sinkhole ate a city block, and documentation on the Pulse nightclub tragedy. Traveling exhibits bring modern technology and art to the museum. Free audio tours are available. Ticket holders get two hours of free parking.

Part of the City of Orlando's collection of arts venues, the Museum of Art sits in the Loch Haven Park complex. It exhibits contemporary art, mid-18th- and 19th-century American art, and an important collection of ancient artifacts of the Americas. In addition to American art created before 1945, and an extensive photography collection, exhibits of African textiles, and graphic art from such artists as Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns add to the diversity of its displays. The museum's collection of Chihuly glass, obtained during an exclusive exhibition in 2004, is among the finest in the country. A monthly free day takes place on the third Thursday of each month, known as Access for All Third Thursdays.