LowestTravelDeals.com provides
any kind of Daytona Beach lodging from luxury 5-star hotels to
affordable B&B's and discount motels. Our search system provides
a wide variety of options to provide you with the best Daytona
Beach hotel deals and rates in a secure and instant transaction.
We guarantee you will find the right Daytona Beach accommodation
that fits your travel vacation.
The consummate Florida beach town, with its T-shirt
shops, amusement arcades and wall-to-wall motels, DAYTONA
BEACH owes its existence to twenty miles of light brown
sand where the only pressure is to strip off and enjoy yourself.
Life in this down-to-earth resort now revolves around three major
festivals: February's Daytona 500, Bike Week
in early March, and the relatively new Biketoberfest .
Pioneering auto enthusiasts, including Louis Chevrolet,
Ransom Olds and Henry Ford, came to Daytona's firm sands in the
early 1900s to race prototype vehicles beside the ocean. The land
speed record was smashed five times by the British millionaire
Malcolm Campbell who, in 1935, roared along at 276mph. When high
speeds made racing on the sands unsafe, the Daytona International
Speedway was built three miles west of downtown along
International Speedway Boulevard (buses #9A and #9B).
Opened in 1959, it seats 150,000 and hosts several
major race meetings each year, starting in early February with
the Rolex 24 , a 24-hour race for GT prototype
sports cars. A week or so later the qualifying races start for
the year's biggest event, the Daytona 500 stock-car
race in mid-February. Tickets sell out well in advance (a weekend
package from $220; tel 904/253-7223); book accommodation at least
six months ahead. Though they can't capture the excitement of
a race, guided van tours (daily except race days
9.30am-5pm, every half-hour; $6) take you around the remarkable
curves, whose gradients make this the fastest racetrack in the
world.
Immediately outside the Speedway, Daytona
USA (daily 9am-7pm; $12) exhibits one of Campbell's many
Bluebirds, the car in which he broke the land speed record at
Ormond Beach in 1931, as well as interactive displays on the great
races. A mile west, the Klassix Auto Museum at
2909 W International Speedway Blvd (daily 9am-6pm; $8.50) displays
pristine examples of every Corvette design from 1953 on, plus
vintage motorcycles and a 1938 Woody Wagon that boasts a top speed
of 50mph.
For all the excitement that racing generates, the
best thing about Daytona is the seemingly limitless beach: 500ft
wide at low tide and fading dreamily into the heat haze.
