Best beaches in southeast Florida

by Willy Volk on

With 1200 miles of sand beaches, Florida is the world’s premiere destination for vacationers seeking sun, surf, and sand. However, with so much coastline, how do you choose the beach that’s right for you? Here’s our list of the best beaches in southeast Florida (roughly the area from Stuart to Miami).

Best beach for photo ops: Blowing Rocks Preserve

Blowing Rocks Preserve encompasses a mile-long limestone outcrop riddled with holes, cracks and fissures; when the tide’s high and there’s a strong easterly wind (call for conditions: 561-744-6668), water shoots up, geyser-like. When seas are calm, you can hike through four coastal biomes: shifting dune, coastal strand, interior mangrove wetlands and tropical coastal hammock. Across the street, Hawley Education Center has rotating art exhibits with nature themes, as well as two short nature trails and a butterfly garden.

Entry to the preserve is $2 per person, and it’s only open from 9am to 4:30pm. A dedicated photographer would probably consider the best photo opportunities to be at sunrise (though we didn’t tell you to park south of the preserve and hike in with your camera and tripod). Finding the refuge is a little tricky, as there’s no signage: from US Hwy 1, take Bridge St (708 east) to Hobe Sound. Make a left on Beach St (707). Travel about 3 miles; the refuge is on your right.

Best beach for working: Hollywood Beach

This may seem an odd category for those looking for vacation, but Hollywood Beach — which recently enjoyed a massive $14 million renovation — is WiFi-enabled. You’re not likely to find people working on laptops at the beach (despite their ridiculous ads), but for visitors with Web-enabled cell phones, this is a great place to relax while catching up on email: the boss won’t even know you’re not in the office. If you choose to power down completely on vacation, you’ll enjoy Hollywood’s beautiful boardwalk and adjacent restaurants. Think of it as “the Venice Beach of Florida.”

To get here, take I-95 to Hollywood Blvd exit. Head east. Park.

Best dog beach: “Friends of Jupiter Beach”

Sandwiched between Jupiter and Juno, the 2.5-mile Friends of Jupiter Beach (FJB) may be the happiest beach in the state. Welcoming all well-behaved dogs, FJB regularly hosts impromptu canine photo shoots and sees plenty of happy hounds chasing Frisbees. If you want to enjoy South Florida’s waves with your pup, this is the place.

To get here from I-95, exit at Donald Ross Rd, head east to to A1A, and turn left. The dog-friendly beach begins at the intersection of A1A and Marcinski Road.

Best nude beach: Haulover Beach

Haulover Beach is the only officially-sanctioned nude beach in The Sunshine State. Nestled between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean, this 0.4-mile stretch of beach lies to the north of the larger Haulover Beach Park and, though tiny, can attract several thousand visitors per day. Remember: while many people are nude on this beach, it’s impolite to stare. Also: given the kinds of people who like to sunbathe nude, you may not wish to stare. You’ve been warned.

To get here, take I-95 to NW 125 Street and go east across Broad Causeway (there’s a 50-cent toll) to Collins Ave (A1A). Turn left, pass over a bridge, and proceed to the North Beach Parking lot on the left at the far north end of the park. Parking is $5 per car.

(For some other tips on where you may be able to get in some nude sunbathing, check this guide.)

Best undeveloped beach: Hutchinson Island

Most of this long, skinny island — which begins near Stuart and stretches north to Fort Pierce — is a sprawling mess of condos and resorts. However, the determined beach-goer can find a stunning array of unspoiled beaches, all with free access, excellent for walking, swimming and even some snorkeling. Most of the access roads and parking lots are dirt on Hutchinson Island, but barring an epic, Noah-like flood, you’re unlikely to get stuck.

To get here from Stuart, take Ocean Blvd east to the barrier island and head north. The beaches get more remote the further north you travel. (If you’ve got your four-footed friends with you, be sure to head to the only dog-friendly beach in St Lucie County, Walton Rocks, across from the St Lucie Power Plant.)

Best beach to people-watch: South Beach

No surprises here, but we couldn’t make a list of the best beaches in southeast Florida and skip this. If you’re looking for bronzed goddesses (some of whom go topless) or beefcakes in banana hammocks, Miami’s South Beach area — roughly the southernmost 23 blocks of the barrier island separating the Atlantic Ocean from Biscayne Bay — is the place to be. The entire section of sand is public access, but the Lummus Park area (right off 10th St) is the most popular … and most familiar (remember “Miami Vice”?).

To get here, exit I-95 at Dolphin Exwy/US 41/MacArthur Cswy, and head east. When you hit the barrier island, the road becomes 5th St. Follow this east to US1 (Collins Ave), then head north. Parking in Miami Beach is always tough. Look for a meter or a parking garage along Collins Ave (one block West of Ocean Dr).

Best “nature” beach: John D. MacArthur State Park

While this park is one of the smallest in the region, the John D. MacArthur State Park offers excellent, free, ranger-led walks from its William T Kirby Nature Center (10am daily). The park has one of the best turtle-watching programs around, as loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles nest here in June and July. It’s also home to several aquariums and a spectacular 1600-foot boardwalk — which spans the mangroves of Lake Worth Cove — and the on-site nature center provides guided and unguided kayak trips ($10-35/hour). On alternate Thursday mornings, the park offers yoga on the beach, and on full moon weekends, there are moonlight concerts and Bluegrass shows.

To get here, take I-95 to PGA Boulevard, head east, and continue heading east (and a little south) after the road changes to SR 703. The park entrance is on your left.

Best party beach: Peanut Island

Originally created in 1918 as the result of dredging, Peanut Island is an 80-acre island in the middle of the Intracoastal Waterway, north of West Palm Beach and east of Riviera Beach. Accessible only by boat, the island is popular with boaters who anchor off the northern edge of the island and party, either from their boats … or in the water. Fishing and swimming is allowed, and there are both developed and primitive campsites available for overnights (be sure to look for manatees swimming near the southern edge of the island). For history buffs, Peanut Island is also home to the Kennedy Bunker, which served as a fallout shelter for the family during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, the Bunker houses the Palm Beach Maritime Museum.

To get here, you’ll need your own boat. if you don’t have a boat, you can rent a kayak from Visit Palm Beach ($20/hour, or $30 for the day; bring plenty of water). Alternatively, you can take the water taxi ($10, round-trip) from Sailfish Marina (which boasts a terrific all-you-can-eat brunch on the weekends, for $17/person).

Best “local’s only” beach: Palm Beach (off Barton Ave)

Palm Beach — the exclusive enclave of the super-rich, like Jimmy Buffett, Donald Trump and (formerly) Bernie Madoff — has some beautiful beaches, much of which are difficult to access, due to the island’s near-endless “no parking” signs. However, a favorite “local’s only” spot is easy to access, offers free parking, and is almost always empty.

To get here from West Palm Beach, take Okeechobee Blvd east to the island (where the road becomes Royal Palm Way). At Ocean Blvd, turn left and head north five blocks to Barton Ave and turn left again. Park anywhere along Barton and walk back to the Ocean Blvd, being on the lookout for a small path leading to the beach. Unroll your towel. Enjoy.

Though these beaches aren’t in “Southeast Florida,” they’re also worth noting:

The ultimate vacation home: a lighthouse

by Sean McLachlan on

Thinking of curing those recession blues by investing in a vacation home? Why go for the traditional beach-side bungalow or alpine chalet when you could get something a little more original?

Perhaps 76 acres of undeveloped beach and a famous lighthouse in the southwest of England would be just the thing?

Upton Towans beach in Gwithian, Cornwall, is up for sale. It was here that a young Virginia Woolf used to vacation with her family, and the broad beach and beautiful view of the offshore lighthouse are said to have inspired her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse.

The 86-foot tall Godrevy Lighthouse, pictured here, was built in 1858 after the SS Nile crashed into the nearby rocks and sank with all hands. It’s one of the most attractive lighthouses on the English coast and draws in thousands of tourists a year, who also stroll along the beach and surf in the rough waters.

Bidding for the land, which will benefit Hall for Cornwall theater, is expected to start at £50,000 ($81,000). The sale comes with a couple of conditions: the land must remain open for public use and it cannot be “developed” (i.e. ruined). That means visitors will still be able to enjoy this rugged stretch of Cornish coast and its literary associations.

So if you are looking for some real estate and you don’t want to wreck it, this may be the thing for you. You’ll have to get used to sleeping in a lighthouse, though.

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Piss in the ocean, not in the pool and other TripAdvisor reader thoughts

by Tom Johansmeyer on

So much of life is governed by “unwritten rules,” but beaches and pools are surprisingly short of convention to cite. Public opinion is all over the map on what matters most – and what can lead to a heated conversation. But, there are still a few hot buttons that irritate the world. According to a recent survey of 3,800 people by TripAdvisor, 69 percent encounter some breach of etiquette, with 13 percent taking the cynical view that everyone breaks these undocumented standards.

The most common violations at the beach and pool are hogging beach chairs, pissing in the water and littering, while the most annoying are loud music, smoking and, yet again, draining into the water … though you can get away with doing this in the ocean if you aren’t too close to anybody. And, in praise of double standards, more respondents believe that women can get away with skimpy beach gear than feel men should wear speedos.

So, what enrages?

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Hogging beach chairs: if you’re “saving” a chair for someone for to use later, 84 percent of TripAdvisor readers think you’re an asshole. According to a TripAdvisor Destination Expert, “My bugbear is when people throw a towel over one of the highly sought-after sun lounges/cabanas, and then go AWOL.”

“Bugbear”? Eh …

Unleashing the stream: 16 percent of survey respondents called this the most annoying breach of pool and beach etiquette, but 53 percent will piss in the ocean if nobody’s around.

Smokers blow: 82 percent want to ban poolside smoking, and 62 percent don’t want you puffing at the beach. Says one of these Destination Experts, “I can’t stand when on a crowded beach day people smoke one foot away from you, and then discard their butts in the sand…I don’t care at all if people choose to smoke as long as it doesn’t affect me or the beauty of the beach!”

Washing off not a big deal: 14 percent of travelers don’t bother to shower before they go into a pool (hell, it has all that chlorine anyway, right?), and 37 percent do so rarely. A substantial 69 percent find it acceptable not to bother cleaning up before swimming.

Stay away: if the beach isn’t crowded, 38 percent of respondents believe you should set up camp at least 20 feet away, and 22 percent think seven feet to 10 feet is acceptable. When the beach is crowded, you should stay at least six feet away. According to one of these TripAdvisor Destination Experts, “I find the perfect spot on the beach, far away from the intrusion of kids, pets, and game players. Then a family of 12 with undisciplined kids sits right next to me! When the beach is empty move over!”

Watch what you wear: 76 percent of respondents don’t think it’s a big deal for women to wear revealing bikinis (no word on whether hotness matters), but only 65 percent say the same for men and speedos. Only 14 percent think speedos are only appropriate in the United States. One of the Destination Experts is irritated by people who “either go topless or wear tiny little dental-floss bikinis on the beach or by the pool.” Again, I say don’t judge until you see the body that’s barely covered.

Want to learn more? Click here.

Tampons with parachutes being dropped on Dutch beaches

by Scott Carmichael on

Bet that headline grabbed your attention? Good. Imagine lying on the beach enjoying the summer sun, and watching thousands of tampons being thrown out of a plane. You watch in amazement as a huge pink cloud of parachutes descends on the sand.

The PR stunt was the idea of tampon firm Libresse, and took place at six of the most popular Dutch beaches. The video clip is in Dutch, but I’m sure you’ll get an idea of the message (and the target audience).

The tampons are not being given away just for fun, the manufacturer is trying to convince women that tampons are a “must have” in the beach gear bag. According to the PR dude, 1 in 7 women avoid the beach during “that time of the month”.

Of course, the Dutch “Green Party” has already objected, and is trying to get the law changed so these promotional stunts won’t be permitted in the future.

Photo of the Day (7.5.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Today’s photo comes to us from Flickr user andreakw, who captured these brightly colored beach shacks during her visit to Melbourne, Australia. The bold paint schemes and quirky color choices immediately caught my eye. You can almost picture yourself sitting there, staring at these shacks, rows of beachgoers thronging about and laughing in the rolling surf behind you.

Have any photos from your travels you’d like to share? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of your shots as our next Photo of the Day.