When choosing flights from the UK, you need to decide whether to go scheduled or charter. Scheduled is more expensive, but should be more confortable. Virgin flies to Orlando from Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester. British Airways flies to Orlando and Tampa from Gatwick. American Airlines flies Heathrow - Miami. Continental, Delta, Northwest, TWA and United offer indirect flights.

Fly Drive

Fly drives can include scheduled or charter flights. Scheduled flights to Orlando usually go to the main airport, with chartered going to the more distant Sanford.

Tour Operators using charter flights

Most major tour operators have broadly similar programmes to Florida. The big decision is whether to take a holiday with a company offering charter or scheduled flights - the latter are dearer but you get more comfort in the air and more flexibility on your travel times and dates.

Orlando, where most first-timers to Florida stay for a fortnight, is the mainstay of the brochures. Some operators feature a few cheaper Walt Disney World properties, others a fuller range. Some have a vast selection of non-Disney accommodation around International Drive and Kissimmee, others have a smaller, pricier choice; and all offer homes in estates around Kissimmee and pre-paid theme-park passes.

Operators also cater for the increasingly popular two-centre holidays - a week in Orlando followed by a week on the Gulf Coast. Popular beach resorts are St Petersburg and Clearwater for cheap holidays and, for a more upmarket experience, Sarasota, Sanibel and Captiva, Naples and Marco Island farther south.

All the operators sell fly-drives. Some also offer vouchers, redeemable at chain hotels and motels, for £30-45 a room per night. You can choose whether to book in advance or just turn up. Unused vouchers are refunded, less a small administration charge.

A fortnight's room-only package in early May/early August, including charter flights and car hire (but not insurance and taxes), staying in Disney's cheapest hotels, the All-Star Resorts, costs £750-£850/£900-£1,050. Add £100-£200 for mid-range Disney hotels. A fortnight in run-of-the-mill accommodation in Orlando outside Disney, or on a two-centre package, costs £600-£700/£750-£900. For packages using scheduled flights, add £100-£250.

Up to two children normally qualify for discounts, if sharing a room with two adults. For charter packages with the biggest tour operators, in early May the first child pays about £200, the second £225-£250, and in early August £300-£330 and £400. On scheduled packages discounts vary more and tend to be less generous. Age limits vary.

Virtually every holidaymaker to Florida rents a car. Even though the sales pitch of "free" American car hire has been dropped over the past few years, rental can still be a mathematical minefield. Essential charges that may be excluded from the headline prices include: airport and handling fees; state taxes; supplementary liability insurance (SLI) - which increases your third-party liability insurance from $20,000 to $1 million; and loss/ damage waiver (LDW), covering damage to and theft of the car. These add £140-£175 a week to the price of an economy car.

Public Transport
Florida is the same size as England and Wales - internal flights can save hours of monotonous driving. For example, from Miami to Key West by car takes about four hours, but flying with it is about 40 minutes.

Amtrak has a limited rail network in Florida; details and information on US passes on 0171 253 9009. Greyhound long-distance buses are the cheapest way to get around; Miami-Orlando, for example, costs £20 and takes six hours. However, in Florida, downtown drop-off points are often miles from where you probably want to get to (such as a beach). Call 01342 317317 for timetables and passes.

Accommodation
Hotel rooms are huge by European standards and normally have two double beds (sleeping a family of four with ease), and many come with basic kitchen facilities. Rates are normally quoted per room, excluding breakfast and local taxes (11 per cent in Orlando). Motel prices start at about £20 a night per room out of season, £30 in season.

Finding a room is rarely difficult, especially in summer, which is low season for most of Florida. However, Orlando's better hotels (especially anything in Walt Disney World), South Beach's art deco hotels and b & bs in Key West should always be booked well in advance.

The b &bs are distinctly upmarket and more geared to couples than families; £40-£120 a night for two. Bed & Breakfast Co - Tropical Florida (001 305 661 3270) can book more than 100 b & bs in Florida.

Theme Park Passes

If you are going to make the most of Orlando, buy passes allowing entry to a number of theme parks over a number of days. They are better value than individual tickets and offer much more flexibility. Disney passes cover its theme and water parks and some nighttime entertainment. The rival FlexTicket gives entry to Universal Studios, Sea World, Busch Gardens and Wet 'n' Wild.

You can buy passes at park entrances or in advance through tour operators, agencies such as TicketShop (0181 600 7000) and Keith Prowse (01232 232425), and for Disney only in Disney stores; prices vary by just a few pounds. Disney's new 7-Day All-in-One Hopper will cover Animal Kingdom: about £182, children aged three to nine £145. Until Animal Kingdom opens, the Five-Day World Hopper - about £136, children £109 - is still being sold. A FlexTicket, good for 10 days, costs about £80, children £64. More limited Disney and FlexTicket passes are also available.

Guidebooks
The most critical, practical guide to Orlando is The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (Macmillan Travel, £10.99). Most imaginative: Eyewitness Guide Florida (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99). Best hotel guides: Charming Small Hotel Guide - Florida (Duncan Petersen, £9.99) and Best Places to Stay - Florida (Houghton Mifflin, £11.99). There are also a Rough Guide (£10.99) and Lonely Planet guide (£12.99) to Florida. The best guides to Miami are from Lonely Planet (£6.99) and Time Out (£9.99).

Further information
Florida Tourism recorded information line: 0891 600555 (peak rate). For a state road map, general Florida-wide guide, and brochures on golf, camping, state parks and weddings and honeymoons, specify your wants and send a £2 cheque made out to BH&P/Florida to: BH&P/Florida, Darby House, Merstham, Redhill, Surrey HR1 3DN.

The following areas have tourist offices in the UK: Orlando (0891 600220 - peak rate); Daytona (0171 935 7756); Florida Keys (01564 794999); Fort Lauderdale (0171 630 9442); Lee Island Coast (0171 630 8825); Miami (0171 734 1427); Palm Beach (0181 681 7762); and St Petersburg/Clearwater (0181 651 4742). There are freephone numbers to the US (call after 2pm) for Naples (0800 962122) and Marco Island and the Everglades (0800 891411). For recorded information and a brochure on Walt Disney World, call 0990 200605; for a free video call 0990 000000.

Self-catering

You can choose between "all-suite" hotels whose rooms have kitchens, apartments in self-catering complexes sharing a pool or rent a private home. Most homes are located in large, peaceful but bland modern estates (called subdivisions) in the countryside around Kissimmee, 15-30 minutes' drive from Disney, and on the outskirts of Gulf Coast resorts. They normally have a private pool and excellent kitchen facilities, but are rather characterless.

When travelling in a group or largish family, prices are very competitive. Most major tour operators quote rates including flights and car hire (but not insurance and taxes): a fortnight in a modest three-bedroom home in a Kissimmee estate for a family of two adults and four children costs about £3,000 in May, £4,000 in August (similar to the cost of staying in a mid-priced hotel). Most specialists quote prices for accommodation alone - a similar home to the above costs £800-£1,100 a fortnight in May, £1,000-£1,200 in August; some can arrange flights and car hire, some not. On many homes there is a surcharge, from about £170 a fortnight, to heat the pool.

Special interest holidays

Camper Vans
Hemmingways (01737 842735) arranges motor-home rentals from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando - a vehicle sleeping four for a fortnight costs about £1,200 in May, £1,265 in August, including taxes and insurance but not supplementary liability insurance (about £100 more). Also supplies guides to Kampgrounds of America - a pitch is about £15-£30 a night.

Dancing
Saga (0800 414383) offers holidays for the over-fifties in St Augustine and Fort Lauderdale, where clients can join locals for weekly ballroom dancing.

Golf
With more than 1,100 courses, Florida is the most popular long-haul destination for British golfers. Winter is high season, when green fees double (reaching up to £90), but you can get a round on a municipal course for about £20.

Tennis
The Bollettieri Sport Academy (001 941 7551000) at Bradenton has trained some of the world's top tennis players. Expect six hours of intensive tennis daily. A week's course in April, boarding at the academy, costs about £550 for juniors, £750 adults. Also golf, baseball and soccer courses. A number of hotels also have state-of-the-art tennis centres with clinics and private lessons, such as the Colony Beach and Tennis Club on Longboat Key, and the snootier Boca Raton Resort and Club - both bookable through British Airways Holidays (01293 723131).

Other activites

The Disney Institute, which opened in 1996, is a smart campus within Walt Disney World that lays on every kind of interactive course (for over-nines only) - from cookery and computer animation to rock climbing. Call 001 407 8274800 for a single course (about £42 for a half-day) or two courses, plus use of the sports and fitness centre (about £60 for a full day).

Derek Edwards Divers World (0181 275 0101) offers diving packages in conjunction with Virgin Holidays at three resorts on the Keys and in Fort Lauderdale - its Divers Passport gives 20 per cent discounts on dives.

Limosa Holidays (01263 578143) specialises in escorted bird-watching trips: a fortnight exploring Floridian marshes and mangrove swamps, departing March 29, including flights, costs £1,595.