Ocala Travel Answers

Tampa and Jacksonville are both listed as being 102 and 110 miles away, respectively. Both are international airports. Gainesville Regional is 45 miles away (airport code GNV), and Daytona Beach International is 75 miles away. There is an Orlando Stanford International Airport that is listed at 10 miles closer to Ocala than Orlando International, if that helps at all. Local airports listed are Ocala International Airport (airport code OCF) and Leesburg International Airport (airport code LEE). Not sure if either of those have any sort of commercial service to them but they do exist.

I looked at the Ocala airport but I couldn't find any flights to it and wikipedia says there are no commercial flight. Gainesville does nave some commuter type flights.

Gainsville has 4 of the major carriers connecter flights with flights all during the day. These are mostly turboprop planes. It is about 35 miles down I-75 to Ocala. The Airport is on State Rt 24 that goes into Gainsville. If you decide to fly there and rent a car, suggest you take 331 west off 24 which will connect you to I-75 with less downtown traffic. It skirts around the South side of Gainsville. I go through there several times a year and live less than 2 hours south of there. But I use Tampa mostly unless there is much better deal out of Orlando.

Thank you - the problem is that I would prefer a non-stop and there is no way to get to Gainesville without a transfer.

You are not going to get to any City in that area Non-stop from Baltimore. US Airways has a one stop flight from BWI to CLT to GNV for433. If you need non-stop better hire a charter. Tampa is a 3 hour drive if traffic is not bad. Jacksonville would be a one stop destination same as Gainesville but a 2 hour, 100+ mile drive.

Actually I'm going to be flying from Houston and not Baltimore. But I take your point that it isn't possible to get closer than Orlando without a transfer. I try to avoid transfers where-ever possible because I have mobility issues.

There is also this airport bus service to Ocala: tforlando.com/destinations/o... The only other thing I can think of is fly into Miami, transfer to Amtrak at the Hollywood Amtrak station, and take that up to somewhere closer. Unfortunately the Amtrak "station" at Ocala is actually a bus stop, served by a cross-ticketed bus line. You would probably want to get to Winter Haven or Kissimmee or somewhere that is actually a train station. This is obviously not an improvement over changing airplanes however, due to having to get local transportation from the Miami Airport to Hollywood and again try to get to Ocala from the nearest point that is actually a train station.

Winter Haven or Kissimmee is about the same as Orlando. Same traffic and what she does not care for. It is next door to Orlando. Forget about buses or trains. Go from Houston to one other stop and then Gainesville. Could be either Miami or Charlotte N.C. depending on which airline. Gainesville Airport is quite nice and not too busy. I have never seen any traffic tie ups coming in or out of that airport. And I see they are now using all Jets and no more turbo props. There are 4 or 5 car rental agencies in the airport.