When visiting Florida, many of us head for Latin-flavored Miami, theme parks or the tourist-magnet beaches. Palm trees and pools, glitzy shopping and nightlife by the sea shape our fantasies. But there's much to discover in the "unspoiled" areas, as veteran traveler and author of Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge (University Press of Florida; $24.95) Herb Hiller tells Anne Goodfriend for USA TODAY. Visitflorida.com (click on "destinations" or call 888-735-2872) has information for all these places, plus links to more specific sites.
The Panhandle
This region of northern Florida is "typified by State Road 2, aka Hog and Hominy Road," Hiller says. You'll see old, steam-driven grist mills and "still-operating general stores where you can buy county newspapers no one ever heard of." Among its highlights is the old Chautauqua town of DeFuniak Springs with its Victorian architecture. In Falling Waters State Park, the state's highest waterfall pours up-side down into a sinkhole: "You stand and look down at it, not up."
The Big Bend
Four northern counties
Big Bend is being marketed as the Nature Coast, and its four northern counties are distinguished by "an absence of tourist features (but) the best nature touring. Levy is horse country, and it has some of the most beautiful unknown beaches ... on islands off Cedar Key, a hip artists' town." In Dixie, you can hike or bike along "exquisite canopied trails" in the winter, when migrating birds pass through. Taylor, known for scalloping in the late summer, offers "Steinhatchee, an old fishing town" where shrimp boats still tie up. Taylor and neighboring Wakulla contain part of the 68,000-acre St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge with 274 bird species. 866-584-5366; www.naturecoastcoalition.com
Gainesville and towns south
Within half an hour of "the most sophisticated small city in Florida"- home to the University of Florida — lies a crescent of "exceptionally attractive" small towns. Micanopy, known for its anti-ques, also has "the best antiquarian bookstore in the state," Hiller says. Not quite as "spiffed up" is Cross Creek, where Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote The Yearling. Evinston is "a jewel. Nothing's there except the family-run 1906 Wood & Swink General Store," which contains one of few remaining in-store post offices. 866-778-5002; visitgainesville.com
Highway A1A through Nassau and Duval counties
This part of the long, north to south road, "largely in view of the sea, salt marsh or both," traverses three state parks, Hiller says. "All you see are folks fishing on old stumps." If you walk along paths that cut through the sand dunes to the salt marsh inlets, you'll see "manatees in the winter and beaches chockablock with driftwood." 800-733-2668; www.jaxcvb.com
Deland, Lake Helen, Cassadaga
On the St. Johns River, just 30 minutes west of Daytona Beach, is DeLand, home of Stetson University. The town has three historic districts and "great regard for the arts," Hiller says. On the west side of town, "the hub of houseboating, they have two large fleets that cruise alongside Ocala National Forest." In the tiny, undeveloped Lake Helen, "the Florida Bicycle Association is working to open a year-round adult bike touring program." In Cassadaga, home of the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, "the mediums live in small-scale, charming houses and do readings throughout the year." Stjohnsrivercountry.org
Lakeland
The grocery-store chain Publix is based here, and its "philanthropic-minded" contributions include Hollis Gardens, which "reproduces botanically every part of the state." There's Lake Mirror, the "town's jewel, with a gorgeously ornamented lakefront from the '20s, with a walkway all the way around." Fans of Frank Lloyd Wright shouldn't miss the campus of Florida Southern College, the architect's "largest single installation in the world." 863-688-8551; lakelandchamber.com
Pinellas County
Six small towns in the county that contains St. Pete/Clearwater are distinctive destinations, Hiller says. The "hip" town of Pass-a-Grille, "literally an appendage" of St. Petersburg, is topped by the old Don Cesar Hotel, one of the few remaining "pink palaces in the state ... like a big sand castle on the water." Gulfport, to the east, has "become a cool hangout, in a quiet way." Safety Harbor, famed for its eponymous spa, "is a wonderful town for walking around." To the north, Dunedin's old railroad bed has been turned into the nearly 40-mile Pinellas Trail, used by 1 million people a year. The "sane, small-scale" Indian Rocks Beach is "the best beach town" of all. Finally, the trail leads up to Tarpon Springs, an "old Greek fishing community" still "redolent with character." 800-822-6461; floridasbeach.com
Stuart
Here's an island town that's "not only attractive, it works," Hiller says. It "came back in the '60s, when lots of people left Miami." When it rebounded, Stuart became "the avatar of 'yesteryear' town planning and the 'new urbanism.' " At its northernmost part is St. Lucie Inlet State Park. "You either have to walk 7 miles up the beach or rent a boat to reach it. I saw only one or two sets of footprints when I kayaked there." 772-287-1088; goodnature.org
The Redland
In this agricultural area, "people from Cuba and Mexico came up and planted exotic" blooms, so it's rife with "bromeliad farms, rare palms, orchid farms and specialized nurseries," Hiller says. Its small city of Homestead has come back following Hurricane Andrew because "the farm workers are investing; there's lots of building restoration" on its main street, Krome Avenue. 800-388-9669; tropicaleverglades.com
Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail
On the west coast "adjacent to the best-known beaches, Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva," this trail is "a world apart," Hiller says. "The biggest intrusion might be at low tide, when a sandbar pops up." Lee County residents and civic leaders who want to keep the area
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