Walking Around Orlando's Districts: Lake Eola, Main Streets, Baldwin Park, and Park Avenue

Where five Orlando-area districts are, what their official pages say about them, and how LYMMO, SunRail, and the Orlando Urban Trail connect some of them. Not a walkability score or ranking.

Published November 6, 2026

Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, with metal bird sculptures in the water and the city skyline beyond. — Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando, Orange County, on January 23, 2019.OrlandoThings.com, CC BY-SA 4.0. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.

District and city pages promote their own areas, so this article uses them only for locations, hours, and program facts. Wording such as “walkable” is quoted and attributed to the page it comes from. The article contains no walkability scores or rankings.

Direct answer

This guide covers five areas: Thornton Park and Lake Eola, Mills 50, Audubon Park Garden District, and Baldwin Park, all in the City of Orlando, plus Park Avenue in downtown Winter Park, in the separate City of Winter Park. For each, it gives the location, the official park or district facts, and the parking or transit details the official pages list.

Lake Eola: the city lists a 0.9-mile sidewalk around the lake.
Winter Park: Central Park is an 11-acre park on Park Avenue.
Getting between areas: LYMMO serves downtown Orlando, including Thornton Park and Lake Eola, and the Orlando Urban Trail runs from Lake Highland to Winter Park. No single transit line connects all five areas.

Geographic scope

Area	Jurisdiction
Thornton Park District and Lake Eola Park	City of Orlando (Main Street district)
Mills 50 District	City of Orlando (Main Street district)
Audubon Park Garden District	City of Orlando (Main Street district)
Baldwin Park	City of Orlando (redevelopment of the former Naval Training Center; not a Main Street district)
Park Avenue / downtown Winter Park	City of Winter Park (a separate city)

Mayor Buddy Dyer and the Orlando City Council created Orlando Main Streets in 2008. Each district has a nonprofit board of directors and follows the National Main Street Four Point Approach: organization, design, economic vitality, and promotion. The program’s districts include:

Audubon Park Garden District
City District
College Park
Curry Ford West
Gateway District
Ivanhoe Village
Mills 50
Parramore
SoDo
The Milk District
Thornton Park
West Lakes

(Orlando Main Streets, checked 2026-11-06)

For district boundaries, see the city’s Main Street maps.

Thornton Park and Lake Eola

The city’s Thornton Park page calls it “a colorful, walkable commercial district.” It also says the district has “more than 60 locally-owned specialty shops, services and dining destinations,” a count that comes from the district itself. Lake Eola Park sits “in the middle of the district.” The district office is at 100 S. Eola Dr. #200 (Thornton Park District, checked 2026-11-06).

Lake Eola Park is at 512 E. Washington St. (Lake Eola Park, checked 2026-11-06).

Walking loop: a 0.9-mile sidewalk circles the lake.
Hours: the park is open 6 a.m.–11:59 p.m. daily.
Swan boats: the city rents pedal-powered swan boats Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., and they’re closed Mondays.
Features: the Linton E. Allen Centennial Fountain and the Walt Disney Amphitheater.
Amenities: street parking, a paved walking path, playgrounds, and restrooms.
Events: the park page links to the Sunday Farmers Market and Fiesta in the Park.

Mills 50

Mills 50 is a City of Orlando Main Street district with its office at 946 N. Mills Ave. The city’s page lists the kinds of locally owned businesses there: salons, clothing, gift and running shops, massage therapists, martial arts, bakeries, restaurants and bars, a brewery, and a meadery (Mills 50 District Main Street, checked 2026-11-06). See the Mills 50 Food and District Guide for food businesses and history.

Loch Haven Park is at N. Mills Ave. and Princeton St. (see below).

Audubon Park Garden District

The city’s page describes the district as “tucked between Winter Park, Leu Gardens, and downtown Orlando.” The district office is at 3201 Corrine Dr., Suite 216 (Audubon Park Garden District, checked 2026-11-06).

A city history document notes that the Orlando Army Air Station, established in 1942, once included “areas now developed as the Audubon Park neighborhood” (Baldwin Park history PDF, checked 2026-11-06).

Baldwin Park

The city’s planning page describes the reuse of the former Orlando Naval Training Center as “a large, mixed-use development.” It says the design features a “landscape of round lakes,” wetland plantings, park systems, and streets (Baldwin Park plans, checked 2026-11-06).

According to the city’s history document:

The land was used by the military starting with the Orlando Army Air Station in 1942.
The federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission identified the Naval Training Center for closure in July 1993.
The city then prepared a Base Reuse Plan for the site.

(history PDF)

Winter Park and Park Avenue

Winter Park’s Central Park, at 251 S. Park Ave., is an 11-acre park “in the heart of the downtown shopping district.” It hosts the annual Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival and has a Rose Garden. Pets aren’t allowed (Winter Park Central Park, checked 2026-11-06).

The city’s downtown parking and cultural guide map (PDF, checked 2026-11-06) shows:

Parking: free 3-hour and 4-hour public parking, free public parking lots, pay public parking, and the Truist Parking Garage.
Transit: the train station, next to Central Park’s West Meadow.
Cultural sites: the Morse Museum of Art, Scenic Boat Tour, Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens, Rollins Museum of Art, Winter Park History Museum, Hannibal Square Heritage Center, Winter Park Library & Events Center, and Winter Park Farmers’ Market.

Check the map and posted signs for the rules at each lot.

Getting between districts without a car

LYMMO is LYNX’s downtown Orlando bus service (LYMMO, checked 2026-11-06).

Line	Hours	Serves
Grapefruit	Mon–Fri 6:00 a.m.–8:25 p.m.; Sat–Sun 8:00 a.m.–8:25 p.m.	Parramore, Thornton Park, Lake Eola, City Hall, Kia Center, SunRail, and other stops
Orange	Mon–Fri 6:00 a.m.–8:25 p.m.; Sat–Sun 8:00 a.m.–8:25 p.m.	Creative Village, LYNX Central Station, Church St., and the Dr. Phillips Center
Lime	Mon–Fri 7:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; no weekend or holiday service	North Quarter, LYNX Central Station, and the Federal Courthouse

The Grapefruit and Orange lines run every 12 minutes during office hours and less often in the evenings and on weekends. Check the LYNX page for fares.

SunRail stops include Church Street, LYNX Central, AdventHealth, and Winter Park/Amtrak. Under the timetable effective Dec. 1, 2025, trains run Monday–Friday only and don’t run on six listed holidays (SunRail schedule, checked 2026-11-06).

The Orlando Urban Trail is about three miles long and 12 feet wide, and 85% of it is off-street path. It runs from Lake Highland through Loch Haven Park to Mead Garden in Winter Park.

Closure: a section between Magnolia and Highland avenues is temporarily closed for utility maintenance through February 2027.
Detour: posted along Weber Street and Highland Avenue.

(Orlando Urban Trail, checked 2026-11-06)

Loch Haven Park is a 45-acre cultural park at N. Mills Ave. and Princeton St. (777 E. Princeton St.), open 6 a.m.–11 p.m. Its cultural sites include the Orlando Museum of Art and the Mennello Museum of American Art (Loch Haven Park, checked 2026-11-06).

There’s no single transit route linking all five areas. Use the LYNX trip planner for trips such as Baldwin Park to downtown.

About walkability scores

Walk Score is a commercial index. It gives the most points to amenities within a five-minute (0.25-mile) walk, and its scale runs from “Car-Dependent” up to “Walker’s Paradise” (Walk Score methodology, checked 2026-11-06). This article doesn’t report scores for these areas or compare how walkable they are.

Practical tips

For a simple walk with clear official information, try Lake Eola’s 0.9-mile sidewalk or Winter Park’s Central Park.
Check the city’s Main Street maps when it matters whether a spot is inside a district.
Downtown, check the LYMMO Grapefruit Line for trips to Thornton Park and Lake Eola.
If you use the Urban Trail toward Winter Park, plan around the Magnolia–Highland closure through February 2027.
Check the city’s page for swan-boat and park hours on the day you go.

FAQ

Is Winter Park part of the City of Orlando? No. Park Avenue and Central Park are run by the City of Winter Park (Central Park, checked 2026-11-06).

Is Baldwin Park a Main Street district? No. It isn’t on the city’s Main Streets list. The city describes it as a mixed-use reuse of the former Naval Training Center (Baldwin Park plans, checked 2026-11-06).

Which of these areas is the most walkable? This article doesn’t rank them. It gives no scores or measurements, only the facts listed above.

Sources

https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Economic-Development/Business-Development/Orlando-Main-Streets — Orlando Main Streets — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Records-and-Documents/Map-Library/Economic-Development-Main-Street-Maps — Main Street maps — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Economic-Development/Business-Development/Orlando-Main-Streets/Thornton-Park-District-Main-Street — Thornton Park District — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Parks-the-Environment/Directory/Lake-Eola-Park — Lake Eola Park — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Economic-Development/Business-Development/Orlando-Main-Streets/Audubon-Park-Garden-District — Audubon Park Garden District — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/files/sharedassets/public/v/1/documents/city-and-district-plans/baldwin-park/baldwinpark-history.pdf — Baldwin Park / NTC history PDF — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Economic-Development/City-Planning/Plans-Studies/Baldwin-Park — Baldwin Park plans — checked 2026-11-06
https://cityofwinterpark.org/departments/parks-recreation/parks-playgrounds/parks/central-park/ — Winter Park Central Park — checked 2026-11-06
https://cityofwinterpark.org/docs/residents-guests/planning-to-visit/helpful-maps/parking-cultural-guide-downtown-winter-park.pdf — Winter Park parking & cultural guide — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.golynx.com/plan-trip/riding-lynx/lymmo.stml — LYMMO — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Parks-the-Environment/Directory/Orlando-Urban-Trail — Orlando Urban Trail — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Parks-the-Environment/Directory/Loch-Haven-Park — Loch Haven Park — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml — Walk Score methodology — checked 2026-11-06
https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Economic-Development/Business-Development/Orlando-Main-Streets/Mills-50-District-Main-Street — Mills 50 District — checked 2026-11-06
https://sunrail.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/24314_SUN_TrainSchedule_Mar2026_F_WCAG.pdf — SunRail timetable (effective Dec 1, 2025) — checked 2026-11-06