The Location Guide

Ancient cypress along Lake Maitland and the white-columned Exedra monument. Best in the last hour before sunset — the garden is open 8 a.m. to dusk.

Fifty acres of botanical gardens minutes from downtown. The rose garden gives natural floral framing you can't fake.

Boardwalks, a butterfly garden and deep shade — a quieter alternative when Kraft Azalea is busy.

Banyan roots, orchid houses and a bayfront lawn where the water opens up behind you.

A century-old sunken garden of dense tropical planting and cascading water in the middle of the city.

Themed tropical gardens and reflecting water — clean backdrops with almost no crowd in the early hours.

A historic hammock garden of water lilies, palms and filtered light under old-growth canopy.

Quartz sand that stays cool and reads bright white on camera. Sunsets here are the reason people fly in.

Wide white sand and a pier silhouette that anchors the frame at dusk.

Where the bay meets the Gulf at the island's northern tip — driftwood, dunes and almost no foot traffic.

Shell-strewn sand, a historic iron lighthouse and calm water on the island's east end.

A classic timber pier straight into the Gulf — the most photographed sunset on the southwest coast.

Five connected keys of dune, pine and quiet shoreline — big skies with room to move.

Old-Florida beach town at the southern tip — pastel cottages and an unobstructed western horizon.

A tidal lagoon and sandbar walk with the Ten Thousand Islands scattered beyond.

Sunrise on the Atlantic with the pier as a silhouette — and rocket launches on the right night.

A walkable beach town street that ends at the dunes. Quiet on weekday mornings.

Casuarina pines, a historic iron pier and the clearest water on the island.

A barrier-island park reached by boardwalk — shells, tidal flats and low crowds.

Clear spring water rising under palm and cypress, twenty minutes from downtown Orlando.

A spring run through shaded hammock — dappled light and turquoise water.

A first-magnitude spring on the St. Johns, with manatees gathering through the cool months.

Rolling sandhills, cypress lakes and some of the best unobstructed sunsets in Central Florida.

Oak-palm hammock, a canopy walkway and wide wetland light.

Salt-bleached oaks fallen onto the sand — the most dramatic natural backdrop in North Florida.

Open savanna, wild horses and bison, and enormous sky — unlike anywhere else in the state.

Twenty-four miles of undeveloped barrier island beside the Space Coast.

Sawgrass horizon, mangrove tunnels and light that goes gold across the water.

Ninety-five percent water — turquoise shallows and mangrove coast at the edge of the city.

Seventy miles west by boat or seaplane: Fort Jefferson's brick arches ringed by open ocean.

A 17th-century coquina fortress on the bayfront — the oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S.

The former Ponce de Leon Hotel: Spanish Renaissance towers, a marble courtyard and Tiffany glass.

Arcaded courtyards and a Mediterranean-Revival bridge with marble lions at each end.

An Italianate villa on Biscayne Bay — stone barge, formal gardens, endless architectural detail.

Twelfth-century Spanish cloisters rebuilt stone by stone in Florida — cool, quiet, unmistakable.

A Venetian Gothic mansion on the bay with a courtyard museum of columns and statuary.

Silver minarets of the old Tampa Bay Hotel above the river — the city's signature skyline detail.

The 1928 "Pink Palace" on the Gulf — pastel walls against blue water and white sand.

Addison Mizner's Mediterranean vias — tiled stairs, bougainvillea and iron gates.

Gilded-Age Palm Beach at full volume: Renaissance facades, fountains and marble halls.

Florida's tallest lighthouse — red brick against sky, with keeper's cottages at the base.

A restored Andalusian farmhouse and a Spanish-Mediterranean lakeside campus with a chapel courtyard.

Brick streets, a lakeside lighthouse and porch-lined storefronts — small-town Florida intact.

Green shutters, a wraparound veranda and deep tropical shade in Old Town.

The fountain, swan boats and downtown skyline — Orlando's most recognizable frame, best when the fountain lights.

River, skyline and the minarets across the water — a two-mile walk of changing backdrops.

A long balustraded waterfront promenade with the bay on one side and the skyline ahead.

A modern pier district of sculpture, lawn and water on three sides.

Block after block of large-scale murals — the most colorful backdrop in the state.

Where South Beach meets the channel: jetty, pines and ships passing at eye level.

The beach promenade's white serpentine wall, palms and Atlantic light.

Downtown docks, a fountain plaza and the Intracoastal at dusk.

The St. Johns riverfront with a blue steel lift bridge lit after dark.

Castle silhouette at dusk and fireworks across Seven Seas Lagoon, from the resort boardwalk.

Waterfront promenades, string lights and warm evening color without a park ticket.

A lakeside main street with a fountain, gazebo and porch-lit storefronts.

Wide open lake, a long pier and unblocked western sky for sunset.

Cypress-lined lakefront and estate docks in one of Central Florida's quietest corners.

Cast-iron railings, the lake and skyline beyond — the classic New York proposal frame.

Washington Street's arch view and cobblestones under the bridge.

Red sandstone escarpment twenty minutes from the Strip — desert light, no crowds.

The full-scale Parthenon replica by day, neon and brick downtown by night.

Cloud Gate's mirrored curve and a river corridor of architecture on both banks.

Rows of vine, oak groves and long golden light through the valley.

The Eiffel Tower at first light from Trocadéro, then gilded lamps on the Seine's most ornate bridge.

Whitewashed terraces, blue domes and a cliff edge that drops into the sea.

Stacked pastel houses above the water, and Ravello's cliffside gardens looking down the coast.

Clifftop ruins over the Caribbean and freshwater cenotes lit by a single shaft of light.