Last updated on September 8th, 2025 at 11:52 am
The best Florida beach towns are cozy and quaint, reflecting an Old Florida ambience, and they are often more affordable than our resort epicenters.
Each of these beach havens has its own special charms. To me, they are all No. 1.
Pass-A-Grille on St. Petersburg Beach
Like any worthy beach town, Pass-A-Grille is hard to find unless you are looking for it.
Head south along St. Petersburg’s coast, past the proudly pink and historic Don CeSar Hotel.
Pass-a-Grille has more cute bungalows than mansions or hotels, and there are no condo towers.
The core of the town is on the National Register of Historic Places, a block wide, surrounded by water with a broad beach on the Gulf side.
Still patching up after Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, Pass-a-Grille’s cluster of restaurants, art galleries, historic inns, beach houses and bungalows are coming back to life.
Favorite restaurants include the beachfront Paradise Inn, the Hurricane Seafood Restaurant’s rooftop bar and dining on the second floor balcony at Brass Monkey. The Paradise Grille offers food, beverages and live music right on the sand of the beach.
A beach vibe runs throughout the town, and there’s a sense of isolation because of the lack of through traffic — Pass-A-Grille is a dead end at the bottom of St. Pete Beach.
What’s nearby? Fort De Soto Park, which boasts a popular county-run campground and one of the state’s premier beaches, is a short drive or bike ride away off the Pinellas Bayway. Take the Shell Key Shuttle (ferry) to an undeveloped barrier island notable for shelling and birding at the mouth of Tampa Bay, accessible only by boat. Here’s what folks say about Pass-A-Grille on TripAdvisor
How to get there: From Interstate 275, take the Pinellas Bayway (toll) all the way west to the pink Don CeSar Hotel and turn left.
Guide to Pass-a-Grille from Florida Rambler.
New Smyrna Beach on the Atlantic Coast
I have spent a lot of time in this charming beachside village over the years. My family owned a house here for more than 40 years. Both my grandparents and parents retired here. In all that time, it really has changed much.
There are two “downtowns,” and both deliver oodles of historic charm. Beachside along Flagler Avenue, an area known as Coronado, you’ll find the surf shops, restaurants and art galleries in small cottages that give New Smyrna Beach its charm.
As the ocean end of Flagler Avenue, a ramp takes you right out onto the beach. Drive north past Smyrna Dunes Park to the inlet jetty, where surfers congregate.
Two precautions here: When you get to the jetty, don’t park in the soft sand. You will get stuck.
And stay out of the water here. This is the section of beach earning New Smyrna its reputation as shark-bite capitol of Florida.
It’s much safer to swim near the main beach off Flagler Avenue. This is where you’ll find most of the action, anyway, with its boardwalk and landmark oceanfront bars, The Breakers and Toni and Joe’s.
Also on Flagler, spend a few nights at the historic Riverview Hotel or the Inn on the Avenue.
What’s nearby: Six miles south of Flagler Avenue is the north entrance to Canaveral National Seashore and tiny Bethune Beach, which is steeped in Black history and home to JB’s Fish Camp. Here’s what folks say on TripAdvisor.
Getting there: Take State Road 44 east from the New Smyrna exit (249) off Interstate 95. After crossing the bridge and causeway to the beach side (SR A1A), turn left towards Flagler Avenue, or curve south past the row of motels and condominiums towards Canaveral National Seashore.
Guide to New Smyrna Beach from Florida Rambler.
Cocoa Beach near Cape Canaveral
There are two Cocoa Beaches.
The Cocoa Beach everybody knows is the touristy section with high-rise hotels, the fishing pier jutting into the ocean and the legendary Ron Jon Surf Shop.
But a little farther south, about four miles, is the historic town center, known by locals as “Coconuts Beach.”
Here you’ll find a small cluster of Old Florida beach bars and restaurants, art galleries and beach shops surrounded by mom-and-pop motels and a half-dozen surfing schools, including Surfet for women and NexGen for kids.
Cocoa Beach, after all, is Florida’s surfing capitol, and this neighborhood anchored around the Minuteman Causeway is where it all began back in the 1950’s and ’60s.
Walking out to the beach here is a rite of passage between two notorious watering holes — Coconuts on the Beach with its sprawling outdoor deck and bikini parade, and the Beach Shack, a dive bar that favors locals.
Street parking is scarce in this section of Cocoa Beach, but a new parking garage at 25 S. Orlando Ave. (Southbound A1A) adds 241 spaces.
Get a room at a nearby mom-and-pop motel and walk wherever you need to go. Everything you need is within a few blocks.
What’s nearby: The Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveeral National Seashore are all about 20 miles north of Cocoa Beach.
How to get there: I-95 Exit 201 onto State Road 520, then east to the pier beach area with its cluster of hotels and tourist shops. Turn right onto State Road A1A and go four miles to the historic downtown. Note: Cocoa Beach is not the same as mainland Cocoa or eclectic Cocoa Village.
Guide to Cocoa Beach from Florida Rambler.
Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast
It’s a surprise and a delight to find places like this still around – a low-rise beach town where a few quaint cottages survive in a largely residential community. It’s a low-key place. There are no high-rises, few chain restaurants, or other signs that paradise has been lost.
The beaches here are as outstanding as you can find in Florida. The sand is powdery and blindingly white; it squeaks when you walk on it. You can find seashells here, as well as spot dolphin right off shore. There are hundreds of shorebirds. The water is clear and aquamarine.
Anna Maria Island is seven miles long and there are three communities on it: Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and at the northern tip, the municipality of Anna Maria Island. It’s all lovely, but the island gets maybe a bit more charming in the upper section that is Anna Maria Island.
The island is connected to Bradenton on the mainland by two bridges. To the south, a bridge takes you to Longboat Key, and about 11 miles south, to Sarasota.
What’s nearby: Ten minutes east of Anna Maria Island on the Cortez Road, you’ll find the historic fishing village of Cortez. We’ve written a guide to Cortez. Cortez started as a rural community of fishing families in the 1890s. Descendants of those settlers still live here and there are still commercial fishing operations here, dating back many decades.
If you visit Cortez, tour the small, free Florida Maritime Museum and wander a neighborhood of historic cottages. The best thing to do, though, is eat seafood at a classic Florida fish shack. Our favorite is the Star Fish restaurant, which is tied a seafood wholesale company founded in the 1920s.
How to get there: Anna Maria Island is an hour south of Tampa or a 20-minute drive due west from Bradenton, accessible from I-75 (Exit 220).
Guide to Anna Maria Island from Florida Rambler.
Grayton Beach in the Panhandle
A tiny village tucked into towering dunes and coastal lakes, Grayton Beach has lots of cred as one of Florida’s best little beach towns.
Grayton Beach State Park, which wraps around this beachside jewel, was named No. 1 beach in America in 2020 by Dr. Beach. How’s that for beach-town credentials?
The beach village is at the center of a 20-mile-long (32 km) string of coastal dune lakes, a rare natural phenomena found in only a handful of locations around the world.
Grayton Beach is accessible from the Panhandle’s “Scenic 30A”, and your cue to turn towards the beach village is a commercial pocket of art galleries, restaurants (try A.J.’s) and retail shops known as The Shops of Grayton.
Follow Defuniak Street into the village and explore its eclectic mix of cottages and sand-swept streets to the beach. A must stop is the iconic Red Bar at the beach.
It is here where you will find a fun selection of vacation rentals, family-owned motels, or book a campsite or cottage in adjacent Grayton Beach State Park.
What’s nearby? The colorful beachside communities of Watercolor and Seaside are three miles east, and Destin, another popular, though more developed Panhandle destination, is 20 miles west. Here’s what folks say on TripAdvisor
How to get there: Just off Scenic Highway 30a, a loop road running parallel U.S. 98 in South Walton County.
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea on the Atlantic Coast
When you arrive in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, your first reaction might be: “Where am I?”
South Florida’s beach towers suddenly stop here in deference to a row of old-fashioned, low-rise mom-and-pop motels, extending north and south of a colorful little village of beach shops, galleries and cafes.
You are in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, not to be confused with iconic Fort Lauderdale to its south.
Here you can get a reasonably priced room on the beach in a two-story family-run motel with a pool and a path to golden sands dotted with palm trees. An inviting beach, to be sure.
An off-shore reef invites divers and snorkelers to paddle out in kayaks or SUP and explore a sunken shipwreck or net a spiny lobster for dinner.
In the center of town is Anglin’s fishing pier, which is still partially closed due to hurricane damage.
At the foot of the pier, I have often enjoyed breakfast or lunch on the patio of Anglin’s Beach Cafe, a light breeze brushing past while we enjoyed the ocean view. (The cafe is open even though the pier is closed.)
Maybe you’d prefer the popular Aruba Beach Cafe next to the town’s beach pavilion.
Other top rated restaurants within a block or two of the ocan are Even Keel Fish Shack and Billy Jack’s Shack.
Nearby, the venerable Sea Watch restaurant is just north of town on State Road A1A, one of the best seafood restaurants in South Florida. Drive 5 miles south to Fort Lauderdale’s famous Strip for a beer at the world-famous Elbo Room. West on Commercial Blvd., DRV PNK Stadium hosts major league soccer.
How to get there: From Interstate 95, take the Commercial Boulevard (exit 32) 6.5 miles east to the beach.
Flagler Beach near St. Augustine
The central pier has anchored this classic Florida beach town for 80 years, rebuilt many times after violent storms. (Alas, it’s currently being rebuilt after a 2022 hurricane.)
The village green across the street was once the front yard of a grand hotel and is now surrounded by quaint cafes, unique boutiques, gift shops, antique stores, City Hall and side streets take you further down memory lane, where many buildings date to the 1920s, their stories told at the Flagler Beach Museum, just off the square behind City Hall.
Flagler Beach dates back to 1915, when it was known as Ocean City. The name was changed to honor railroad boss Henry Flagler, who laid track all the way down the coast to Miami, and then to Key West.
The town’s beach houses are modest cottages for the most part, more than a few years old, and some have added patios for instant conversions to beachfront businesses. Bright colors give these home-grown beach businesses an island feel.
The broad, flat beach looks like it was sprinkled with cinnamon. The coral color comes from coquina, a soft rock made of ancient marine reefs and limestone that was used to build historic Castillo San Marco in St. Augustine, 30 minutes away.
In winter, the rare North Atlantic Right Whale migrates south and seeks refuge in the waters off this beach to mate. Whale-watching is especially fruitful in January and February.
What’s nearby? More beaches. Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area is south of town. It’s a small state park, but its half-mile of orange sand beach is pristine with 34 RV camp sites behind the dunes and another 34 sites on the river side of the 145-acre park. Just south of Gamble Rogers you’ll find another three miles of pristine beachfront in North Peninsula State Park.
How to get there: Take I-95 Exit 284 and go east to State Road A1A. It’s worth noting that Flagler Beach is the closest exit to any beach from Maine to Miami.
Read Florida Rambler’s Guide to Flagler Beach, whale of an Old Florida beach town
Love it, Will be in Florida for months on Hutchinson Island. Enjoy all beach life and would like any recommendations.
Here are two stories you might like, Frank: Barefoot on Hutchinson Island and Historic Fort Pierce.
Hello Bob, Thank you for including “Coconuts Beach” in Cocoa Beach!! We now have a parking garage so parking has improved and we hope you will come back and see us again!!
Thanks, Pamela for the heads up. I found the garage on Google and will add that note to the story.
We thought we knew most every beach in Florida but you enlightened us to some new places to check out. We would have included Anna Maria Island beach and Fernandina Beach for sure in your article. Also maybe Flagler Beach because it is the epitome of old Florida. I would no longer include Fort Myers beach since they widened the road and cut down all million palms a few years ago. The comment above about Summer Haven is obviously biased local for sure, we live nearby and that is just a community with no facilities. Keep up the good work!!!
Fort DeSoto is an amazing beach. I stay at a condo for a few nights down the street from the beach called Holiday Island located on Pinellas Bayway S on Tierra Verde right where the beach is located. Super nice 2 bedroom 2 bath with boat docks, pool, fitness room it’s awesome. Priced Very reasonable! I love it there!
We love Fort DeSoto. It’s a beach with a campground, not a beach town. On the other hand, nearby Pass-A-Grill, a small, classic Florida town with a beach, meets the criteria we set for this article. (I also love Tierra Verde, and one of my favorite restaurants anywhere is Billy’s.)
Love Billy’s chopped salad! I also loved Tony & Nellos huge Italian portions. I dream about their food! Uhhum, yes Pass-a-Grill! Cute little quaint town with the best breakfast place, The Seahorse. I gotta get back there!
“From Interstate 275, take the Pinellas Bayway (toll) all the way east to the pink Don CeSar Hotel and turn left.”
I haven’t been there in many moons, but I believe one goes WEST on the Pinellas Bayway :-)
You are absolutely right about that! Fixed. Thanks for catching. Us east-coasters get twisted when we write about the west coast.:-)
Sorry to be a pill. I used to work as a typesetter; these things jump out at me :-)
During the early-to-mid 70s, my parents and I vacationed many summers at what was then the El Sirata on St. Pete Beach. At that time the Don CeSar was an abandoned military hospital (I think). My dad always said that some enterprising soul with a few bucks would eventually buy it up and turn it into a luxury something (hotel or apartments).
No problem! We appreciate readers who let us know about mistakes so we can correct them. Even editors need editors. Thank you! :-)
What about Manasota Key/Englewood Beach? Definitely an old Florida beach town!
@Pelican Shores Dock House,
Totally agree!
While Manasota Key was not included in this story, we do love that area and have written about it here:
https://www.floridarambler.com/beaches/florida-barrier-islands/
Hi Lee,
We only write about these places. We are not innkeepers. But at your request, I will add links to accommodations for each destination. Check back tomorrow and read this story again.
— Bob Rountree, publisher
I think that America’s oldest city with St. Augustine Beach falls in this category. I’ve owned a beach rental there for 10 years and everyone tells me they didn’t know little beach towns like that existed in Florida! No high rise hotels and just a handful of chain hotels.
Hi Rhonda,
St. Augustine Beach was on our original list, but I didn’t feel I could write about it intelligently, having never explored the town. I was there once for lunch with friends at the awesome Jack’s BBQ. I definitely got a sense of the town but didn’t explore it. I promise I will go back and write about it.
— Bob Rountree
My husband and I are both from Baltimore, Maryland. We have lived in Florida since 2006, in the suburbs of Ft Lauderdale on the east coast and on the fabulous Sarasota barrier island, Longboat Key, on the west coast. My husband retired in 2019 and decided to join me in a real estate career. We decided to settle in an oceanfront condo in Lauderdale by the Sea. We love it here and would love to share it with you. Check out our website ( http://www.TeamLoden.com ) or call us for more information. (941 822-9563). Happy beaching, Margie and Rick Loden, Realtors
I think you missed one of the best!!! Summer Haven in St. Augustine.
I’d love you to stay in my guest house and review one of Florida’s most beautiful, full of history, undeveloped natural areas.
Peacefully, blissfully happy in Summer Haven, Priscilla
Where can I get some information on your guest house?
could you send me information on your guest house