Oviedo Travel and Things to Do Guide

One of the Orlando area's more popular suburban communities, Oviedo is rapidly growing, thanks to its location near the University of Central Florida (UCF), the second-largest university in the nation. Groups convening in Oviedo event venues have easy access to downtown Orlando, airports and east coast beaches. Many of Oviedo's residents work for major nearby corporations like Lockheed, Raytheon and Siemens. Oviedo is located 4 miles from UCF, 18 miles from downtown Orlando, 26 miles from Orlando International Airport, 11 miles from Orlando-Sanford International Airport, 34 miles from the Orange County Convention Center and 36 miles from Walt Disney World. Groups meeting in Oviedo can take advantage of UCF meeting facilities and a plethora of restaurants in the area. Hotel venues in Oviedo include the 149-room Radisson Hotel Orlando-UCF with 5,800 square feet of meeting space, the 122-room Hilton Garden Inn Orlando East-UCF with 1,200 square feet of meeting space and the 110-room Hampton Inn & Suites Orlando-East/UCF with 1,000 square feet of meeting space. Off-site venue venues in Oviedo include the on-campus UCF Fairwinds Alumni Center, a multi-faceted conference facility with 10,000 square feet of meeting space highlighted by the 4,800-square-foot Grand Ballroom that can accommodate 300 people for a reception. Nearby, the 10,000-seat UCF Arena has 35,000 square feet of column-free exhibition space. Attending UCF sports and theater events, as well as hiking and biking on the many trails in the Oviedo area are popular pastimes. Shoppers gravitate to the Oviedo Mall, which has anchor stores like Dillard's and Macy's, a 22-screen movie theater, Barnes & Noble and a food court. Many of the restaurants in the Oviedo area are casual dining national chains such as Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill and Roman's Macaroni Grill. For a local experience, the Black Hammock Restaurant overlooking Lake Jesup features live music on the weekends and unique items like gator bites, corn fritters and frog legs.