BODY, SOUL
Spring break ideas that run the gamut, from sandy beaches to street food tours
Spring break seems to inherently call for a warmup of body, if not soul. Combine both in the following trips and tours that indulge passions from history and voluntourism to sandy beaches and street food.
Island lovers
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For passport-free island hopping, head to the Florida Keys, the archipelago that dribbles away from mainland Florida toward Cuba along a 113-mile overland route. The Lower Keys were hit hard by Hurricane Irma in September 2017 but, except for some bare mangrove stretches, have largely recovered in the intervening months. One of the latest resorts to reopen, Parrot Key Hotel & Villas on Key West, rebuilt and replanted. Lush foliage provides privacy around four pools available to guests of its 148 rooms, the family-friendliest of which range up to four bedrooms (from $349). In addition to the on-site availability of bicycles and
Jet Skis, the resort operates a shuttle bus to nearby Smathers Beach.
Except for a bar-lined stretch of Duval Street on Key West, the Keys are largely welcoming to families. But in the new Bungalows Key Largo, the island chain has its first adults-only all-inclusive (rates from $399 per person, per night, for twonight
minimum stays). Spread across nearly 13 beachfront acres, its 135 luxury bungalows feature outdoor showers or bathtubs. Amenities include electric boats for excursions, a spa reached via a bamboo forest and four restaurant and bar options.
History buffs
Historic Williamsburg, Va., pays homage to America’s colonial period, and Washington, D.C., covers colonial-to-contemporary eras, but other critical chapters in the country’s history books, including the civil rights movement, are more dispersed. The year-old U.S. Civil Rights Trail aims to unify these social-justice sites, highlighting historic events in 15 states, most of them Southern, including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
The routes between the sites are loosely defined, allowing for any number of road trip variations, but a good place to start is Alabama, where the triangle