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Daytona Beach Day Trip Guide: Best Things to Do, Eat & See at the World's Most Famous Beach
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items Daytona Beach is our favorite no-planning-required escape from Kissimmee - about 90 minutes up I-4 and you're driving on the World's Most Famous Beach. This local's day-trip guide covers the pier, the Speedway, Ponce Inlet, and the seafood shacks wor...
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Start your day here: walk the classic pier, grab a lemonade on the boardwalk, and watch the surfers before the crowds roll in. The gondola skyride view of the coastline is worth the few bucks.
Daytona Beach Main Street Pier
Even non-race-fans get chills on the tram tour of the 31-degree banking. If you're here in February for the 500, book months ahead - otherwise the all-access tour and Motorsports Hall of Fame make a great rainy-morning backup.
Daytona International Speedway
Climb all 203 steps of Florida's tallest lighthouse and you're rewarded with the best coastal view between St. Augustine and the Cape. The keeper's cottages and Fresnel lens museum are surprisingly good - budget 2 hours.
Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse & Museum
Five bucks gets the kids nose-to-nose with rescued sea turtles and a working seabird hospital, right next to the lighthouse. Pair the two and you've got Ponce Inlet handled in a half day.
Marine Science Center
Free 20-minute factory tour on historic Beach Street, and yes, there are samples. The chocolate-covered potato chips sound wrong and taste extremely right.
Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory
Daytona's sleeper hit: real Cuban history collection, a giant Coca-Cola memorabilia wing, a planetarium, and actual Florida sinkhole fossils. Perfect afternoon A/C break when the beach sun peaks.
The Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, Science & History (Formerly the Museum of Arts & Sciences)
Right across from the beach with slides, a wave pool, go-karts, and laser tag - the move for when the kids are sunburned but not tired. Waterpark side is seasonal, the arcade side runs year-round.
Daytona Lagoon
Lunch with your toes in history - this beachfront bar sits on the original 1950s beach-race course. Get the fish tacos on the deck and watch trucks cruise the sand where NASCAR was born.
Racing's North Turn
The cinnamon rolls that come with dinner are legendary for a reason, and the riverside fried shrimp platter is our whole family's order. Expect a wait on weekends - put your name in and walk the dock.
Aunt Catfish's On the River
Toes-in-the-sand dining with live reggae most nights and a killer view of the pier. Go for sunset, order the coconut shrimp, and let the kids play on the beach right below your table.
Ocean Deck Restaurant & Beach Bar
Free concerts most summer weekends in a 1930s coquina-rock amphitheater right on the boardwalk. Bring a beach chair, catch the fireworks after the Saturday shows, and pay exactly nothing.
Daytona Beach Bandshell
The locals' quiet corner: 52 acres at the tip of the inlet with a jetty where dolphins hunt at high tide, nature trails, and an observation deck. Small entry fee per car, way fewer people than the main beach.
Lighthouse Point Park
Catch a Daytona Tortugas minor-league game on the island where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in spring training, 1946. Tickets cost less than parking at a big-league park and the sunset over the Halifax River is free.
Jackie Robinson Ballpark
If afternoon storms chase you off the sand, this open-air outlet center off LPGA Boulevard is the escape hatch - solid Nike, Under Armour, and Coach deals ten minutes from the beach.
Tanger Outlets Daytona Beach
One day-trip essential from us: a sand-free blanket big enough for the whole crew. Daytona's hard-packed sand still finds its way into everything - this shakes clean in two seconds and packs down to nothing for the drive home.
Beach Blanket Oversized