If you’ve already spoiled your group with Florida’s world-class golf courses, sun-drenched beaches, theme parks and a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, what’s your next move? Consider these exceptional group experiences you can’t find anywhere else to make your next Florida event unforgettable.
El Reloj, J.C. Newman Cigar Company, Tampa
Visiting the J.C. Newman Cigar Company’s El Reloj cigar factory is akin to stepping back in time. Established in 1895 by Julius Caesar Newman, the company has remained under family ownership for four generations. The 115-year-old building is located within Tampa’s Ybor City National Historic Landmark District. Named for its prominent antique clock in the lobby, El Reloj (Spanish for “clock” or “watch”), is the oldest family-owned premium cigar manufacturer in America and offers guided tours. Guests watch cigars get meticulously rolled by hand, or as skilled technicians operate an antique cigar machine.
Groups can also hold events here—cigar smoking allowed—in the main event space on the second floor, with seating for up to 120 guests, a dance floor and DJ, or 170 for a cocktail reception. Just across the street, The Cigar Workers Park is a charming outdoor space, with the first-floor museum and factory store serving as the perfect transition space for cocktails. An expert cigar roller will delight your guests and enhance their evening experience.
“A century ago, the cigar industry built Tampa, which was known around the world as ‘Cigar City.’ Today, our factory is the last traditional cigar factory still operating in the United States,” said owner Drew Newman. “In addition to rolling 60,000 cigars per day, we have opened our factory to the public and welcome meetings of all sizes. Groups love El Reloj because our historic cigar factory is full of character. The building’s original brick walls, wood floors, beadboard ceilings and other historic details create an authentic atmosphere for groups and can only be found in Tampa.”
Fenway Hotel, Dunedin
Situated north of Tampa, the 83-room Fenway Hotel has a rich history dating back to 1927. It was home to Pinellas County’s first radio station, and the hotel’s historical connection to the radio era is evident throughout the premises, including the aptly named Hi-Fi Rooftop Bar overlooking St. Joseph Sound. A notable feature of the hotel is Room 27, an exclusive speakeasy that hearkens back to the Prohibition era when establishments discreetly served alcohol to select patrons. Historically, guests would access this space by knocking three times and providing a password.
The dress code for Room 27 is strictly cocktail attire, fringed flapper dress or spats optional. The hotel boasts a combined total of 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space with most revealing picturesque water views.
Joe's Stone Crab, Miami Beach
A small lunch counter that opened in 1913 is now Joe’s Stone Crab, one of the highest-grossing restaurants in Florida—and it all started with asthma!
Hungarian-born Joe Weiss was told to get out of New York to help with his illness, so he and his wife Jennie moved to Miami Beach and took jobs in small restaurants. By 1918, they’d bought a bungalow to live in and soon set up tables on their front porch and began to concoct their own dishes in the kitchen. They called it Joe’s Restaurant.
Al Capone, Amelia Earhart, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Gloria Swanson and J. Edgar Hoover were all guests.
Weiss was introduced to stone crab in 1921, which heralded the beginning of the restaurant’s real boom as they drew patrons with their chilled stone crab with hash brown potatoes, coleslaw, and mayonnaise. Today, the white-table-clothed dining rooms are filled with waitstaff in tuxedos, racing between tables taking orders. This single restaurant buys up to half a million pounds of stone crab in a season, about 25% of the state’s total stone crab catch!
Still family-run, meeting groups love the bustle of the main dining room, but for a quieter affair, they can choose between three private dining areas that seat up to 16, 26 and the largest, Jesse’s Room, named for Joe and Jennie’s son, seats 48.
Lightner Museum, St. Augustine
Did you know that when you step inside St. Augustine’s Café Alcazar in the Lightner Museum, you are in fact inside a swimming pool? Drained, of course! Built in the 1800s, and formerly known as Henry Flagler’s Hotel Alcazar, it was said at the time to be the world’s largest indoor swimming pool. Swimming legend Esther Williams did laps in the filtered sulfur pool waters with the open skylight revealing shimmering light and ventilation.
The pool’s surface is now the floor for Café Alcazar. Surrounded by boutique-style specialty shops, this unique venue is available for lunch and dinner seven days a week and for private events for up to 225 guests.
Old Jailhouse Kitchen & Spirits, Sanford
With the original prison-style bars still on windows and in arches separating dining rooms, the Old Jailhouse Kitchen & Spirits used to be—you guessed it—a jail! In the heart of the city’s original downtown, it was the first building supply in town, and also a blacksmith and wagon shop in the late 1800s. Later, it was a livery feed and stables, offering horse and buggies and mule teams for rent. Repurposed as the Seminole County Jail in 1914 and named for the local, native Seminole Tribe residing throughout the area, it housed convicts until 1959.
Inside, pictures of “the law” adorn rustic brick walls and an open prison ledger from the 1800s adds to the indoor jailbird ambience. The Old Jailhouse accommodates groups up to 175 for a buyout, while the private Piazza Room seats 38. For a memorable cocktail reception, the outdoor courtyard will enchant attendees as they sip chilled Tequila Mockingbirds and Blue’s Clues.
Sponge Diving Exhibition, Tarpon Springs
Greek settlers came to Tarpon Springs in the early 1900s to harvest sponges but stayed once they discovered the possibilities of the Gulf. In 1905, more than 500 Greek divers worked in the Tarpon Springs area, and it became the largest sponge exporter in the U.S. Today, this thriving Greek community shares its home delicacies via numerous restaurants and is widely known to whip up the best souvlaki and spanakopita in the state.
Visitors can take a Sponge Diving Exhibition with Capt. George Billiris on St. Nicholas Boat Lines, family run since 1924. While sponge divers no longer plumb the depths off Tarpon Springs, sponges are still for sale in many tourist shops on North Pinellas Avenue. Groups will feel welcome at notable area restaurants that include Dodecanese Boulevard, Athens Street, Hellas and The Greeks Taverna.
Everglades City
As the largest subtropical wetland in the U.S., Florida’s Everglades feature a unique ecosystem that is home to many species of wildlife and covers nearly 100 miles of southern Florida and the Naples-Marco area. Watch for alligators, crocodiles, birds, mammals, reptiles and varieties of exotic fish. If your attendees are keen for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these remarkable creatures in their natural habitat, they can climb aboard Captain Jack’s Airboat Tours in Everglades City. Groups will zip on airboats through the Everglades—Miami Vice-style—and venture though a cypress forest to the only place (apart from Australia) that has this natural region of flooded grasslands.
[Related: Unique Outdoor Event Spaces for Your Next Florida Event]
Destin History and Fishing Museum
Destin’s nickname is “World’s Luckiest Fishing Village,” and the city is known as the location for the filming of Jaws II. Celebrate this history of fishing with a visit to the Destin History and Fishing Museum. Tucked away one block north of Highway 98, close to the harbor entrance, this nautical venue was the town’s original library building,
The main rooms feature photos, paintings, maps and framed memorabilia, with the oldest artifact from 8,000 BC. A large diorama in the back room displays turquoise water depths with taxidermy samples of 50 types of fish from within 50 miles of the harbor. Look for an array of fish from the deep, such as mullet, tuna, wahoo, snapper, grouper, pompano, cobia, mackerel, mahi-mahi and even billfish like blue or white marlins and sailfish. There are several shark jaws in the museum—including a replica of a juvenile megalodon jaw on the outside of the building.
Outside, there are exhibits including Destin’s first post office and the Primrose, an original wooden Seine boat, the last one built in Destin and the first of its kind to have a motor, built by John Maltezo, from Greece.
Horseback Riding, Anna Maria/Bradenton
It’s not just in the movies that groups of people ride Drum and Gypsy Vanner horses in Palma Sola Bay! C Ponies offers safe, gentle horses for swimming and riding experiences for groups. (And yes, you are welcome to feed your mounts carrot snacks before your ride!)
These rides support the rehabilitation of rescue horses, revered for their long, flowing manes, tails and feathers. Once in the saddle, strolling the shoreline, riders may spot manatees, dolphins or stingrays. Guides provide information about the rescue horses, as well as the surrounding sea life. Sunset rides are also available.
Winter Park Boat Tour, Orlando
Groups in Orlando seeking an off-the-beaten-track adventure won’t be disappointed with a trip on the Winter Park Boat Tour. Located near downtown Lake Osceola, the guided tour winds through seven lakes and two canals on the Winter Park Lake chain. Guests will grab their cameras to record unforgettable images of cranes, alligators and other local wildlife. You’ll want to keep an eye out for Rollins College crew members racing by in their shells.
Guides will point out such sites as Mr. Rogers’—that’s Fred Rogers—house where he lived as a student at Rollins. The Scenic Boat Tour offers a fleet of six 18-passenger pontoon boats for attendees to appreciate the luxury homes on the lakes and historic views at the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Garden.
USS Orleck, Jacksonville
The USS Orleck is a retired naval destroyer now serving as a museum in Jacksonville. Once in service from 1945 to 1982, it was named for Joseph Orleck, a brave soldier who went down with his ship after a bomber attack in the Gulf of Salerno.
In 2022, the USS Orleck arrived in Jacksonville, where she served as a Naval Museum on the downtown riverfront until April 2023, when she docked in her permanent home at the Shipyards West. Groups can hold a regular meeting or gathering on the decks and interior space of the destroyer or use this historic vessel as a conduit for a naval-themed group experience.
[Read more meeting and event news in Florida]
Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg
Nowhere else in the world can you find more than 2,400 works from Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) all in one place. In downtown St. Pete on the bay, the iconic artist’s oil paintings, original drawings, book illustrations, prints, sculptures, photos, manuscripts and an extensive archive of documents are all on display at the Salvador Dalí Museum. The museum has made additions to its collection over the years, celebrating the life and art of one of the most influential and innovative artists in history.
The museum offers versatile spaces for hosting events: Raymond James Community Room, a contemporary indoor space ideal for meetings and receptions, can accommodate up to 175; Bay Vista, a second-floor indoor space with panoramic views of Tampa Bay for up to 75; Avant-garden, an outdoor space surrounded by lush landscaping and Dalí-inspired sculptures for up to 275; and The Foyer, a stylish and welcoming first-floor indoor space for pre-event gatherings and networking for up to 75.
The Underwater Museum of Art, Santa Rosa Beach
For a truly unique group excursion, try swimming through a tunnel formed by the remains of a prehistoric marine mammal. Pat McLain’s 2023 Cetacean Remains has proven a significant addition to The Underwater Museum of Art. Opened in 2018, this was the first underwater sculpture exhibit in North America. In the Gulf waters of Grayton Beach State Park, the sculptures are located 60 feet underwater. Another artist, Allison Wickey, has created an octopus, OPUS, and other original pieces that include a propeller in motion and an eight-foot-tall pineapple, designed to help small fish thrive. Also spotted? About 100 different animal and plant species, triggerfish, nurse sharks, dolphins, green sea turtles and other sea life.
Read more from the 2025 edition of Meetings Today Florida.
