What is the best Beach closet to Orlando?

[luckycharms288@yahoo]

We are driving from Oklahoma so we will stop for the night is Pensacola and then driving to orlando the next day I noticed on the map about a hour outside Orlando there are about 4 or 5 beaches right in a row they we will be driving right past and we want to stop and eat lunch there and maybe do a little swimming. Anybody know a good one right there? I know that daytona beach and a couple others ones are there what is the best one?

 

[Tigger1]

Hi Luckycharms288

we also drive from Oklahoma

You will be close to the nicest beaches at Pensacola. We stop at Destin every trip. Actually have camped out at Henderson beach on the Beach in Destin. Destin is about 50 miles East on Highweay 98 from Pensacola. Pensacola has a nice beach to.

I would spend time at these Gulf Coast Beaches, rather than drive to one near Orlando.

I also find that there is many state parks on the ocean all over Florida. They are not crowded and considered "The Real Florida", and well deserve the name. Just do a Google for State parks in Florida. Great for families if you do not want crowds or alcohol on the beach.

Have Fun

Tigger
Lawton Area

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

We are driving from Oklahoma so we will stop for the night is Pensacola and then driving to orlando the next day I noticed on the map about a hour outside Orlando there are about 4 or 5 beaches right in a row they we will be driving right past and we want to stop and eat lunch there and maybe do a little swimming. Anybody know a good one right there? I know that daytona beach and a couple others ones are there what is the best one?

from your description, it sounds like you're planning to take I10 from Pensacola, to I95, then I4? That's the only way to hit Daytona (by the way, New Smyrna Beach is the best of that area).

But, that is waaaay out of the way. Take I10 to I75, then the Turnpike to Orlando. It's much shorter.

I second Destin. The water's beautiful blue, the sand's beautiful white. If you're looking for closer to Disney, follow I75 to Tampa. there are some beaches near there, but they aren't my favorite.

 

[RabFlmom]

from your description, it sounds like you're planning to take I10 from Pensacola, to I95, then I4? That's the only way to hit Daytona (by the way, New Smyrna Beach is the best of that area).

But, that is waaaay out of the way. Take I10 to I75, then the Turnpike to Orlando. It's much shorter.

I second Destin. The water's beautiful blue, the sand's beautiful white. If you're looking for closer to Disney, follow I75 to Tampa. there are some beaches near there, but they aren't my favorite.

Both of the posters are right on. You will be driving past some of the best beaches on the Gulf as you come in from Oklahoma. Would be easiest to spend time on the beach in Destin. But if you want to go to the Atlantic Ocean to be able to say you went to the Ocean instead of the gulf, then New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet(beautiful lighthouse) , or Cocoa Beach are good options. Ocean is more like Lake Atlantic right now, but will get better waves for surfing or boogy boarding as storms start forming off the Atlantic in august, Sept, Oct.

 

[deej696]

Another Floridian agreeing that the much better plan is to stop at the beach in the Panhandle, as they are the best in Florida, and it will save you a lot of time, as stopping at the beach on the way to Orlando will be way out of the way. I have been to Destin a couple times and its great, although its not exactly "right on" the interstate.

 

[erinch]

as a southern California kid, now transplanted to western PA, and making trips to Florida every couple of years, if we want to go to a beach, we make the trip over to the Atlantic side. On the gulf side you might as well go to a lake.

But if you just want the experience of sand and salty lake water, then the panhandle is better than battling the crowds around Tampa or south.