First visit to Cocoa Beach. Any tips?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by irvin38a

Thanks everyone.

I see it's around 1hr 30min travel time to cocoa beach from where we are in Davenport. I hadn't done much research prior to changing from St Petes/Clearwater and was told it was about 45mins! So in actual fact the difference in travel would only be around 15mins?

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From Davenport it's about the same.

[Claireasol]

Originally Posted by BerkshireBugsy

It would be useful if you could post a link to that bar. It's not for me it's for a friend

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Ha ha - we are heading back to Florida in 5 ish weeks - my husband is already hoping I suggest a day out

[thefourDs]

Originally Posted by Claireasol

We got married on Cocoa Beach 3 years ago. Nice beach but lots of 'growth' on it - not sure what you would call them but also lots of seaweed. Was a bit gutted considering I was getting married on it as was expecting lush white sand all over. After the wedding we were driving back to Claremont and decided to stop off for lunch before we left Cocoa Beach area. We found a nice looking 'shack' that served fish and chips. The waitress came over to take our order wearing very little on her top half. My kids eyes newarly popped out of their heads (and you can imagine my husbands face !) I looked through to the next room and there were all ages of men (only men) sat around the bar with lots of scantily dressed women serving them drinks... Turns out we had decided to have our wedding lunch in a lap dancing bar. We took it all in our stride though and still laugh about our unconventional wedding day. Other than that I'm afraid we didn't venture much futher than the beach and that 'restaurant'

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I laughed out loud reading this!

I'll have to watch out for that when we go this summer, I don't think I could cope going there with my husband & two sons!

[Poppycat]

We've driven to both Cocoa and Clearwater from the Rolling Oaks area and the trip to Clearwater seemed a lot longer, but isn't that much further, less so for Davenport. Getting through Tampa and then on through a lot of traffic lights makes it feel a longer trip. Both are pretty easy trips, lots of 2 and 3 lane very straight highway.

We love Cocoa, but with smaller children, the gentler waves of the gulf coast may be preferable to the slightly rougher surf of the Atlantic... weather dependent! Last year we went to Clearwater on a very windy day post 3 days of rain and Cocoa the day after when it was pretty calm.

[irvin38a]

Originally Posted by Poppycat

We've driven to both Cocoa and Clearwater from the Rolling Oaks area and the trip to Clearwater seemed a lot longer, but isn't that much further, less so for Davenport. Getting through Tampa and then on through a lot of traffic lights makes it feel a longer trip. Both are pretty easy trips, lots of 2 and 3 lane very straight highway.

We love Cocoa, but with smaller children, the gentler waves of the gulf coast may be preferable to the slightly rougher surf of the Atlantic... weather dependent! Last year we went to Clearwater on a very windy day post 3 days of rain and Cocoa the day after when it was pretty calm.

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Thanks. So you think st petes would be a good bet? Little bit less than Clearwater but little bit further than cocoa.

[Poppycat]

We haven't been to St Petes for a long time and pre kids, so don't know what would be there other than beach for them.

In terms of distance, we did a bit of a round trip down to St Petes and then drove up the coast via Treasure Island and Indian Rocks - stopping for a paddle or swim and lunch on the way up and then on to Clearwater in time for a wander before the sunset. Took all day, but done at a leisurely pace.

From memory, I think the distance was about the same - circa 1.5 hours depending on traffic, plus the bit in between.

[Claireasol]

Originally Posted by thefourDs

I laughed out loud reading this!

I'll have to watch out for that when we go this summer, I don't think I could cope going there with my husband & two sons!

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ahh don't be mean - it would make their holiday

[barryp1]

Op rather than anguish over the choice why not do both coasts as Davenport is about as central as you can get.

Two days on the coast and you will be able to know where to go on future visits.

[Zomax25]

A bit late to this so you have possibly been already but we drove from Orlando with a 7 year old and nearly 1 year old and to Clearwater and they loved it so much we did it again a year later. The beach at Clearwater is ideal for little ones. We stayed in Indian rocks beach the second time and it was even better. Quiet, nice restaurants etc. We are just looking if we can afford to go again in October!

[Zomax25]

Just to note the drive was fine. First time we went mega early as we had landed the night before and decided to stay at an airport hotel and leave when we woke up, which happened to be around 5am. We stopped for coffee along the way but were at our hotel by 8am. The second time it was an afternoon and we hit a bit of traffic in Tampa, but it really wasn't a problem. Maybe travel either early or midday. We also found some fab quirky restaurants in Tampa and we stopped at Busch gardens on the way home and had an excellent day out.