Gainesville: The Perfect Spot for Your Mini-Vacation

In our last article, we wrote about why you should make the Laurel Oak Inn Bed & Breakfast the place to stay when you come to Gainesville. This time around, we’re going to go into more detail about why Gainesville should be the destination for your mini vacation.

And the reason is simple. There really is a lot of great, fun stuff to do here.

Let’s start with the 800-pound gorilla – the University of Florida.

There’s so much going on at UF, it’s hard to know where to begin. Not really. We begin with Florida football. One thing will be different about the 2021 season. There will certainly be more people at the game than last year. Why not make that football weekend even more unique by avoiding the crowded hotels? Instead, stay with us at the Laurel Oak Inn.

If you have children at UF, you don’t want to miss graduation coming up at the end of this month and then again in August.

Another great opportunity is Family Weekend.  This year it will be Sept. 23-26.

Additionally, the Laurel Oak Inn is also great for mother/daughter weekends. The mothers get pampered, and the daughters get a break from dorm life.

Separate from any special events, UF can still be a great destination, especially if you’re looking for culture. Start with the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Butterfly Rainforest. And don’t forget the Harn Museum of Art. Also, if you have children getting close to college age, take a tour around the campus to see everything UF has to offer.

Stepping away from campus, there’s plenty more to do in Gainesville and the surrounding small towns.

Staying with the museum theme, you can check out the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention, a home for “inspiring and equipping future inventors, entrepreneurs and visionaries.” Fittingly, the museum is named for a visionary inventor – Dr. Robert Cade, the creator of Gatorade.

Staying in the museum genre for just a little longer, there’s also the Matheson History Museum, the Historic Haile Homestead, the Thomas Center, the Santa Fe College Kika Silva Pla Planetarium, the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center and many more.

Looking for nature? Consider Sweetwater Wetlands (which is practically right around the corner) the Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park, the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, Boulware Springs, Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, Poe Springs Park, Ginnie Springs and the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park just for starters. Canoeing down the Ichnetucknee River is also a favorite, the spring water is always 72 degrees, and on a hot day, you can’t beat the scenery or the cool water.

As far as those small towns, there are some great destinations. You can go antiquing in High Springs, Micanopy or Waldo. While you’re down in Micanopy, it’s a short drive to Cross Creek and the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park.

There’s also plenty of entertainment, nightlife, biking, fishing, canoeing, hiking and so much more.

Did you know Gainesville is a birdwatcher’s haven? If you can’t have fun here, you can’t have fun.

And you start and end the day in a beautiful bed and breakfast. Here you get a delicious, gourmet breakfast, private, en suite bathrooms in each guest room, flat-screen TVs, a sitting room with a large-screen TV and other great luxury amenities.

So, think about making your next mini-vacation one that you remember. Try Gainesville and stay with us at the Laurel Oak Inn Bed & Breakfast where you can enjoy life and take in everything Gainesville has to offer. Avoid the crowds at the big hotels. Instead, stay at the cleanest and nicest hotel in town. We’re looking forward to meeting you!