Daytona Beach Spot Guide

Continuing south, we get to the opposite of Flagler and Ormond Beach's laid-back atmosphere: Daytona Beach, home to the Daytona 500, Bike Week, spring break and about every other high-speed drunken tourist attraction in the state. Needless to say, Daytona Beach can be an extreme zoo, and if you go there during one of the aforementioned festivals, between February and April, you may be in for a shock. Sometimes, traffic will stand still for hours. During these times, take I-95 and avoid Daytona altogether. In fact, some of the surf shops even close down because the bikers and spring breakers in this crowd don't surf, and they bring all foot traffic to a halt. Call one of the surf shops, because they known when it's coming.

Keep heading south and you'll see the Main Street Pier -- Daytona's go-to spot. The north side is called Pier Bowls and works best on southeast and east swells, when it can get hollow with long rights. On the other side of the pier is where you want to be on south swells; it can get mechanical and occasionally hollow when the right elements come together. The vibe isn't too bad at the pier, even with the crowd. You can also watch people bungee jump from the lineup -- welcome to Daytona.