Rockstar has named six regions in Leonida, and each is based on a different Florida: Miami, the Keys, the Everglades, the sugar towns around Lake Okeechobee, the forests and springs of the north, and the Panhandle beaches. You can drive all six in one trip. It takes one rental car, about 1,200 miles and ten to twelve days. Every leg has its own trip on this site for the stops; this page is the order, the driving and where to sleep.
The shape of the route
The Keys are a dead end, so go south first, then work north and west: the Everglades, the cane fields, the springs and the Panhandle. Miami in, Panama City Beach out.
| Leg | Region | Distance | Without stops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach to Islamorada | Leonida Keys | 87 miles | about 2 hours |
| Islamorada to Key West | Leonida Keys | 82 miles | about 2 hours |
| Key West to Florida City | back to the mainland | 127 miles | about 3 hours |
| Florida City to Everglades City | Grassrivers | 85 miles | about 2 hours |
| Everglades City to Clewiston | Ambrosia | 97 miles | about 2 hours |
| Clewiston to Ocala via Okeechobee | Ambrosia to Mount Kalaga | 230 miles | 4 to 4.5 hours |
| Ocala to Panama City Beach | Port Gellhorn | 290 miles | 5 to 6 hours |
Those are mapping times with the road to yourself; add a third for stops. Getting around explains the rental and Florida’s mostly cashless tolls, which you meet on Florida’s Turnpike twice.
Days 1 and 2: Vice City
Fly into Miami, sleep on Miami Beach and pick up the rental on day three; you do not need a car here, and South Beach parking is expensive. Day one is Ocean Drive and the sand in front of it, clear matches for the first trailer’s Ocean Beach and Vice Beach lifeguard towers. Day two crosses the Venetian Causeway to Bayside, the waterfront district Rockstar named, and ends in the murals of Wynwood, a clear match for Stockyard. Three days in Vice City is the full version; its day on the water is the first thing to add.
Days 3 to 5: the Leonida Keys
This is Jason’s home turf. On day three take Card Sound Road, the back road into the Keys, then the Key Largo canal streets fans have matched to Jason’s place, Betsy the Lobster and a sunset at one of Islamorada’s bayside tiki bars. Sleep in Islamorada.
Day four is a morning boat into the mangrove backcountry, then the Seven Mile Bridge, a clear match for the second trailer’s long bridge, a swim at Bahia Honda and an evening in Key West. Sleep in Old Town.
Day five is Key West in the morning, then back up the Overseas Highway to Florida City or Homestead, where rooms cost far less than in the Keys and the Tamiami Trail is half an hour away. Leave Key West by early afternoon, and avoid Sundays. The Leonida Keys road trip has the stops and the Overseas Highway guide has the mile markers and the traffic.
Day 6: Grassrivers
From Florida City take Krome Avenue (State Road 997) north about 20 miles to US-41, the Tamiami Trail, and turn west. A day in Grassrivers unrolls in order: the airboat ride, a clear match for the first trailer’s airboat; the canal-bank alligators of Shark Valley; Big Cypress; and the Ochopee post office. Fill the tank first; fuel is scarce out there.
Sleep in Everglades City or Chokoloskee, down SR 29, which have a handful of small motels, inns and cabins; book ahead in winter. Naples is about 36 miles away if they are full. Stone crab season runs October 15 to May 1, and this is the town to eat them in.
Day 7: Ambrosia
Take SR 29 north through Immokalee to LaBelle, the kind of Hendry County backcountry fans have matched to Cal’s place, then SR 80 east to Clewiston: about 97 miles and two hours. Clewiston’s mill is a clear match for Ambrosia’s sugar refinery. It is private, so look from the public roads.
In the afternoon drive east through the cane fields to Belle Glade and up to Pahokee, about 30 miles, and climb the dike at the marina for sunset over Lake Okeechobee. From October into spring the harvest is on and fields are burned before cutting, a clear match for the burning field in the second trailer. Sleep in Clewiston, or go on about 40 miles around the lake to Okeechobee to shorten tomorrow.
Day 8: to Ocala
Okeechobee is ranch country, a travel idea rather than a match. Then US-441 north to Florida’s Turnpike and I-75 to Ocala, about 176 miles and three hours or a little more. Arrive by mid-afternoon and there is time for Silver Springs, open 8am to sundown. The standard glass-bottom boat tour is about 30 minutes and often sells out, so book ahead on weekends. Sleep in Ocala, near the historic downtown square.
Day 9: Mount Kalaga
SR 40 runs east from Ocala into the Ocala National Forest, the pine country fans have matched to Mount Kalaga. Swim at Alexander Springs or Juniper Springs (both can close at capacity on weekends), then come out at Astor, about 40 miles from Ocala, for dinner at the fish camps on Lake George. The Mount Kalaga loop has the detail. Sleep in Ocala again.
Day 10: west to the Panhandle
Silver Springs has no swimming, so start at Rainbow Springs, 22 miles southwest of Ocala, when it opens at 8am. Since April 2026 the main entrance admits visitors by day-use reservation only, so book online as soon as your dates are fixed; weekends go first.
Then take I-75 north and I-10 west to exit 174 and SR 12. Torreya State Park is off SR 12 north of Bristol: bluffs and ravines above the Apalachicola River, the nearest thing Florida has to the “mount” in Mount Kalaga. It is a travel idea, not a match. South of Bristol, SR 12 runs into the Apalachicola National Forest, the hunt camp country fans have matched to Mount Kalaga’s hunting. From Bristol take SR 20 west across the river to Blountstown; the Apalachicola is the time zone line, so your clock goes back an hour to Central. US-231 runs south to Panama City and the beach.
Torreya adds only about 15 miles, but a swim, the ravines and five to six hours at the wheel make a very full day; if it is too much, pick one.
Day 11: Port Gellhorn
Start at St. Andrews State Park when it opens, spend the middle of the day on Russell-Fields Pier and the old motels of Front Beach Road, which fans have matched to the second trailer’s pier and strip, and end at Pier Park at dusk. Sleep on the central strip near the pier. A Port Gellhorn weekend has the full version; its drive along the Forgotten Coast is the best use of a thirteenth day.
Day 12: getting home
Fly out. Northwest Florida Beaches International (ECP) is 25 to 35 minutes from the beach, with year-round nonstops to several airline hubs, Atlanta, Charlotte and Dallas among them, and more in season; check current routes. Departure times are Central.
The catch is the car. A one-way rental can carry a drop charge or a higher daily rate that varies with the route and the season; inside Florida it is sometimes small and sometimes not. The booking site shows it when you book, so price it against a round trip, in both directions: this route works as well from Panama City Beach to Miami.
Drive back. Panama City Beach to Miami is about 590 miles on I-10, I-75 and the Turnpike, nine to eleven hours without stops. That is two days, so twelve days become fourteen; break it in Ocala or Orlando.
The 10-day version
Two cuts, and neither costs you a region. Skip the night in Key West: on day four turn around at Bahia Honda and drive back to Florida City, about 90 miles and a little over two hours. And give Mount Kalaga one day: Silver Springs the afternoon you reach Ocala, Rainbow Springs the next morning, then the Panhandle. You lose Key West, a possible inspiration at best, the forest and Lake George.
If you only have 7 days
Do five regions and leave Port Gellhorn, nearly 600 miles from Miami, for its own weekend flying into ECP. A week that includes it is mostly windshield.
Two days in Vice City. Day three down the Keys to the Seven Mile Bridge, about 120 miles, and back to Islamorada to sleep. Day four up to Florida City and across the Tamiami Trail to Everglades City, about 130 miles. Day five through LaBelle to Clewiston and the cane fields. Day six to Ocala and Silver Springs. Day seven the forest in the morning, then Orlando’s airport (MCO), about 90 miles and an hour and a half away. Key West goes too.
Before you book
Season. November to April suits Miami, the Keys, the Everglades and the cane fields; Panama City Beach is best in late spring and early fall, and the springs are 72 degrees all year. If one month must suit all six, make it April after Easter: the Everglades are still dry, the harvest is often still on and spring break is over. When to visit has the rest.
Budget. Rooms get cheaper nearly every day you drive away from the Keys; what a Leonida trip costs has the numbers.
Pace. Eight beds in eleven nights. The two-night stops in Miami, Ocala and Panama City Beach are the rest days; keep at least two.
Updated October 26, 2026. All guides