The 3 Best Florida Beaches

Liv­ing in Flori­da affords you an oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence a range of beach­es. Some might argue that once you’ve seen one Flori­da beach, you’ve seen them all.

I strong­ly disagree!

Orig­i­nal­ly, I am from New Jer­sey, so the only beach I expe­ri­enced grow­ing up was in Atlantic City. The lights of the casi­nos, and the salt water taffy, def­i­nite­ly made up for the frigid, brown water of the ocean.

When I relo­cat­ed to Flori­da, the beach on State Road A1A in Fort Laud­erdale was the place to see and be seen, in rel­a­tive safe­ty. Along­side the beach were stores, night clubs, and my favorite, Pri­man­ti Bros, a pizze­ria spe­cial­iz­ing in extra large, hand-tossed New York-style piz­za, open 24 hours a day. If you timed it right, you could watch the sun­rise while eat­ing a fresh-from-the-oven slice, while dig­ging your toes into the sand.

After more than twen­ty years liv­ing in Flori­da, I have found the 3 best beach­es in the state!

The 3 Best Beaches in Florida

1. Indian Rocks Beach

Indi­an Rocks Beach is locat­ed in Pinel­las Coun­ty on the Gulf Coast of Flori­da. This hid­den jew­el fea­tures fine sand and crys­tal clear water. Accord­ing to the city’s web­page, the name orig­i­nates from a leg­end in which a Native Amer­i­can chief was healed from a sul­fur spring sur­round­ed by the rocks.

If you go:

Spend the whole day there so you can be sure to see the exquis­ite sun­sets. Pick a view­ing spot on the jet­ty. Don’t for­get to bring a camera!

 2. New Smyrna Beach

My favorite place to see a sun­rise is on New Smyr­na Beach. It is locat­ed fif­teen min­utes south of Day­tona Beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of Flori­da. If you like dri­ving on the beach with­out the crowds, you will not be disappointed.

If you go:

Try to get there before the sun ris­es so you won’t miss the Tequi­la Sun­rise skies. Don’t for­get your cam­era! *Learn from my mis­take and bring extra bat­ter­ies. There’s noth­ing worse than miss­ing the per­fect image because your bat­tery dies mid-shoot. I was still able to cap­ture some pret­ty great images.

3. Daytona Beach

Day­tona Beach is a famous Spring Break des­ti­na­tion for col­lege stu­dents and bik­ers. Trav­el there at your own per­il if you choose to go there at that time. Vis­i­tors love dri­ving on the beach, play­ing in the water and at the board­walk amuse­ment park, or enjoy­ing din­ner and a movie beachside.

If you go:

Exchange the traf­fic and crowds for the qui­eter, more serene beach park­ing spot about a mile north of the bruhaha.

Hon­est­ly, any beach is a good beach. Still, these are my top 3! Are these beach­es on your list? What oth­er Flori­da beach­es round out your top 3?