Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It lies about 51 miles (82.1 km) northeast of Orlando, 86 miles (138.4 km) southeast of Jacksonville, and 242 miles (389.5 km) northwest of Miami. In the 2010 U.S. Census, it had a population of 61,005. It is a principal city of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL metropolitan statistical area, which was home to 590,289 people in 2010. Daytona Beach is also a principal city of the Fun Coast region of Florida.
Daytona boardwalk and pier

Danita Delimont/Getty


Follow Main St E and you'll cross Daytona's sabal-palm-lined, ocean-fronting boardwalk, bedecked with dollar-grabbing ice-cream shops, amusement arcades, rides and patios where you can sip beer from plastic cups. It's fun for the family with a side order of sleaze in the form of dirty T-shirt shops and dodgy tattoo parlors. Follow Main St further east toward the unmissable coral-colored pier, once a summer-vacation icon and still the longest in the US.

Reopened after restoration in 2012, the 85-year-old wooden structure still feels a bit shabby, but perhaps that's to be expected when you jut 237m out into the wild Atlantic Ocean.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Daytona Beach

0.43 MILES

This perfectly planar stretch of sand was once the city's raceway. Sections of the beach still welcome drivers to the sands at a strictly enforced top…

2. Jackie Robinson Ballpark & Museum

1.37 MILES

'The Jack' made history when, in 1946, the Montreal Royals, Jackie Robinson's team, were in Florida to play an exhibition against their parent club, the…

3. Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art

2.82 MILES

Part of the Museum of Arts & Sciences complex, this striking must-see museum, designed to look like a rural Floridian house, tells the story of the…

4. Museum of Arts & Sciences

3.05 MILES

This self-guided museum has a healthy dose of brain food for a fast and furious little town like Daytona. There's a delightful mishmash of everything from…

5. Southeast Museum of Photography

3.16 MILES

We love this hidden treasure in Daytona, a service of the Daytona State College: it's the only museum in Florida dedicated solely to photography. This…

6. Daytona International Speedway

4.67 MILES

The Holy Grail of raceways has a diverse race schedule. Ticket prices skyrocket for good seats at big races, headlined by the Daytona 500 in February. It…

7. Daytona Beach Drive-In Church

4.86 MILES

At Daytona Beach Drive-In Church you can get your daily dose of (Protestant) religion from the comfort of your car. Pull in to the former drive-in movie…

8. Tomoka State Park

9.48 MILES

The 20-minute drive here from downtown Daytona Beach is almost as pleasant as the park itself, a bird-watchers' heaven of former indigo fields turned…