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Daytona Beach Turkey Rod Run

Daytona Beach

While its broad hard-packed beaches have attracted millions of visitors since 1870, Daytona Beach doesn’t skimp on opportunities for you to enjoy forests and estuaries on its trails

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Daytona Beach Pier

An early getaway for well-to-do northerners, Daytona Beach was founded in 1870. Soon after the first automobiles arrived, drivers discovered the hard-packed coquina sand made it easy to go fast. Once the idea of speed trials and racing began, car and motorcycle enthusiasts made their way down primitive roads tunneling through lush hammocks to get to the “World’s Most Famous Beach.”

Racing shifted off the beach and onto the famous racetrack along International Speedway Boulevard in 1959. But follow that same highway west and you’ll enter Tiger Bay State Forest, a vast conservation area protecting both high ridges and the marshes that feed the Tomoka River basin.

Daytona Beach and its neighboring communities of Ponce Inlet and Port Orange have extensive public lands protecting archaeological sites, ancient oak hammocks, and the edges of the estuaries between coast and barrier island. To its north, Ormond Beach and Holly Hill offer paddling and camping opportunities.

Resources

50 Hikes in Central Florida Central Florida Orlando Explorers Guide book cover Complete Guide to Florida Wildflowers Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us continue to provide public information on this website.

Trails and Parks Around Daytona Beach

Best Hikes near Daytona Beach

swampy trail Bulow Woods

Bulow Woods Loop

Stretching 5.2 miles through an primordial forest of sluggish, fern-lined waterways, ancient live oaks, magnolias, and cabbage palms, the Bulow Woods Loop is one of North Florida’s most scenic hikes

Rima Ridge pines Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay State Forest

Surrounding more than 42 square miles of the Tomoka River watershed, Tiger Bay State Forest provides nearly 20 miles of interpretive and multiuse trails between Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, and DeLand

Trail through oak canopy

Ponce Preserve

Just south of Daytona Beach, Ponce Preserve protects a cross-section of barrier island habitats, with nearly 2 miles of trails connecting the beach and the Halifax River

Sugar Mill Gardens

Sugar Mill Gardens

Yep, that’s a stegosaurus hiding in the bushes. Sugar Mill Botanical Gardens has had a lot of faces over the ages, including a stint in the 1950s as Bongoland, a roadside attraction full of not-so-scary dinosaurs.


Recent Additions and Updates

Wet trail in lush Florida palm forest

Bulow Woods Trail

Bulow Woods Trail
Pershing Highway

Pershing Highway Interpretive Trail

Pershing Highway Interpretive Trail
Woodham Woods Trail Tomoka

Woodham Woods Trail

Woodham Woods Trail
Tomoka State Park statue

Tomoka State Park

Tomoka State Park

Addison Blockhouse Historic State Park

Addison Blockhouse Historic State Park
Sand pines Buncombe Hill

Buncombe Hill Hiking Trail

Buncombe Hill Hiking Trail
Rolling oceanfront dunes with palms

Smyrna Dunes Park

Smyrna Dunes Park
Florida Trail north of Farles Prairie

Ocala National Forest

Ocala National Forest

More Trails More Parks

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INCLUDES: Ponce Inlet, Port Orange | NEARBY: Bunnell, De Leon Springs, Deland, Deltona, Flagler Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Orlando, Palm Coast, Sanford | ALONG: Atlantic Coastal Ridge, Atlantic Ocean, East Coast Greenway, Intracoastal Waterway | PART OF: Central Florida

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