The Ridge Scenic Highway
The Ridge Scenic Highway is a State Scenic Byway in Florida. Within Florida it covers roughly 35 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along The Ridge Scenic Highway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Ridge Scenic Highway follows 38.7 miles of US 17 along the Lake Wales Ridge in Polk County, Central Florida. The route runs from US 27 south of Frostproof north to Haines City, through the historic communities of Frostproof, Hillcrest Heights, Babson Park, the Village of Highland Park, Lake Wales, Lake of the Hills, Dundee, and Lake Hamilton. The Lake Wales Ridge itself is a chain of ancient, sandy hills, some of the oldest exposed land in Florida, and the highway winds along it past citrus groves, lakes, and pockets of scrub habitat found nowhere else. Much of the drive still feels like the Florida of the early 1900s, before the coasts drew the state's growth away from these inland ridge towns.
- 38.7 miles, US 17, Polk County
- Frostproof to Haines City
- Lake Wales Ridge
- citrus agriculture & lake views
- early-1900s Florida character
Plan a drive on The Ridge Scenic Highway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.