Daytona Vacation with Kids

NEWS ABOUT DAYTONA

As a kid I always loved Daytona because it was such the stereotypical old beach down. Over tanned old beach bums walking around, a pier with a boardwalk full of lights and excitement, wide beaches, and old beach motels. It was like something right from a Jimmy Buffet song. In the last couple of years though it would seem some one is throwing around some money to fix up the place. When I say fix up I mean make it more tourist friendly. The old nostalgic Daytona is slowly becoming the Orlando of the east coast.

In the last couple of years there has been some major construction in the main area of Daytona. There have been water parks erected, a city walk built, bigger hotels popping up, and much more. The construction is well needed for the time being. Right now Daytona still has its nostalgic charm. This new construction could help keep it that way or may just turn the city of Daytona into a beach side theme park. All of this construction is sure to bring more people and higher prices as the years go buy.

The newly created city walk boasts a few more expensive restaurants, a movie theater, and some expensive stores. It looks nice, though, and has a walkway over the road from the parking garage, to the stores, and beach access. I personally never did much here because it was too touristy for me. I like the older side of Daytona myself.

The beaches are wide, and the water is nice. The time of your visit will determine the crowd. I like to go around the beginning of July, for my birthday. The crowds aren't too big, there's plenty of room on the beach, and the hotels aren't all booked up. If you come here during race week, bike week, spring break, or any holiday weekend, it's a whole different story.

As an interesting fact, Daytona is one of the only two beaches in the state of Florida that you can drive on. Actually, I think maybe in all of the USA (the other being New Symrna). You will also notice that the ocean-facing side of all the lights around your hotel's pool area are painted black. This is to keep baby turtles from mistaking them for the moon and crawling the away from the ocean.

WHERE TO STAY