Seeking ELEVATION! (Orlando, Sanford: price, versus, beaches)

[nool poodle]

Hello fellow Central Floridians - every so often I get a hankering to get away from the endless beaches and humidity, and head for the mountains. Does anyone else seek the same thing from time to time? And when you do, where do you go?

Specifically, does anyone road trip out of Orlando with this intent? Is there anywhere close enough to make this sort of trip justifiable over a long weekend?

Mt. Dora doesn't count

[doom1001]

You're going to have to go north of Atlanta to start seeing mountains,the closest you're going to see nearby is this.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5vDHIM-M0fc&t=216s

[OrlFlaUsa]

Endless beaches and summer is kinda our M.O. Gotta go to N. Georgia or the Carolinas for elevation.

[jamary1]

Asheville, nc.

[kyle19125]

If looking for some real elevation and cooler weather I'd recommend going to the Boone-Blowing Rock-Banner Elk area of NC about an hour and a half north of Asheville which is largely at 3300 feet or higher versus Asheville which is at 2100 feet. Just outside of Banner Elk is Beech Mountain where the resort's mountaintop village is at 5500 feet and open year-round. In the peak of summer (Jul-Aug) overnight low temperatures there will drop into the low 50s which is perfect for some quality fireplace time. https://townofbeechmountain.com/ https://www.vrbo.com/search/keywords...ghtlyPrice/150 Instead of the long drive from FL you can catch a flight out of Orlando-Sanford International on Allegiant Airlines into either Johnson City TN (an hour away) or into Asheville (closer to two hours away) for about $175 RT. https://www.allegiantair.com/

[bmw335xi]

The area around or in between Chattanooga, Gatlinburg and Asheville.

[nool poodle]

Thanks everyone for the input, and especially the detailed reply Kyle! As I've been out to Asheville once before, I will look into the surrounding areas a bit more - a bit of a bummer they all seem even further away than Asheville proper with that already being a 9-hr drive -it's nice to hear that flights are pretty well priced, I never considered that.

Driving is usually preferred since this trip is usually with our dog, so I had hoped someone might have great things to say regarding N. Georgia - but now that I look at Google Maps again, what I had once thought was a few hours advantage on i-75 into Georgia is really not much better than i-95 into N. Carolina.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by nool poodle

Driving is usually preferred since this trip is usually with our dog, so I had hoped someone might have great things to say regarding N. Georgia - but now that I look at Google Maps again, what I had once thought was a few hours advantage on i-75 into Georgia is really not much better than i-95 into N. Carolina.

If driving is preferred then I would say the Asheville-Hendersonville-Brevard area is you best at right around an 8 hour drive. You can get into the North Georgia mountains in a bit under 8 hours but there's no real benefit given the lack of altitude and subsequent more minor differences in temperature. Plus the drive on I-95 and I-26 is much less difficult given the general avoidance of lots of traffic, unlike I-75 through the Atlanta metro.