Loading ...Beaches Florida USA Travel
Florida Beaches. There are a lot of beaches to choose from in Florida. The state is surrounded by ocean on three sides and has over 800 miles of beach front with thousands of miles of additional shoreline on the many bays and inlets. As is common along most of the eastern coast of the US, the Florida beaches are usually located on long narrow islands or sand bars separated from the mainland by back bays or salt water marshes. The beaches are usually accessible via long bridges or causeways.
It would be impractical to describe every beach in Florida, so we will limit this page to some general descriptions. The beaches can be categorized into three general locations: the Atlantic beaches, the Gulf Coast beaches and the Florida Keys.
The Atlantic Coast beaches on the eastern shores of the state offer the best surf and attract the most tourists. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Daytona and Jacksonville are the most popular. They offer high rise hotels, nightspots, and plenty of tourist diversions. If you seek excitement, entertainment and nightlife these are good beaches for you. If you want more sedate accommodations, you might prefer Cocoa beach or the Saint Augustine area.
The Gulf Coast beaches on the western coast offer warmer, calmer waters and great sunsets. Clearwater beach, just outside the Tampa - Saint Petersburg area, is the only highly commercialized beach on the Gulf coast. The remaining beaches tend to attract more full time residents and “snow birds” or visitors seeking to escape the usual tourist crowds.
The Florida keys, as they call the archipelago of tropical isles that stretch more than a hundred miles south of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico, offer some unique beaches. They are extremely shallow with rough coral bottoms and calm crystal clear water. It is possible to wade out hundreds of meters from shore in the shallow waters and watch the colorful fishes swim around your feet. Snorkeling and fishing are the favorite activities in the keys.
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