Daytona Beach Weekend Getaway (with a toddler)

Daytona Beach is famous for its beach and spring break atrocities, but Daytona is a small city that boasts more than a beach. Here’s a Daytona Beach Weekend getaway with a toddler.  

Looking for more long weekend or quick weekend trip ideas? Here’s a few that we have covered so far: 

• How to Travel Every Weekend
• Treat Your Weekend as a Vacation
• Three Days in Louisville, Kentucky
• Travel Hacking Three Days in Memphis, Tennessee
• Three Days in Huntsville, Alabama 

Drive on the Beach 

Daytona is one of those places where you can actually drive on the beach (tide permitting). In fact, people have driven down this beach since Henry Flagler’s time in the 1920s. This was how the racing culture started in the city, when the rich and wealthy who could afford cars would race them on the beach. 

Back then, a car was considered a luxury item, and it wasn’t until Ford’s Model T and the invention of supply chain engineering when automobiles became mainstream. Nowadays, you don’t need to be rich or wealthy to drive on the beach. Pay a small fee and you can bring your own car to experience driving on the beach yourself. The sand is hard packed so you won’t really have issues even on a sedan, but best if you go on low tide or bring an SUV or 4-wheel drive if you’re not too comfortable with a car. 

The Daytona 500 Speedway

From those humble beginnings of racing on the beach came the Daytona speedway, first built by a businessman in the late 1950’s and still hosts a lot of motor racing events to this day. 

In case you don’t know, the 500 in these races (i.e. Daytona 500) refers to miles. Every lap in Daytona is around 2 ½ miles so drivers in these races need to do 200 laps in order to complete the 500 miles. 

It gets really crazy when the city hosts these racing events – hotels fill up pretty quickly and parking can be a bit of a nightmare. We went to a qualifying race before, and the sound that these cars make is out of this world. Our next goal would be to visit the 24 hour race. If you want to just experience the track without too much of a crowd, go on practice days before a big race day or tour the facilities (extra fee applies) when there’s no events happening. 

The Ponce de Leon Inlet and Lighthouse (Daytona Beach Weekend)

Located on the very end of the island, around 15 minutes from the hotel area is the Ponce de Leon Inlet and Lighthouse. The lighthouse is the tallest in the state of Florida, and a part of the National Register of Historic Places, so we would definitely not want to miss going here. 

The lighthouse has been guiding sailors since the 1880s, when there were more and more shipwrecks happening in the Mosquito Inlet.  Climbing up the Ponce de Leon lighthouse is a bit of a feat. There are no elevators so you need to go up 203 steps to get to the top of the lighthouse. If our two year old adventurous child nearly did the whole 203 steps (he stopped at the last landing and asked to be carried), you can do it too! 

Can I bring a toddler or a baby up on the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse?

Strollers are not allowed on the lighthouse, so you’ll have to either baby wear or carry an infant, or assist your child in climbing up the stairs if they can walk. Best if you let other people who are faster ahead of you – there are plenty of spots to stop to let other people pass, just so your child would not feel rushed as they navigate the stairs, which can be a bit scary. 

From the open air observation area, the views are amazing from the top of the lighthouse. You can see the beach and the island opposite the inlet on a good day. Our kid liked looking out and seeing the beach and feeling the air on his face. However, after 15 minutes, he was keen to get down and had enough of the wind and sun. He navigated the stairs for a bit  

At the bottom of the lighthouse are a series of houses that serve as museums, some of them are open for you to look into and see a history of the lighthouse and the lighthouse keepers that lived there. 

Lighthouse Point Park

Located at the very tip of the island, there is a long boardwalk with an observation tower and a beach. It gets very busy even if there is a fee to enter the park, so plan your trip accordingly. The boardwalk is beautiful, and winds through a forested path before dropping you off by the ocean. There is another boardwalk that leads out on the water, so take your time and walk there too. 

While we personally did not visit the park due to time constraints, we have seen the park from the top of the lighthouse! 

Ponce Inlet Veterans Memorial and Pirate Ship Playground

We ended up staying an hour at this playground after the lighthouse. We were on our way to the Marine Science Center, leaving our car parked at the Ponce Lighthouse, when my toddler saw the huge pirate ship which had slides and other fun stuff for children. He insisted that we stop and play, so we did. 

There were three different slides, each different from the rest, but he fixated on one in particular. There’s plenty of spots to run around and hide within the pirate ship itself, so dad and the toddler spent a bit of time exploring the ship. 

When we were finally done with the playground, it was a bit too late to go to the Marine Science Center, which closes at 4pm. If we were there, we would probably rush the child across the exhibits and not give him enough time to look at the animals. 

Beside the Pirate Ship Playground is the Ponce Inlet Veterans Memorial, which commemorates the people who had served on behalf of the country across different wars. 

Lounge or Swim on the Beach on your Daytona Beach Weekend

If you don’t want to drive on the beach, you could opt to do the usual beach activities like lounging, surfing, or swimming. 

Swimming is not really the best as the waves are big, so you are mostly limited to standing or sitting around the shallow area. 

Alternatively, a few people head to Daytona Beach to surf, given the conditions that make it a good place to ride the waves. 

A few things to look out for while you are lounging, swimming or surfing: 

1. Since there are drivers on the beach, be wary of them. Walkers have the right of way but you never know if some drivers would respect pedestrians or not. 
2. This area of Florida is the Shark capital of the state. There are so many sharks living in this area that there are a few attacks and sightings happening every so often. 

We opted to just play in the sand. Visiting in winter meant the water is cold and not conducive for swimming for a toddler, even in a pool! 

Walk, shop, eat or just observe around the Daytona Boardwalk 

The walk through Daytona Beach’s hotels, restaurants, and shops is pleasant. It is paved with lots of things to see and do where you can just pop in and out of the stores as you please. 

It is very busy in the evenings, when there’s live music playing from the bars, and the beach is dark at night. In the daylight, you can walk on the beach, and swim. 

The walk is perfect for those who have kids and toddlers since it is pedestrian only and is suitable for strollers and small scooters. 

Go shopping in the Outlets 

20 minutes from the beach, the Daytona outlets have a variety of shops you can visit. There’s a large area in the middle with chairs and fake turf where your kids can run around while one parent can shop and run some errands. 

If outlets are not really your thing, across the street are discount stores, and even a bookstore like Barnes and Noble. There’s even restaurants should you get peckish 

The old theme park turned free garden – The Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens

The Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens was on our list but we didn’t get a chance to visit. It was an old theme park and huge dinosaur statues are still left behind as decorations. One can’t climb up the dinosaurs to preserve for the future, but they’re still there for photos, and they make for really good photo spots. 

It is a perfect spot to walk around and explore with a little toddler. Ours just turns out that he loves dinosaurs, but since he hasn’t really seen the place yet, we’re hoping that on our next trip, he will love the walk through the gardens (and dinos). 

Angell’s Chocolate 

Part chocolate tour, part store, this place is only open Mondays to Saturdays. A local chocolatier place, they offer tours on how they make chocolate in their factory. The factory and store is not located by the beach, so you will have to drive or bike to get there.  We did not get to visit on this trip, but we definitely will on our next few trips down to Daytona since we’re big chocolate lovers! 

Where to Stay in Daytona Beach

Looking for great beachfront hotels in the Daytona Beach area? We’ve personally stayed in two, which we will review in this sub-section below. Should we stay in any more resorts in the area, we will definitely update this post to include that hotel as well.

Hyatt Place Daytona Beach – Oceanfront

An amazing redemption for only 12,000 Hyatt points a night, you may get an oceanfront room where you can just open the balcony doors and hear the waves. We booked a city room using our points but got upgraded to the oceanfront room upon check in.

The rooms at the Hyatt are perfect – we got a king bed with a sofa bed, where our toddler slept. There’s free breakfast and free parking as well. The rooms are a bit dated, and the hotel is not close to the boardwalk area, but is a quick drive away. The pool is overlooking the ocean, and the beach is just a few steps away.

Perry’s Ocean Edge Resort

A surprising find that we booked through Groupon. It was around $100 a night, and we got an ocean view room, with quick access to the pool, the beach, and the boardwalk. While the hotel is not part of a chain, it is a good value option if staying in the area. The pool is also steps from the beach, and has free parking!

The rooms are also a bit dated, and since it is not a chain hotel, do not expect to get any sort of preferential treatment based on status (there’s none).

A weekend in Daytona Beach

Are you heading for Daytona Beach? Did I miss out on anything else that should have been on this list? If we discover new places on our next few trips, we will update this post accordingly. Hopefully this post helped you out on your trip planning and we’ll see you on the road soon!