Would you recommend Cocoa Beach?

[minnie2000]

We will be staying near WDW in July, and are considering spending a day at Cocoa Beach. I have found some information on the internet, but really want to ask, if it's a nice place, if it's safe, if it's a good place to spend a day? We don't want to lie on the beach really, we would walk, maybe swim, look around the town and get some lunch. There seems to be plenty of car parking. Any suggestions about what we should do there? Nice places to eat? We wouldn't want a formal lunch, just a nice relaxed place with sandwiches and cold drinks.

 

[SAV]

We always head to Clearwater Beach on the Gulf side. White Sand beaches and warm water. Parking was just raised this year, but for a day trip it isn't a big deal.

 

[deanaandrich]

We live 10 minutes from Cocoa Beach. It is safe and a great place to walk the beach. I wouldn't recommend the pier. You can always go to Jetty Park. There's a nice picnic area, playground and the beach is real nice. You can walk out on the jetty and look for sea turtles. Port Canaveral is where you want to go for lunch. Plenty of restaurants- The locals go to Grills. If you are there later in the day you can watch the cruise ships go by. There are Segway tours from Ron Jon Resort that are fun. There isn't much to see driving around. You can of course go to Ron Jon and easily spend some time and money there. If you want a less crowded beach, head south to Patrick Air Force Base.

 

[minnie2000]

Thanks SAV, we went to Clearwater some years ago and liked it, but wanted to try somewhere else.

Deanaandrich - thank you, that sounds great. I love the idea about looking for sea turtles, and the segway tours sound fun. Why wouldn't you recommend the pier?

 

[deanaandrich]

The pier is just run down. I heard there is a new company taking it over so hopefully they will make some positive changes. It's nice to go to the end of the pier but there are so many better restaurants to go to than the ones there. Plus you are just getting tourist prices. There is a lot of action around the pier if you want to people watch. BTW there is free parking near Ron Jon's and some other areas if you look like Lori Wilson Park. The side streets take quarters. Jetty park is a few dollars.

 

[HakunaMatata89]

i lived in Cocoa Beach for 4 years. besides the beach there isn't much to do honestly. I would reccommend trying to do a NASA tour though if you are into that sort of stuff. The port has a few restaurants on the water that are good for a meal while enjoying the weather - Fishlips, Grills and i can't remember the other two. Grills is a tiki bar type atmosphere but i enoy the food and it is very cheap. We usually would eat at grilles once a week when i wasn't deployed. Jetty park is neat to go and hang out at too. And of course checking out Ron Jons surf shop

I reccommend stopping in Melbourne they have a small zoo Brevard Zoo. cheap cost experience and can take up a few hours of the day.

Cococa beach is more of a beach town though.

 

[DaveN1996]

Every trip down we make our extra drive out to Cocoa to get our Ron Jons shirt for the year...

 

[tightywhitey]

I like Indie-Altantic beach around Melbourne.