Playalinda Beach
Titusville, FL
Playalinda Beach is the southern anchor of Canaveral National Seashore, 24 miles of undeveloped Atlantic coast that's the longest stretch of protected barrier island beach left in Florida. Rocket launches from the nearby Kennedy Space Center are visible right from the sand, and a string of numbered parking areas spreads visitors out along miles of dune rather than concentrating them at one entrance.
24 miles of genuinely undeveloped Atlantic coast this close to a major metro area is rare anywhere in the country, though the entrance fee and total lack of shade are real costs of it staying this wild.
How we score beachesCheck the park's website before heading out, access sometimes closes entirely around rocket launches for safety reasons and reopens once the pad clears. Parking lot 1, closest to the entrance, tends to be the calmest and least crowded of the numbered lots strung along the road.
The entrance fee is 25 dollars per vehicle, 20 dollars for a motorcycle, 15 dollars for pedestrians, cyclists, or large non-commercial vehicle occupants, good for a week and valid at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge too. Numbered lots spread parking out along the full length of the beach.
Boardwalks cross the dunes from each numbered lot to the sand, generally short and manageable. There's very little shade anywhere along this stretch, worth planning around.
Dogs aren't allowed on the beach or boardwalks anywhere in the seashore, though leashed pets are welcome on the lagoon side trails and multi-use paths.
Spring and fall bring the most comfortable temperatures for a beach with almost no shade, while summer's heat and hurricane season, June through November, make midday visits tougher. Rocket launch schedules matter as much as weather for planning a trip here.
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