A year-round resort area located on the east coast of the Florida Peninsula, Daytona Beach and Volusia County offer beautiful, white sand beaches and a climate that has attracted over 8,000,000 tourists each year to its wide assortment of vacation rental homes and condos. The town of Daytona was incorporated in 1876 and was named for its founder, Matthias Day, and as early as the 1920's had the reputation for being "The World's Most Famous Beach."
Accommodations
Daytona Beach offers a fast-paced, exciting getaway with a variety of condos, vacation homes, hotels, and resorts. Choose a vacation near any of Daytona Beach's local attractions that offers comfort while making the most of the beautiful beaches at affordably priced rates.
View our Daytona Beach Vacation Rentals or Daytona Beach Resorts
Activities
Daytona is justifiably famous for its Spring Break, Bike Week and Speed Week. The millions of visitors that each of these events draws every year find all the fun and excitement they could want. In addition to the Daytona International Speedway, you may want to visit the Chocolate Factory, go parasailing, surf, fish, or play volleyball. There is also Adventure Landing featuring Daytona's largest arcade, a two story go-kart speedway, three miniature golf courses, and a million gallon five acre seasonal water park. Or visit Daytona, USA, NASCAR's official attraction, delivering unforgettable experiences to both race fans and casual observers through hands-on activities, challenging thrills and one-of-a-kind sights.
Events
The Daytona Beach Bike Week is the largest motorcycle event in the nation, drawing bike enthusiast from around the word in early March each year. Many of the bikers return for Biketoberfest, held in October of each year. Speed Week includes the Daytona 500, NASCAR's largest event of each season. Daytona Beach's spring breaks have become legendary on college campus' throughout the nation. Also held at the Daytona International Speedway, the Turkey Run is not only Florida's largest car show and swap meet, but it is also the biggest event of its type in the southeast.
Water Sports
The beautiful beaches of Daytona Beach are perfect for swimming, surfing, para-sailing, or catching up on your tan. This is also the only beach in the United States that you are allowed to drive the family car on. You can also find powerboat and sailboat rentals, as well as jetski rentals. The warm Gulf waters are inviting for snorkeling and scuba diving.
Golfing
Great weather and world-class golfing. await you in the Daytona Beach area, where you now have your choice from 17 golf courses. Golf Digest recently ranked Daytona Beach in the top 15 places to play in the nation.
History
Matthias Day was the founding father of what was then called Daytona and built the first hotel, the Palmetto House, in 1874. Vacationers have been flocking to the Daytona Beach area in ever increasing numbers since then. In 1886, the St. Johns & Halifax River Railway was extended to Daytona. This Railroad line would be purchased in 1889 by Henry Flagler, who made it part of his Florida East Coast Railway. The separate towns of Daytona, Daytona Beach and "Seabreeze" merged as "Daytona Beach" in 1926.
Daytona's wide beach of smooth, compacted sand attracted automobile and motorcycle races beginning in 1902, leading to the area being nicknamed "The Birthplace of Speed." In 1947, the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing(NASCAR) was founded in Daytona Beach and the Daytona International Speedway was built in 1959. Daytona Beach draws about 8 million visitors each year from around the world.