Beaches closest Orlando for day trips?
 

My husband and I are spending a week in Orlando and due to a shortage of funds this year due to a home project, we will only be visiting Epcot and possibly Animal Kingdom...Now that I have to change my WDW itinerary, can you recommend any day trips??? I was thinking about Cocoa Beach, and how far is Key West and Tampa from Orlando??<BR><BR>Thanks

Louise dear, look on a map.

Louise, it will take about 8 hours to drive to Key West from the Orlando area...Tampa is about 70 miles west of Orlando, so it will take a little over an hour to drive there...Cocoa Beach is okay...the area around it is loaded with strip malls, restaurants, hotels, etc....there's a huge Ron Jon surf shop to browse through.

New Smyrna Beach!!!! Small beach town feel, very quaint and cool, beautiful beaches!!!

easy to be nasty when you're hidden, anonymous, anon - maybe check your own map sometime

I would recommend Sarasota - with Lido, Longboat, Siesta Key beaches - easy 2 hour drive with Siesta being known for the finest whitest sand in the U.S.

Either Clearwater Beach or Cocoa Beach. Depending on whether you want ocean or gulf. Personally, I like Clearwater Beach. Longboat Key or Sarasota is about an hour south of Clearwater.<BR><BR>Anon-Get up on the wrong side of bed or what??

Here's another vote for Clearwater. Broad pure white sand beaches, lots going on for dining and after-beach fun and it's only a bit over an hour from Orlando. It's further than Cocoa, but so much prettier it's worth the extra drive.

Hello we are frequent visitors from the UK and have visited both coasts.<BR>Clearwater gets my vote, a little bit further than Cocoa beach but much better.<BR>Not much else to do but sit on the beach though!<BR>If you do go to this coast you have to go over the Sunshine Skyway bridge near St. Petersburg, it is awesome.

Key West is way too far for a day trip. Tampa (Busch Gardens) is about 1-1/2 hours drive. The Gulf beaches will take longer. From Orlando you can take a day trip to Cape Canaveral and/or to Cocoa Beach. Or you can go to New Smyrna Beach or Daytona Beach, but don't try Daytona during Spring Break season unless you are of college age. You could also do St Augustine which is quaint and historic town with a nice beach on the outskirts.

daytona beach!! you can drive on the beach and it is really clean. its not like everyone says,a party town.we go every year with our two kids. its very family friendly and the beaches are very clean.

DRIVING on the beach makes it a great area to visit?! Joke, right? That might be #1 on my list of reasons for *not* going there. What a sad state of affairs when the ability to take a vehicle on the beach becomes something positive. :&lt;<BR><BR>I live as far west in Tampa as you can go and not fall in the water, but it only takes us an hour to get to the Disney area. My vote goes to the Gulf beaches as well--far more beautiful, and you don't have to tell your kids to look both ways before they cross the beach!

Day trip idea: go to Blue Springs State Park to see the manatees. Look it up on the Florida State Parks web-site. I recall it was an hour or less from Orlando.

Forget Cocoa Beach. Its the place of choice for cheap %&$# trash. Go to the gulf Beaches around Tampa-ie. St.Petes Beach. Get a room at the Don Cesar.<BR>Eat at Hurricanes in Pas-a-grill.

I thought Cocoa Beach was fine, especially if you don't have a lot of driving time. It was neat getting to see Cape Canaveral. <BR><BR>BE SURE to go to Ron Jon's Surf Shop--it even got used for an American Express commercial once.

We like Ormand Beach best. Its just North of Daytona. Friendly, Family oriented and easy on the budget. We went to Clearwater last year and we were so disapointed we packed up and drove back to the Atlantic coast... Clearwater Beach-too many people-too much traffic-too expensive..