Take a Trip to New Smyrna Beach

With Florida now in the full throes of summer, it’s only natural that many people will look to combine their Orlando holiday with a Florida beach break, and there’s certainly no shortage of choice, with the Atlantic coast little more than an hour away and the glorious Gulf Coast about a 100-minute drive west.

There is also plenty of name recognition and beach style to attract visitors, including the likes of Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach, St Pete Beach and Clearwater Beach (and, yes, there are a LOT of Beaches in the Sunshine State!). It all adds up to a compelling mix of seaside splendour.

But there is also the quieter side, the one less visited but equally enjoyable; perhaps even more so due to the relative level of crowds. True, most beaches still draw plenty of visitors at the weekend, when the locals come out to play, but visit during the week and you can usually find places with plenty of elbow room and all the amenities that go with it.

Places like New Smyrna Beach, which is easy to get to on the eastern coast and offers some exciting history and artwork to go with its beachy bliss. So, settle back and let us take you on a full tour of this fascinating destination and all that it has in store for visitors.

New Where Beach?

Yes, it’s an odd name, but there’s a good reason for it. As surprising as it may sound, this is actually the second oldest colonial settlement in Florida, behind only St Augustine (1565) as a Sunshine State original. The fact is, New Smyrna Beach was founded by an intrepid Scotsman by the name of Dr Andrew Turnbull in 1768.

Turnbull, with the full financial backing of George III, recruited 1,400 settlers from various parts of the Mediterranean, believing they would make an ideal indentured workforce for his grand plan of establishing an agricultural colony based on growing indigo, rice, corn, sugar and cotton. Sadly, the colony failed to survive several years of drought, disease and malnutrition, and it faded into obscurity, but the name survived. And that name was created in honour of Turnbull’s wife, Gracia Maria, who hailed from the ancient Greek city of Smyrna in Turkey (today’s Izmir). So, welcome to the Greek-Turkish corner of Florida!

In truth there is nothing overtly Greek or Turkish about this pretty town and its 17 miles of unbroken, beautiful beachfront, but it does have plenty of authentic Floridian charm, as well as great dining and shopping opportunities, and its history is quite startling, which gives it an extra dimension when it comes to spending time here. It’s also very straightforward to find, heading east on motorway I-4 to exit 118 for State Road 44, then east for a further 19 miles and you’re there.

Start with the history

You will initially arrive in the heart of downtown New Smyrna Beach, on Canal Street, which is still a couple of miles from the beach itself, but do stop here, and not just for the tempting New Smyrna Beach Brewing Company! The cute little New Smyrna Museum of History will only take an hour of your time and is free to enter, but it will give you the essential back-story to the area, including the full and graphic details of Dr. Turnbull’s ill-fated colony.

Once you have the lie of the land, so to speak, spend some time on Canal Street, where the shops are all originals and various artists are in residence, notably at the superb Hub on Canal, a colony of the modern artistic kind that is well worth browsing. Wild Oats and Billy Goats has some wonderful comic touches in its art gallery, sharing space with the Little Griddle breakfast/lunch diner in a highly unusual mash-up, while The Posh Pineapple is a notable trendy boutique and gift shop. But you’ll also find plenty of other galleries and curiosities along the way.

There’s also more history to discover, including a quite remarkable story at the nearby Sugar Mill Ruins on Mission Drive, which is on the US Registry of Historic Places. The grand Cruger-DePeyster Plantation was built in 1830 but, just five years later, it was attacked and burnt by local tribes in the Second Seminole Wars, leaving just the walls intact. Today, it stands as mute testament to that era of the state’s seamier side, but is well worth seeing. You can also go further back in state history at the Turtle Mound archaeological site just nine miles south of New Smyrna Beach. The largest shell midden in the US, it dates back to 1000BC and is the last remaining large-scale evidence of the Timucua people who lived here until the Spanish arrived.

Lunch and beach

You will definitely want to have lunch along Canal Street as the choices here are some of the best along the coast. In the space of just a few hundred yards you can sample the eclectic sandwich world of Yellow Dog Eats, Café Del Soul (delicious wraps, rice bowls, salads and sandwiches), Beachin’ Burritos, the diner style of Jason’s Corner, the coffee, chocolates and ice cream of Shebeen, the General Public House, the Tiki-bar vibe of Jimmy Hula’s, City Market Bistro, and, our favourite, the smart-casual Corkscrew Bar & Grille, with its Southern comfort food menu and elegant indoor/outdoor dining spaces.

Then it’s time for the beach, and that means Flagler Avenue, or just The Avenue as the locals call it. This is flip-flop central as far as this part of the coast is concerned, a lively, bustling, half-mile-long string of shops, boutiques, galleries and bars that is the essence of Florida beach culture. This is where surfers come to strut their stuff and the party crowd settles in for the evening; casual shoppers stroll through the arts and crafts; and families come for a memorable day on the beach, with easy access and several miles of wide, open sands to choose from. Ready for an ice cream? Take your pick from the decadent Treats on the Beach and Beachside Candy Co.

It’s also ideal for dinner at the end of the day, with more than 20 options for a drink and a meal, from the iconic beach hangout of The Breakers Oceanfront Restaurant & Bar to the rooftop splendour of Avenu on Flagler, and from the madcap bar style of Peanuts (where their comedy auction – every Tuesday from 7pm – has to be seen to be believed!) to the refined elegance of The Grille at Riverview, where you can dine with sunset views over the Indian River, part of Florida’s extensive intracoastal waterway.

Visit the Dunes

If you really want to be like the locals, you can also drive right on to the beach, find somewhere to park, and set out your stall for the day. It costs $30, payable at one of the beach entry points (including one right at the end of Flagler Avenue). Or head to Smyrna Dunes Park, a beautifully tranquil 184-acre beach park on the northern tip of New Smyrna, boasting a beautiful 1.5-mile-long disabled-accessible boardwalk with impressive views of the Atlantic and across the inlet to the famous Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. It costs $20 to park, but that’s good for all day, and you can leave and return as you wish.

You don’t have to follow all our tips and advice for visiting the area, but we definitely recommend you give the area a try at some stage on your next visit to Orlando. Find out more at www.visitnsbfl.com.

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