Grapefruit League Guide: Planning a Florida Spring Training Trip
Last updated October 2026
⏳ Plan-ahead guide: Florida spring training runs February–March 2027 — the parks are dark right now (late October is World Series time). Use this guide now to pick your coast and your base and line up the trip; game dates land on this site as the 2027 schedules are released.
Here's the thing nobody tells first-time Grapefruit League visitors: Florida spring training is really two separate trips. Thirteen parks host 15 teams, but they split into a Gulf coast cluster and an Atlantic coast cluster — and those clusters are far enough apart that trying to do both in a long weekend mostly means doing I-75.
Put a number on it: from JetBlue Park in Fort Myers to CACTI Park in West Palm Beach is about 105 miles as the crow flies, and the drive across the state runs longer than that. Compare Arizona, where the two farthest Cactus League parks are about 37 miles apart. Florida rewards picking a side — do that, and each cluster chains beautifully.
All 13 parks
| Ballpark | City | Team(s) | Nearest airport |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulf coast & central Florida | |||
| JetBlue Park | Fort Myers | Boston Red Sox | RSW |
| Hammond Stadium | Fort Myers | Minnesota Twins | RSW |
| Charlotte Sports Park | Port Charlotte | Tampa Bay Rays | PGD |
| CoolToday Park | North Port | Atlanta Braves | SRQ |
| Ed Smith Stadium | Sarasota | Baltimore Orioles | SRQ |
| LECOM Park | Bradenton | Pittsburgh Pirates | SRQ |
| George M. Steinbrenner Field | Tampa | New York Yankees | TPA |
| BayCare Ballpark | Clearwater | Philadelphia Phillies | TPA |
| TD Ballpark | Dunedin | Toronto Blue Jays | TPA |
| Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium | Lakeland | Detroit Tigers | TPA |
| Atlantic coast | |||
| CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches | West Palm Beach | Houston Astros, Washington Nationals | PBI |
| Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium | Jupiter | Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals | PBI |
| Clover Park | Port St. Lucie | New York Mets | PBI |
Every club's spring home is also listed on our MLB Spring Training page.
The Gulf coast: three bases, ten parks
Base in Fort Myers (southern Gulf)
Two parks in town — the Red Sox at JetBlue Park and the Twins at Hammond Stadium — plus the Rays in Port Charlotte (about 40 minutes) and the Braves in North Port (about an hour). Fly into RSW (Southwest Florida International). Best for: Red Sox and Twins fans, and anyone who wants beach time between games.
Base in Sarasota or Bradenton (central Gulf)
The Orioles (Ed Smith Stadium) and Pirates (LECOM Park) are minutes apart, the Braves in North Port are a short run south, and Tampa's parks are about an hour north. Fly into SRQ. This is the quiet hinge of the Gulf coast — the base that reaches the most parks without heroics.
Base in Tampa / Clearwater (northern Gulf)
The Yankees in Tampa, Phillies in Clearwater and Blue Jays in Dunedin form the tightest mini-cluster in Florida — all within roughly 25 miles. The Tigers in Lakeland sit inland, about a 45–60 minute day trip east. Fly into TPA. Add Sarasota as a day trip and a Tampa base can touch seven parks in a week.
Search Gulf coast stays
For a February–March 2027 trip: Fort Myers anchors the south, Tampa anchors the north (set your dates when you search — March books up early):
Fort Myers hotels Expedia → Tampa stays Booking.com →The Atlantic coast: one base does it
The east side is simpler. Base in West Palm Beach and you're home: CACTI Park hosts the Astros and Nationals right in town, Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter (Marlins and Cardinals) is about 25 minutes north, and the Mets' Clover Park in Port St. Lucie is roughly 50 minutes up I-95. Three parks, five clubs' worth of home games, and PBI is one of the easiest small airports in the state. It's the closest thing Florida has to the Cactus League's one-base trip.
Search Atlantic coast stays
For February–March 2027 (set your dates when you search):
West Palm Beach hotels Expedia → West Palm Beach stays Booking.com →Can you do both coasts in one trip?
Honestly? Only with a week or more — and treat the cross-state drive as a travel day, not a game day. The workable version: start on one coast, build in a no-game day to cross Florida, finish on the other. The version that doesn't work: a four-day weekend bouncing between Fort Myers and Jupiter. You'll spend your trip on Alligator Alley instead of in the stands. In a short trip, one coast done well beats two coasts done tired — and whichever coast you skip is next year's excuse to come back.
Plan it with the Trip Finder
StandsAndStays has a “Florida — Grapefruit League” Trip Finder preset. When the spring schedules are released into our data, it finds the windows where the most Grapefruit League teams are home back-to-back — and because it ranks by teams covered and travel distance, it naturally builds single-coast runs instead of cross-state slogs.
Timing note: the 2027 spring training fixtures haven't reached our data feed yet, so the Finder can't chain Florida dates just yet. The parks and teams are all in the Spring Training page now, and the game dates drop in as they're published.
🍊 Open the Grapefruit League Trip Finder
The region is pre-selected — once the 2027 fixtures are released, this is where the best windows will appear.
Find a Grapefruit League tripFrequently asked
My team is in Arizona. Different guide?
Yes — the Cactus League Guide covers all 10 Phoenix-area parks, where the strategy flips: one base, everything in reach.
Which coast for a first trip?
The Atlantic coast is the gentlest introduction — one base, three parks, easy airport. The Gulf coast has more parks and more variety, and rewards a full week.
Does the chaining method work in the regular season too?
It's the same playbook — overlapping home dates, sane driving, tickets before hotels. Our 3-Stadium Road Trip guide shows it with a live New York example.