One of the most famous attractions on this Coast is of course the Kennedy Space Center followed by Daytona Beach known as “The World’s Most Famous Beach.” It is one of the few places in the world where a family car can be driven on a beach. Most other driving beaches require 4 wheel drive or other special equipment. In the past Daytona Beach catered to spring breakers (College Kids), but in recent years many of the breakers have migrated to other sites.

Daytona city and its beaches, is just along the coast from Cocoa Beach and is lined with hotels, motels, condominiums and houses, attract over 8,000,000 tourists each year. Hotel and motel rooms are typically plentiful except during special events.

During motorcycle events (Bike Week and Biketoberfest), several hundred thousand bikers from all over the world visit the greater Daytona Beach area. Everywhere you look you see hundreds of bikes and the air is filled with the roar of customised Harley’s.

Special events that draw visitors to Daytona Beach include:

Speedweeks (Daytona 500 NASCAR race, Rolex 24 sports car race, and others)
Pepsi 400 NASCAR race on or around July 4 (Traditionally called the Firecracker 400)
Daytona Beach Bike Week Daytona 200 motorcycle race in March
Biketoberfest in October
Turkey Run car show and events during Thanksgiving weekend (Traditionally called the Turkey Rod Run)
Black College Reunion (BCR) date varies
Spring break date varies
Daytona Beach is also home to the headquarters of the LPGA.

NASCAR has it’s headquarters at Daytona Beach. The International Speedway is well worth a vist especially if you are racing fans. There is also the Richard Petty driving experience here. It is pretty much the same as the one at Disney but hey, if you’re gonna get behind the wheel of a NASCAR then where better than Daytona!!

Daytona USA
Halifax Historical Museum 
Museum of Arts & Sciences
Ponce de Leon Inlet Light, 2nd tallest in the U.S.
Southeast Museum of Photography
List of Registered Historic Buildings in Daytona Beach, Florida

The ocean is much more tidal than the Gulf and the waves are bigger hence the attraction for surfers. The hard compacted sand is an ideal driving surface and you will find many vehicles parked up with families having picnics etc. There is a fee to take your car on the beach.

Cocoa Beach came to life during the 1960s due to America's space program. NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center is located approximately 15 miles away. The town became home to many young families where one or both parents worked on some aspect of the space program. Children raised here were sometimes referred to as "Cape Brats." The community was once so full of children that the schools overflowed and portable class rooms were built to host them. After manned space flights, the town held astronaut parades. Before there was a "Silicon Valley," Cocoa Beach and other surrounding towns were full of the best and brightest technical minds around. Today, many Kennedy Space Center workers still call Cocoa Beach home.

Cocoa Beach is classed as the closest beach to Orlando being just 40 minutes away. It is also minutes from Port Canaveral where you could get a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. You can get an excellent view of any shuttle launches here to. There is a little known place near Port Canaveral called Jetty Park. They have food and refreshments there and an excellent view of the shuttle launch.

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