Best Family Spring-Break Trips

Beaches and Big Cats in Clearwater, FL

At Clearwater Marine Aquarium, less than half a mile from family-friendly Clearwater Beach, kids not only see Winter, an inspirational bottlenose dolphin with a prosthetic tail, but they can become a dolphin and river-otter “trainer.” At an underwater observatory in Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, 90 miles up the coast, huge elephant-like manatees swim right up to you.

Don’t Miss: Big Cat Rescue, a 55-acre up-close sanctuary that’s home to tigers, lions, leopards, ocelots, lynxes, a snow leopard, and other—often endangered—big cats.