Cape Canaveral day trip?

[anbouk]

We will be staying in Epcot area hotel. Thinking of renting a car and driving to cape canaveral for a day. Has anyone done this, how far is the ride? Fun places to eat/do on site? Thanks for input!

 

[100AcreWood]

I've drove from Cape Canaveral to Disney and it's an hour drive.

Cocoa Beach is next to Cape Canaveral.

 

[mousefan73]

If you are looking at beaches, to be honest west coast is better IMO... Cocao Beach has the Pier and Ron Jons... I thought not much else..
BUT.....

JFK Space Center is totally worth it if that is your Thing.... Especially if you are old School Apollo, Saturn types.... if so, I recommend the extra tour package that takes you to those sites... Was worth it IMO.. but I am a NASA fan.

 

[SarahKate]

The beaches along the gulf side are definitely prettier - blue water and white sand. But it takes longer and sometimes traffic isn't that great. Cocoa Beach isn't as pretty but it sure is closer and a straight shot. Very easy drive. We like to eat at Dixie Crossroads in Titusville (great rock shrimp!) and Ron Jon's is always a must.

On our last trip we ended up at the Canaveral National Seashore. It is way off the beaten path but we LOVED the area. Very non-touristy....hardly any other people. And the first time in all our trips to FL where we saw gators just out in the open. It was awesome. But there's definitely more driving involved. There were tons of stop off points with beach access and at times we had the entire place to ourselves. We normally like to be in the mix of all tourist activities, but this was just a nice change.

 

[JimMIA]

First thing to clear up is whether you are looking to go to the beach, or to Kennedy Space Center -- two very different day trips, even though they are very close to each other.

For beaches, the choice is between Atlantic beaches (east coast) with real ocean waves and the Gulf of Mexico (west coast) which has much quieter water. To me, both are pretty, either can be very crowded or quite tranquil depending on where and when you go, and both are great -- just different.

On the east coast, the Port Canaveral beaches are no more than an hour from WDW, Cocoa Beach (because you have to go through downtown Cocoa and a more developed area) takes an hour.

Canaveral National Seashore (a National Park Service site) will take a little longer -- maybe 90 minutes. It is exactly as SarahKate describes it. It's one of Central Florida's many "best kept secrets." For info, www.nps.gov/cana

The closest west coast beaches are about 2 hours away, possibly a little longer because of major highway construction in downtown Tampa. Although we enjoy the gulf beaches too, a day trip from Orlando returning at the end of the day through Tampa rush hour would not be my choice.