Hi Katy

You can go to Daytona beach or Cocoa Beach, both are on Atlantic coast near Kennedy Space center and about an hour drive from Orlando along the Beeline Expressway.

My favourite is Clearwater on the Gulf coast, water is warmer and crystal clear with powder white sands. Drive time about about 1 hour 30 mins, most of the journey is along the I4, it is fairly well sign posted.

Mike

Katy, Clearwater and the gulf coast beaches are much more of what people think of Florida as. The sand and water is generally nicer than the Atlantic side beaches. Sand tends to be white and sugary and the water buoyant, gentle and warm. The Atlantic side tends to have much rougher surf and colder water. The gulf beaches may be a bit longer drive but well worth it.

it DEFINATLY has to be Clearwater about an hour and a half from orlando
but if you have time travel south to Captiva Island There is a god after all
superb beach its like walking on talcum powder so soft and the water as like clearwater is non tidal as it is the Mexican Gulf and you can actually walk out about a hundred yards and water only comes up to waste Temprature of climate about 100 degrees in summer and water is like a warm bath shear heaven

Katy, as has been said, The Gulf Coast is a warmer and more 'what you might expect' area but it is 90 minutes plus away. When we visit Clearwater Beach, we do it as a 1 or 2 night stop over and incorporate it into a trip to Busch to make the most of the time lost driving. It is a lovely sea-sidey area with seafront bars and shops ,as you'd expect. The dolphin trips are inexpensive and only take a couple of hours. Dolphins are often seen from the beach,as well.

Coco and Daytona are only 40-60 minutes drive and can be incorporated into a day at Kennedy. Not as touristy as The Gulf Coast, we found them ideal for a drive just to see the Ocean but not much more, with one major exception.
Coco Beach is a good spot to watch a launch from Kennedy if you're lucky enough for there to be one when you're there. We watched a satelite rocket launch a few years ago and it was an amazing experience. Watching the lift-off was exactly as we'd seen many times on TV - at about 3 miles away - then watching and hearing the rocket level and head right along our beach (well, it seemed that way). It took ages to climb through the atmosphere and was, for us, a unique sightseeing memory.

There are three launches in May, if you'd be interested

May 2005
5/4 : Delta 4 Rocket Launch- GOES N Satellite
5/12 - 6/3/2005 : Space Shuttle Return to Flight- STS-114 Discovery
5/20 : Delta 2 Rocket Launch- GPS 2R M-1

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches/index.asp

Have to be totally honest here...when we went to Orlando we opted for a day at the beach and we drove to Coco Beach...it was a total let down...the sand was extremely hot...hotter than I recall the sand to be in the DR and it was sharp and sticky...the water was not that fantastic either...but hey I guess I have been spoilt with caribbean seas. I understand the beaches in Miami are much better

If you want to visit a beach just for the day the nearest one to Orlando is on Disneys Fort Wilderness camp ground.You just park your car and hop on the bus that takes you to Bay Lake.There are sunbeds and the boat leaves from here to Discovery Island.The best beaches in Florida in my opinion are around Fort Myers.Sanibel,Captiva,Lovers key state park and the beaches on Fort Myers island.(Estero island)

Spolit for choice now.

I think we're planning on going to Busch Gardens, stopping over night and then spending the day at Clearwater as suggested but since finding out about the space launch, we will probably also visit Coco Beach to see this happen. I saw one years ago when I was eight but my husband has never witnessed this and I am sure he'd love it.

I agree about Cocoa beach. Found the sand too hot to walk on and it was very windy. We watched a launch from Canaveral beach(also windy). But found Clearwater fantastic. A little further down is a small place called Passe-A-Grille. Paradise. We are going back this year and staying overnight there. We will also be checking out Captiva. Thanks for the hints. It takes a little longer to drive to the west coast but it's definitly worth it. Stay for the sunset.

I stayed at St. Petes beach & I must say I was very impressed area I was staying in was raked every day

I used to live in Seminole and always went to Indian rocks beach which is really clean, great parking and a great marina nearby at the holiday inn. 90 mins from Orlando.

Gulf coast I agree St petes beach or clearwater but I prefer St petes beach. As for Atlantic side I wouldnt go to Daytona we found it a total let down sea was choppy and so many cars gulf coast gets my vote

Clearwater is lovely, not just for the beach but for all the American Touristy things like watching the sunset, the street entertainers and traders, food etc etc we really enjoyed it. Quite a journey but worth it.

hi all we are going to orlando next year 18th may/3rd june.this will be our 5th time.we would like to visit the beach's this time,maybe staying for a few days.which ones are the best?should we go cocoa beach side or st pete's?any help appreciated.would help if anyone knew which side will be the warmest to go or doesn't it matter...also is miami worth a visit or is it a bit far with 2 teenagers and a 7 yr old in the back of the car?thanks

Hi,

Having just returned from 2 weeks in Orlando, I have to disagree with what most people have said! We ended up going to Cocoa beach 3 times as we loved it so much, and only visited Clearwater once. Granted the water is calmer and warmer than Cocoa, but we found it much busier and the temperature in general was cooler than Cocoa.

Cocoa beach was pretty much deserted all 3 times we visited (we drove south along the coastal road until you see a car park on the left that is right on the beach - I think this is the very bottom of Cocoa beach). The water was quite wavy which some may not like, but we found it great fun to "jump waves" - you don't get anything like them in the UK!! The sand is still nice and soft here, just not so light in colour as at Clearwater. It does get hot too, but that's because it is hotter generally! Just a perfect excuse to get back in the sea to cool off really...

I would say that Miami is too far to drive from Orlando in a single day - we looked into doing it, but I think it's about 4 hours drive so would really require an overnight stay to make it worthwhile.

thanks for that info willapp...can't wait to go!!we might still do miami and stay overnight..only 7 months and 3 weeks to go(how sad am i!!)

Hi all, We are going to Orlando in July and wanted to hire a convertable to go to the beach for the day. Can anyone suggest the best beach to visit in the day we were thinking of Clearwater, is it easy to get to? Any suggestions greatly accepted.
Thanks
Paul

Hi Paul, lots of good advice preceding your post. You can't go wrong with Clearwater. Also keep in mind that beaches farther south along the gulf coast are often just as nice. Sanibel Island is good for a memorable stay.

Unfortunately, the Atlantic side beaches are not quite as nice. One of the rather disappointing problems is the amount of rubbish that washes up on the shore - empty plastic bottles, old shoes etc and so on.

If you enjoy strolling the beach and collecting some fabulous seashells for the kids, Sanibel is far and away the best choice.

Hope this is helpful!