Florida beach

[ScoutandAtticus]

We are going on a holiday of a lifetime this year. 3 nights on NY, fly to Orlando, Disney staying in Port Orleans for 5 nights and then 6 nights at the beach. NY and Disney are sorted but I am distinctly overwhelmed when it comes to the beachy bit. We will be flying out of Orlando so don't ant to be hours and hours from there. We also want to fit in a visit to the Kennedy Space Centre so I am thinking of somewhere in that direction. We want a villa with a pool, places to eat and a beach to chill out after the madness of Disney. DCs will be 10 and 7. Any suggestions?

Is Daytona beach towards the Kennedy space centre? Personally I would go to st pete and Clearwater but that's west coast Florida

cocoa beach?

From Orlando, the East coast beaches (near Kennedy Space Centre) are about 1 hour's drive and the West Coast beaches (which is everyone says are better) are about 2 hours drive.

Are you sure you want 6 beach days? The East Coast beaches aren't anything special imo and it seems a shame to miss out on so much of Orlando (eg. Universal!) with almost a week at a beach which you could do anywhere.

I've always been thoroughly underwhelmed by the East coast beaches. The distances aren't huge so for 6 nights I'd head to the Gulf coast.

But if you definitely want to do Kennedy (which I enjoyed but it wasn't as mind-blowing as I'd expected) perhaps 1 night on the East, then hoof it across to the Gulf?

We have just come back from Florida. We stayed at Lido Beach (next to Sarasota) and cannot rave enough. The beach was pure white sand, the waters clear and 80 degrees.

We went to Cocoa Beach when we went to Kennedy Space Centre. Dipped our toes in the water decided too cold (think Cornwall plus a few degrees) and went back to the Gulf.

Unless you want to go surfing I would vote for the gulf every time. The drive to Kennedy from Orlando was easy and about an hour. Easily doable as a day trip. Do go to Kennedy though, it was one of the highlights of our trip especially as we saw the Atlas V launch and the Atlantis exhibit moved me to tears.

Netball - Just planning some accommodation for outside of Orlando, where did you stay in Lido Beach. Any other recommendations?!
May drive to upper Keys and stay overnight then look at Miami area. Treasure Island near St Pete was mentioned to us, but not sure what beach areas to see as so many! Did you go on an airboat ride?

mrswobblybittom have pm'd you

If you can go to the Keys those are IMO the best beaches in Florida. My second favourites are Clearwater beach, Sanibel and Naples Clearwater has more to do, Naples is for, as they say locally, The "newly weds and nearly deads"

I think 5 nights in Orlando is more than enough but there are plenty of people who would disagree. Clearwater, the Keys and Rosemary Beach are my personal faves. rosemarybeach.com/

What an amazing sounding holiday!!

We did Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel last year, loved both of them, but the year before we did Key West, which was by far my favourite, it has a real island feel...we drove from Orlando after spending 10 days there, yes it is a long drive (took us about 7 hours) but it's such a beautiful scenic drive and U.S. roads are so easy to drive on it was a breeze...nothing like the stress of a long drive here! You can also get internal flights if you didn't fancy the drive.

We're heading back to the U.S. again this year, but to do New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville followed by a little bit of beach time, struggling to choose between Destin and Fort Lauderdale currently, Ft L more convenient for our travel plans but Destin looks beautiful...opinions from any who have been to either gratefully received!!

I stayed in cocoa beach many years -ago an it was really tacky tbh and the sea was rough! Loved the space centre but it's not essential if you and your kids not into that kind of thing.

netball could I ask where you stayed in Lido Beach too please?

Sandcastle hotel. It's on booking.com

Thank you - looks fab!

I live on the east coast of Florida, but I agree that the Gulf beaches are really lovely. Between Ft. Lauderdale and Destin, I would definitely choose Destin.

Clearwater was my favourite beach ever and I have been around a bit beach wise . Walk away from Clearwater up towards Caladesi Island State Park and the beaches are pretty much empty, just miles and miles of sand and ocean. Recommend staying in the Carlouel area too, so quiet and pretty and minutes away from the water, wherever you are.