Daytona Beach

The Daytona Beach area entertains nearly 8 million visitors each year! Our proximity to the Orlando area makes Daytona Beach the destination of choice for Central Florida visitors seeking to spend some time at the beach. Filled with family-style recreation, attractions and entertainment, the Daytona Beach area offers 23 miles of beaches and plenty of fun. The beach, the area’s largest attraction, is filled with friendly beach vendors offering everything from hot dogs and sodas to boogie boards and bicycles. Beyond the beach, visitors will find great downtown and oceanfront shopping, dining and entertainment options, plus world-class festivals and events. From Daytona Lagoon water park and the All Access Speedway Tours at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach has something for everyone!

Daytona’s wide beach of smooth, compacted sand attracted automobile and motorcycle races beginning in 1902, as pioneers in the industry tested their inventions. It hosted land speed record attempts beginning in 1904, when William K. Vanderbilt set an unofficial record of 92.307 mph. On March 8, 1936, the first stock car race was held on the Daytona Beach Road Course, located in the present-day Town of Ponce Inlet. In 1958, William France Sr. and NASCAR created the Daytona International Speedway to replace the beach course. Automobiles are still permitted on most areas of the beach, at a maximum speed of 10 mph.

During motorcycle events (Bike Week and Biketoberfest), several hundred thousand bikers from all over the world visit the greater Daytona Beach area. The city is also often associated with spring break, though the efforts of the local government to discourage rowdiness, combined with the rise of other spring break destinations, have affected Daytona’s preeminence as a spring break destination. It is the destination of Dayton 2 Daytona, an annual event that draws over 3,000 University of Dayton college students since 1977.

Special events that draw visitors to Daytona Beach include:

Speedweeks (Daytona 500 NASCAR race, Rolex 24 sports car race, and others)
Coke Zero 400, NASCAR race on the first Saturday of July.
Daytona Beach Bike Week Daytona 200 motorcycle races, bike shows and biker reunion in March
Biketoberfest in October
Turkey Run car show and events during Thanksgiving weekend (Traditionally called the Turkey Rod Run)
Spring break (date varies, usually the first and second week of March)

Daytona International Speedway – Home of the Daytona 500! Forty-three of the top drivers in the world compete in “The Great American Race,” NASCAR’s biggest, richest and most prestigious motorsports event.