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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA

Heading south on I-95, resist the impulse to exit into Daytona and keep south about eighteen miles. You might miss it, because it is seldom in the travel brochures. New Smyrna Beach Florida is a golden little town, not the tourist Mecca of its larger neighbor to the north, which you can still see from the tip of the jetty, just across the Ponce de Leon inlet.

If you love quiet, cozy beaches, away from all the hustle and bustle of more tourist-trendy locations, New Smyrna is your place. With amenities for any budget, you'll love your getaway, along with great dinning and a world class beach that has been called Florida's safest beach for decades.

The town is still small, a bedroom community that spans down highway 44, over US 1/A1A. Cross over the Indian River causeway and you enter the beach side where a wide selection of Hotels, motels, rentals and restaurants are yours for the taking. As in Daytona, you can take your vehicle out onto the wide and active beach.

There are plenty of shops for the souvenir hunter in your crowd, and the family friendly atmosphere will leave you, as it does for most, wondering what real estate goes for in this beautiful spot of Florida coast line.

I've been in love with this wonderful town since childhood and have family there. We go every chance we get and always regret when it's time to leave. Just driving around town, the Spanish moss hanging from huge Bay Trees and Live oaks, the small town atmosphere with family and grown-up appeal will imprint upon your mind all the more reasons you'll need to make reservations for your next trip down as well.

Oh, yeah You might want to check the launch schedule at Canaveral, only twenty miles south. It's not uncommon to have a breathtaking view of a night launch from your hotel balcony.

If you are flying down, you'll have to land in Daytona or Orlando, but who says you have to stay there? Sure, New Smyrna is a well kept secret, but it can be our secret.

Learn more about this author, S Bond Herndon.
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