How Much Does 2 Weeks in Florida REALLY Cost for UK Families? Everglades-Florida Keys-Miami-Orlando

How much does 2 weeks in Florida cost for UK families? A real 2026 breakdown including flights, hotels, theme parks, and hidden costs — plus tips to save money.

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6/27/202610 min read

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A 2-week Florida trip can vary massively in cost, but for UK families it’s rarely a “cheap” holiday. The real challenge isn’t just the big-ticket items like flights and parks — it’s the constant small costs that build up day by day.

This breakdown is based on our real 2026 family trip, travelling South Florida with our 9-year-old, followed by the theme parks with our extended family. Our itinerary combined the Orlando theme parks with the Florida Keys, Everglades, Miami, and road trip stops in between.

Full itinerary here: 2-Week Florida Family Itinerary: Everglades, Florida Keys and Theme Parks

Quick Answer: Total Cost of a 2-Week Florida Trip

On-the-ground total (excluding flights & accommodation): ~£1,300–£1,600 per person

When you factor everything in:

  • Flights: ~£830 per person (one leg economy and return overnight leg premium economy)

  • Accommodation: ~£900–£1,100 per person (a mix of hotels and self-catering villas)

  • On-the-ground spend: ~£1,300–£1,600 per person

A realistic total comes out around £3,000–£3,500 per person, or roughly £9,000–£10,000 for a family of three.

Florida isn’t one big cost — it’s lots of smaller ones that quietly add up over two weeks. That total can be reduced depending on your priorities: cutting out Express Passes, class of flight and direct vs indirect, choosing cheaper accommodation, or limiting paid activities all make a noticeable difference. For us, we deliberately prioritised experiences over expensive park souvenirs and eating out, which helped keep daily spending under control while still making the most of the trip.

Our 2026 Florida Itinerary (What This Budget Covers)

This cost breakdown is based on a 2-week trip that combined a mix of road trip travel and theme park time, which is why the overall spend varies across different parts of the holiday.

Our route included:

  • Everglades – 1 day, exploring airboat tours and wildlife areas

  • Florida Keys – 2 days, based in Key Largo with time for snorkelling and a road trip to Key West

  • Miami – 2 days, staying just outside the city for boats, beaches and activities

  • Orlando – 9 days, focused on theme parks, water parks, animal encounters and downtime in our villa

This mix of destinations gave us a balance of experiences—from nature and beaches to full-on park days—and is important context when looking at the costs, as spending in places like the Florida Keys and theme parks is noticeably higher than elsewhere.

Flights (UK → Florida Return)

Prices vary depending on route, airline and how far in advance you book. We flew into Tampa instead of Orlando, which was noticeably cheaper and meant we could go direct from London.

Tampa also worked well for our route. It’s only about an hour from Orlando, and it allowed us to start our trip heading south towards the Everglades and the Florida Keys without doubling back on ourselves.

We flew economy out and due to the return leg being overnight opted to pay a bit extra for premium economy home. Direct flights are between 8-9.5 hours each leg.

We booked about a year in advance with British Airways, and paid:

  • £830 per person

  • ~£2,500 total for a family of three

Accommodation Breakdown (14 Nights)

We deliberately mixed accommodation types to balance cost, space and location — and this is where you can really control your budget.

Arrival night (roadside stop)


We paid £67 for a basic roadside hotel between Tampa and the Everglades. Nothing special, but exactly what we needed after a long flight.

Florida Keys (3 nights)


We stayed at Kawama Yacht Club in Key Largo — a beachfront condo with a full kitchen, BBQ and marina access.

  • £747 total (£249 per night)

The Keys are expensive, and we found most accommodation there to be pricey. We specifically chose a condo over a hotel so we could cook, which made a big difference to overall costs. It also gave us a much more relaxed stay. This was one of our favourite parts of the trip and somewhere we’d definitely return to.

For a more detailed overview of areas and properties we considered when planning the Florida Keys, see:

Miami / Aventura (2 nights)


We stayed just outside Miami in Aventura in Hallandale at the Hilton Hampton Inn.

  • Hotel with free parking and breakfast included £125 per night

That combination is surprisingly hard to find in Miami. Staying slightly outside the city saved money and made everything easier with the car, while still being close to the beach and main areas.

For a more detailed overview see:

Orlando split stay (8 nights total)

  • One night at La Quinta (£72) while waiting for family to arrive — basic, but included breakfast and a pool

  • One night at Hard Rock Hotel (£660)

The Hard Rock was one of our biggest spends. The hotel itself was nice, but the real value was the included Express Pass Unlimited for two days (these can also be purchased separately, I have linked these for current price comparisons). Without that, we wouldn’t have stayed there. On top of the room rate, we also paid for parking and food, which were both expensive.

This was a 10-bed villa shared between three families, so the cost was split. It had a private pool, games room and plenty of space, which made it much better value than multiple hotel rooms. Having a kitchen again helped keep food costs down.

For a more detailed overview see:

Transport Costs (Car Hire, Fuel, Parking, Tolls): £824 Total

This was one of the areas where we learned the most.

Car hire

For this kind of trip, a car isn’t optional — it’s essential. Especially once you leave Orlando.

Fuel

  • £108 total for around 1,000 miles

Fuel was surprisingly cheap compared to the UK, even with the amount of driving we did.

Parking

  • Around £67 total

This included parking in Miami (we paid $15 at a local church, much cheaper than official parking), $35 at Hard Rock Hotel, and $35 per day at Universal.

Tolls (where we got caught out)

  • £182 total

This was easily our biggest, unexpected cost.

We hadn’t properly researched how tolls worked and ended up taking the hire company’s toll package at around $13.50 per day. At the time, after a long flight, it felt like the easiest option — but it added up quickly. In reality, tolls themselves were often small — anywhere from $0.50 to $5 — but because we drove from Tampa down to the Keys and back up to Orlando via Miami, we hit a lot of them. Looking back, there’s no way our actual toll usage came close to £182

What we’d do differently:

  • Buy a SunPass or local transponder for under $20

  • Register it and pay tolls ourselves

It’s a simple fix, but one that can save a decent amount of money. I’ve covered this properly in my guide on driving in the USA, as it’s a very easy mistake to make. If you fly in to Orlando you can ‘borrow’ a transponder for free from the airport, Tampa did not offer this service.

eSIM / data

  • £17.50 for 10GB

An eSIM was essential for maps and navigation. Just make sure you turn off background data (photos, music etc.) — it disappears quicker than you think.

For a more detailed overview on how to prepare for driving in the USA see:

Theme Park Costs (The Biggest Expense)

This is where a large chunk of the budget goes.

Universal tickets

This was a 14 day pass for all 4 parks – Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay Waterpark and the new Epic Universe.

  • £1,251.20 total for three

  • Around £417 per person

In reality, did 4 park days, so roughly £104 per park day. My extended family used theirs more, but for us, one day per park was enough within a wider itinerary.

For more information on planning the parks see:

Discovery Cove

  • £636 total

  • £212 per person (including dolphin swim and all-inclusive day)

Our Discovery Cove ticket included food, drinks, towels, lockers and parking, which helps justify the cost slightly, but it’s still a premium experience. We bought both tickets during Black Friday sales, which helped a bit.

For more information on planning for discovery cove see:

It’s also worth noting that park days come with a lot of additional spending:

  • Universal Parking: around $35 per day or hotel parking $35 for 2 days

  • Food: £15–£20 per meal

  • Snacks: £5–£7 (ice creams, drinks, etc.)

We accepted early on that this would be the most expensive part of the trip and planned the rest of the itinerary to balance it out. Discovery cove is not cheap but for us was a priority having enjoyed our visit so much when we went in 2014.

Food & Drink Costs (£910 Total)

This worked out at:

  • £303 per person

  • Around £21.60 per person per day

The only reason we kept this relatively low was how we approached food.

We focused on:

  • Eating in wherever possible

  • Using supermarkets like Walmart and Target (Publix was noticeably more expensive)

  • Cooking as a group in the villa

We all contributed to a shared food shop and cooked together most evenings, utilising the BBQ gave the food that holiday vibe, and we never felt like we were missing out. We still ate out occasionally or where we were on the road — mostly lower-cost places like Subway, Panda Express and Denny’s — and kept it simple.

A few things stood out:

  • Ice cream alone came to £73 across the trip, with the parks costing as much as £7 per ice cream

  • Butterbeer in Universal was about $10 each, but the kids never finished a whole one

  • Eating out regularly would have doubled the food budget very easily, especially if buying alcohol, some hotels like Hard Rock cocktails were $20+

Activities & Extras

Beyond the main parks, these smaller activities add up quickly:

Shopping also crept in:

  • £265 at outlet malls (trainers, jeans, sportswear — genuinely good value but unplanned)

  • £54 on souvenirs (mostly chosen by our son — slime, arcade credits, basketball, etc.). This could have crept up fast, as an example Harry Potter wands at Universal were $70+ and ‘power up’ bands at Epic Universe were $45, two souvenirs that only work within the parks aimed at enhancing the interaction for kids. Fortunately, our son was less interested in these and more interested in where his next ice cream was coming from!

If you want more details on any of these activities, see:

Hidden Costs (The Ones That Catch You Out)

These are easy to overlook but make a difference:

  • ESTA: £62 total

  • Cash for tipping on tours: £85

  • Travel insurance (essential, especially in the US) – we use Just Travel Cover as it covers pre existing conditions and allows us to compare multiple providers to find the best price for our family.

We also had a situation in the Everglades where we discovered an unexpected additional cost of around $100 per person plus parking. We chose not to go in and instead explored Big Cypress, which was free and, honestly, just as good for what we wanted. For a more in depth review of this part of the trip, see: Big Cypress vs The Everglades National Park: Which is better with kids?

For more detailed guides on these topics, see:

Total Budget Summary

Per person (approximate):

  • Flights: £830

  • Accommodation: ~£1,000

  • Transport: ~£275

  • Parks and experiences: ~£650

  • Food and extras: ~£400

Total: ~£3,100 per person

How to Save Money (What Actually Works)

From our experience, this is where cost creeps in and can make the biggest difference when budgeting your trip:

  • Flying into Tampa instead of Orlando

  • Choosing villas over hotels for part of the trip

  • Cooking together and shopping smart (Walmart over Publix)

  • Avoiding hire car toll packages

  • Booking tickets during sales (e.g. Black Friday)

  • Comparing car hire through Holiday Autos

  • Buying souvenirs at outlet malls instead of in parks

Capturing Action & Underwater Photos (Worth Considering)

This wasn’t part of our core trip budget, but it’s definitely something to think about if you want to capture the experience properly—especially in places like the Florida Keys, water parks, and Discovery Cove where there are loads of underwater photo opportunities. Rather than relying on phone cases, we used a dedicated underwater camera (an Insta360), which meant we could take photos and videos without worrying about water damage. It also made a big difference to quality, particularly for snorkelling and clearer underwater shots. You can get by with a waterproof phone pouch, but if capturing those moments is important to you, it’s worth considering a proper setup—Florida is one of those trips where you’ll actually use it a lot.

Final Verdict

Florida is expensive — more than we expected, especially once everything adds up over two weeks. But for school-aged kids, it’s hard to beat. The mix of theme parks, wildlife, beaches and road trip experiences made it feel like several holidays in one. I’ve written this to give a clear, honest view of where the costs actually come from, and how you can shape the trip around your own family’s priorities and budget.

We planned our budget before we went, and overall, it came in almost exactly where we expected — aside from a few lessons learned along the way (mainly the tolls). It’s a trip we’d absolutely do again, and hopefully this gives you the confidence to plan yours with fewer surprises along the way.

Planning a Family Trip to the USA

If you’re planning a family trip to the United States, we’ve created a collection of practical guides based on our own experiences travelling there with a child. In our USA Travel Hub, you’ll find advice on everything from ESTA requirements and travel insurance to driving, healthcare and managing jet lag with kids, alongside destination guides for places we’ve explored including New York, Colorado, South Dakota and Florida. It’s a useful starting point for parents researching how to plan a smooth and enjoyable family trip to the USA.