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Cool Things to do in Winter Garden FL

by Pankaj Upreti
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Things to do in Winter Garden FL

Winter Garden Florida is located 20 minutes west of Orlando
Winter Park, FL | Photo Credit – 407apartments.com

Winter Garden Florida is located 20 minutes west of Orlando in Florida’s Orange County. The Winter Garden offers a slice of old Florida and is a key city in the Orlando, Kissimmee, and Sanford Metropolitan area. 

The brick-lined streets and beautiful architecture are reminiscent of the way Florida used to be and still gives the small-town vibes. The town of Winter Garden is quite historic and was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1996.

What is Winter Garden FL known for?

Winter Garden is known for its historic architecture which covers nearly 100 acres of Winter Florida with 29 buildings. Winter Garden is also known for its old Florida small-town feels and is very popular among tourists because of its proximity to Orlando and also to many of the state’s most popular theme parks in Florida.

The area around Winter Garden is full of citrus parks and the Lake Apopka nearby offers multiple recreational options including cultural ones like the farmers market or the plant street market,  the west orange trail and the museums, and natural ones like the aforementioned Lake Apopka.

Is Winter Garden FL a good place to live?

Winter Garden Florida is an okay place to live considering its status as a city but not of a metropolis like Orlando, its scenic views of nature and culture, its closeness with the theme parks and to Orlando as well, and its not so huge population of 45,000. 

The problem with Winter Garden is of its relatively high crime rates making it less safe a place for one to reside in.

What is the crime rate in Winter Garden FL?

The chance of becoming a victim to violent crimes or property crimes in Winter Garden Florida is 1 in 39. The crime rate here is greater than 69% of Florida’s cities and towns of all sizes. Winter Garden is not one of the safest communities in the US because of these high crime rates in FBI’s crime data.

The Winter Garden FL crime rate for 2018 was 345.05 per 100,000 population, a 2.32% increase from 2017. The Winter Garden FL crime rate for 2017 was 337.22 per 100,000 population, a 4.58% increase from 2016. The crime rates have only been increasing since 2016 and living here is not suggested despite its interesting history and culture.

What are the things to do in Winter Garden FL?

From nature walks, farmer’s markets, street markets, and historic buildings to the West Orange Trail, Lake Apopka, and the theme parks nearby, Winter Garden offer you a range of exciting attractions including ones you can enjoy for free. Here is a list of the best places to escape to in Winter Garden Florida.

Winter Garden Farmers Market

Farmers Market | Photo Credit – trailerfullofpix

Winter Garden has abundant sunlight and rainfall all year round, and that is the reason behind such an abundant production of fruits and vegetables in Downtown Winter Garden. If you love browsing through fruits and vegetables and are looking to get your hands on some of the most unique seasonal fruits and vegetables you can come to the Farmer’s Market set up every Saturday in Downtown Winter Garden.

from 9am to 2pm. The market hosts fairs, festivals and many family-friendly events too on multiple occasions and offers fruits, vegetables, meats, handmade soaps, jewelry, herbal tea, street food, handicrafts, antiques and much more. The events hosted here include live music events, car shows and so much more for you to check out. You can always find local people as well as people who have come to downtown as a part of their travel plans spending time in the Farmer’s market buying stuff.

Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve

Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve | Photo Credit – Rain0975

Located down the road in Orlando FL, just twenty minutes away from Winter Garden, Tibet-Butler Preserve showcases trails that run through unique Florida pine forests and swamp lands. Our list opens  about destinations which are in and around Winter Garden and Orlando and have beautiful flora and fauna with the Tibet-Butler Preserve. It is the premier destination of nature lovers who wish to spend time experiencing natural beauty as it is home to a large number of unique plant and animal species.

This preserve in Orlando is open to all and is very popular among tourists as well as the local people of Winter Garden. It features a variety of trails lined by oak trees, including a trail which is almost 4 miles long, and is a favorite of hikers, bikers, birdwatchers and nature lovers. This is also a family-friendly picnic destination for families with children who like insects and wildlife. Do not miss the Butterfly Garden which rooms a variety of butterflies and is perfect for children as well as adults. 

There is also an environmental center which offers information on these plant and animal species. The Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve welcomes you to experience nature and it definitely deserves to be on your list of places to visit in Winter Garden.

Withers-Maguire House

The Withers-Maguire House, located on East Oakland Avenue in nearby Ocoee, was built more than one hundred and thirty years ago and is a marker of the history of the area. The home is full of really unique rooms, furniture, art, and housewares which have been restored to near-perfect condition and reflect the history of Winter Garden when it used to be an agricultural area.

The Withers-Maguire House was rightfully placed in the National Registry of Historic Buildings in 1987. You can visit this really great place for free every Saturday and Sunday from 2 pm to 4 pm. You can easily travel to see the Withers-Maguire House as it is only a few minutes away from Winter Garden and is open for all.

Crooked Can Brewing Company

sushi | Photo Credit – Harald Groven

Winter Garden houses the Crooked Can Brewing Company which is a great place to have great food and beer. Located on West Plant Street, Crooked Can Brewing Company, unlike most breweries, offers a selection of foods like pizzas, burgers, sushi, and a vegan menu along with a wide variety of beers. You can try the samplers which offer a range of flavor profiles before ordering beer for yourself.

Their food is as exceptional as their beers and they also offer a range of ciders and wines which you can order. You can take a tour of the brewery to learn about their beer-brewing process. Come to the brewery with your friends or family between 11am to 11pm on any day of the week and the hours extend to 1am on Fridays and Saturday.

Plant Street Market

Plant Street Market | Photo Credit – Jason Boatman

One such place in Winter Garden where you can spend your time and have fun for free is the Plant Street Market. The Plant Street Market is a great place for you to go spend your afternoon and sample different foods and drinks, getting to see unique artworks and handicrafts, and maybe also shopping for some of these unique products.

The Plant Street market is open seven days a week and is full of artistic vendors selling unique, artsy, and bohemian items which include locally roasted coffee, food directly from farms, a range of unique juices, homemade chocolates, pastries, candles, body products and much more.

They also organize music and cultural events, exhibitions and festivals of sorts. You can check out all of this for free but we suggest you buy something to support the local farmers and artists for them to continue with this really interesting thing that the Plant Street market is.

Escape Goat

Have you ever experienced the thrill of being locked in a room with your friends and solving puzzles to get out of there? Well, Escape Goat LLC in Winter Garden is one such place with themed rooms where you can simulate the experience of being locked up in a room and use your wit and creativity to find your way out of the locked room.

Escape Goat offers entry to 4 to 6 players in a room; the rooms mimic different scenarios like Sherlock Holmes, Haunted House or Area 51 and many more, which you get to choose and then figure your way out of there by cracking codes, finding hidden keys and some really crazy stuff.

Escape Goat is one of the craziest experiences you can have in Winter garden and the whole thing is really exciting and heart-pounding and the perfect thing for family reunions or parties. Your search for exciting things full of crazy adventures stops at Escape Goat!

Magnolia Park

Magnolia Park | Photo Credit – liz west

The Magnolia Park, located in Apopka, is one of the most beautiful things around Winter Garden. The park is just twenty minutes away from Winter Garden and has extremely beautiful trails, scenery, and a wonderful butterfly garden. The park holds weekly programs like guided tours, eco-adventures, and campfire chats on weekends.

Feel free to put up tents or go RV camping in the area at Magnolia Park. The park houses many beautiful peacocks and you might get lucky and get to see some wandering around your campsite. Your search for an amazing experience in the midst of nature ends here in Magnolia Park. Check out their website before you make plans as they also host many festivals and events throughout the year which you can also attend.

The place is always found at the top of any recommendation list because of its proximity to Apopka and people travel to Winter Garden to camp here, take pictures and share the beauty of the park with the world. Take some time off and visit this park and believe us when we say that it’ll be one of your favorite things to have witnessed ever.

Central Florida Railroad Museum

The historic home depot of the now-defunct railways is the home of the Central Florida Railroad Museum. The Central Florida Railroad Museum is open every day except holidays from 1 until 5 pm. The museum is located on South Boyd Street in Winter Garden and is a great place for history, railroad and transportation enthusiasts and they travel from all over to visit this museum.

You can see dining car china, historic railroad cars, railway equipment, photographs, first-hand accounts, and other stuff related with the history of railways, the historic town of Winter Garden and the surrounding area of Orlando, Kissimmee and Sanford. The Central Florida Railroad Museum is the home to a gift shop, climb-on cabooses and an interactive wooden train set for you to check out.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | Photo Credit – Karen Kleis

The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is really big with a size of almost 150,000 acres. It is open to all and is the house of thousands of species of plants and animals, many of which are only found in the local area of the refuge. Manatee Observation Platform is one of the most popular attractions in the area. From the Platform, you can see the large marine mammals called sea cows which dine on the aquatic vegetation.

A number of options are available for admission, including single day, seasonal, and multiple location options, so check their website carefully to see what’s best for you. This is another one of the coolest natural things on our list and a favorite of lovers of flora and fauna.

Museum of Military History

Located in nearby Kissimmee, which is an easy drive from the Winter Garden area, the Museum of Military History is dedicated to honoring the sacrifices made by the men and women of the armed forces. The museum’s exhibits cover the period from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars through the Vietnam War, Korea War, and the Gulf and Afghanistan conflicts.

The items on display include old uniforms, weapons, photographs, and poignant first-hand accounts related to those who served in a variety of roles. New artifacts and memorabilia are constantly being added by acquisition and donation, so consider making a small monetary contribution to help them in this effort.

A Bunch of cool places you can add to your list

Winter Garden is full of really cool things to see and adding all of the best ones to the list might raise your interest or you might lose it. So, we’ll keep the suspense up and only give you the names of some other places in the area surrounding Winter Garden and Orlando local area so that you don’t have to search for it anymore.

So take a tour of these places and see how full of excitement even the lesser known places of Florida can be. The list includes the Wheel at ICON Park in Orlando, House of Blues, ICEBAR, Gatorland in Orlando and the Winter Garden Heritage Museum in Winter garden.

Please also read about things to do in Florida.


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