Florida Guide > Places to Visit
Melbourne Beach
As much as we love our little corner of Kissimmee and the mass of attractions the area has to offer, the kids always enjoy a day at the beach. In the past we have always been to Clearwater or Daytona. This year we thought we would try Melbourne Beach, which was a 70 minute drive East on the 192. The drive was quite pleasant and will be made considerably easier very soon when the widening of the 192 is complete after St Cloud. Just keep driving on the 192 East and you will come to Melbourne Beach. We found an area of parking which cost 25cents per half an hour right next to the beach. Therein lay the problem, not enough quarters! So we jumped back in the car and drove round the corner where we found a small row of shops. One in particular was selling Surf Boards and Kites and general beach goods. So we bought a few beach mats, a bogey board for our 8 year old and a few wind chimes for home. Upon paying we asked the very nice lady for a number of quarters to feed the meter. She kindly pointed us in the direction of the ‘park’ area and free parking. This was about a mile down the road and in hindsight was signposted from the 192 as ‘The Beach’.
The park area has parking for around 100 cars, two sand volleyball pitches, a number of picnic tables, a shower and a small toilet block. There are a few small shops adjacent to get supplies of water, drinks and snacks. The beach was mainly sand and the sea was calm on the day we went (May 28th). There were flagged areas that were manned by lifeguards. We spent the majority of the day on the beach before heading away for a drive around. We stopped off at Ryckman Park, which offered a great area for the kids to play safely. After half an hour of fun on the activity climbing frames we headed off home.
Having never been to “Melbourne Beach” (which is a town with the same name) we didn’t know what to expect. This is a very quite town offering a peaceful alternative to the attractions of Orlando. The beach area was a lot less commercialised than somewhere like Daytona and a lot quieter and relaxing. On the way back we stopped off in “Melbourne Town” (about 2 miles before Melbourne Beach). There is a great shopping Mall with all the usual favourite stores and a few we hadn’t seen before. They was a very large Sports Superstore similar to Sports Authority called ‘Dicks Sporting Goods’ seemingly offering a wider choice of goods. The golfing section was especially well stocked. The area also offered the usual choice of American food chains.
All in all, a great day was had by all, and we have seen another small corner of Florida that we hadn’t seen before.
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