DETAILS

Tallahassee

GETTING THERE: Delta flies from Reagan National to Tallahassee with round-trip fares from about $330. Change in Atlanta. Tallahasseeans say that even when you're dead and on your way to Heaven you have to change in Atlanta. Also, Northwest flies from National via Memphis from about $350.

GETTING AROUND: Downtown Tallahassee and the adjacent universities are great for pedestrians, with tree-shaded sidewalks and not too much traffic. A bus system serves the campuses, shopping centers and in-town residential areas; for schedules, go to http://www.talgov.com/. To get to the coast or see the canopy roads, you really need a car. Most major companies have rental counters at Tallahassee Regional Airport. Rates from about $30 a day.

WHERE TO STAY: The Governors Inn (209 S. Adams St., 850-681-6855, http://www.thegovinn.com/) is small, elegant and practically next door to the capitols. Rates range from $159 to $309 a night double, breakfast included. The Doubletree Hotel (101 S. Adams St., 850-224-5000, http://www.doubletree.com/) looks out over the ancient live oaks in Tallahassee's Chain of Parks downtown. Rates from $119. The Econolodge (809 Apalachee Pkwy., 850-877-2755) is basic but serviceable and not far from downtown. Rates from $60.

WHERE TO EAT: Cypress (320 E. Tennessee St., 850-513-1100) serves exquisite Gulf seafood, quail from nearby plantations, locally grown produce and locally made cheeses. Dinner for two (without wine) is about $60. In spring, Andrew's Capital Grill & Bar (228 S. Adams St., 850-222-3444) teems with lawmakers and lobbyists. Deals are cut, campaigns launched and wheels greased at this half-indoor, half-outdoor, half-sports bar, half-bistro, a checkbook's throw from the legislative chambers. The food is okay (menu items $7 to $15), but Johnny Mac, the bartender, is superb. So is the people-watching, especially if you get a table under the magnolias. Chez Pierre (1215 Thomasville Rd., 850-222-0936) combines French and Southern cooking (crab-stuffed trout, greens, creme brulee) in a charming old house with an outdoor bar under ceiling fans. Lunch for two ranges from $19 to $26. Dinner for two (without wine) about $50.

NIGHTLIFE: Waterworks (1133 Thomasville Rd., 850-224-1887) is cheerfully weird and exceptionally friendly, with jazz nights and creative cocktails such as the Water Moccasin. Plenty of hipsters, art students and journalists. No frat boys. Beta Bar (809 Railroad Ave., 850-425-2697) is one of the anchors of the trendy All Saints section, just south of downtown. The Warehouse (706 W. Gaines St., 850-222-6188) is unprepossessing, with a huge front room full of pool tables, but the back room is used for music and poetry and prose readings. Sometimes the bar even has two kinds of wine.

WHAT TO DO:

* The Old Capitol (400 S. Monroe St. at Apalachee Parkway, 850-487- 1902; free) has a kaleidoscope-colored internal glass dome, grand staircase and restored House, Senate and Supreme Court chambers. The New Capitol (free admission) allows visitors to take the elevator to the 22nd floor, where you can see north to the Georgia line and south to the Gulf. The House and Senate chambers are also open to the public except when the legislature is in floor session.

* The Museum of Florida History (500 S. Bronough St., 850-245-6400; free) contains exhibits from Florida prehistory to the present, including a 12,000-year-old mastodon skeleton recovered from a nearby spring and a collection of Civil War banners. The museum also has an excellent shop with books on Florida and Florida-made crafts.

* The Governor's Mansion (700 N. Adams St., 850-488-4661; free) looks antebellum but was actually built in 1957. Furnishings, however, include 18th-century English pieces, Audubon prints and the huge silver service from the battleship Florida.

* St. John's Cemetery (gates on M.L. King Boulevard near Tennessee Street; free, but donations accepted) is the lush resting spot for governors, judges, Democrats, Whigs and other Florida luminaries.

* San Luis Mission Archaeological and Historic Site (2020 W. Mission Rd., 850-487-3711; free) offers, in addition to remains and reconstructions, an educational visitors center.

* Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park (3600 Indian Mound Rd. off U.S. 27 North, 850-922-6007; free) has picnic tables and nature trails as well as the six temple mounds.

* The Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science (3945 Museum Dr., 850-576-1636, http://www.tallahasseemuseum.org/; $8) is a one-stop immersion into North Florida's past, both human and animal. Bears, Florida panthers, eagles, ospreys, otters, deer and other native critters roam in large habitat areas. (It's not zoolike.)

* Goodwood Museum and Gardens (1600 Miccosukee Rd., 850-877-4202, http://www.goodwoodmuseum.org/; $5) was built circa 1840 and contains furnishings original to the house. It's surrounded by gardens of heirloom flowers.

INFORMATION: Tallahassee Area Visitor Information Center,800-628-2866, http://www.visittallahassee.com/. -- D.R.