The Quiet South Side of Daytona, FL

During our stay in Daytona Beach Shores, we found some fun, family-friendly activities that all of us enjoyed. They were all reasonably priced or free!

First on our list was the beach. The beach in Daytona Beach Shores is absolutely amazing! You can walk for miles and enjoy a stroll along the shore while watching the seabirds scurry around. The water was warm, the people were friendly, and the views were incredible!

We enjoyed finding all sorts of treasures on the shore, too. In addition to the seabirds, we found shells, coquina clams, and even a Portuguese Man O’War. The Man O’War are beautiful and one of the prettiest shades of blue, but seriously, please do NOT touch them as their stings can be incredibly painful!!!

The sunrises were definitely worth the early morning wake up. We watched the sun rise slowly and peacefully as we enjoyed the quiet beauty. It was also such a neat experience to see the full moon over the ocean.

No trip to the quiet south side of Daytona would be complete without a visit to the Marine Science Center. We visited a few years ago, and were excited to see the changes from their recent renovation. We always enjoy feeding and petting the stingrays! It’s so neat to touch these smooth, silky, sea-pancakes. (Yes, that’s really a name for them!) 😄

The aquariums were filled with the most delightful sights! My favorite was the seahorse tank. It was interesting and educational to see the volunteers feed them and give us a lesson on the life of a seahorse. Did you know that the male seahorses actually give birth? They are part of the only family where the female transfers the eggs to the male. They are then fertilized and carried until the male delivers the babies. This unique technique is only carried out by seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons. So cool! There were also aquariums that housed different species of fish and another where we learned about Bio-flourescence.

While we were there, we went to see the sea turtle hospital. According to their website https://www.marinesciencecenter.com/conservation, “Since opening in 2002, the sea turtle hospital at the Marine Science Center has cared for nearly 1,500 juvenile and adult sea turtles; more than 20,000 hatchlings and washbacks; and nearly 1,700 gopher tortoises, freshwater turtles and snakes.” There were some turtles recuperating in the tanks that we were able to view, and it was heartwarming to see them receive such wonderful care. There is also a bird hospital on site, and it was nice to walk through it to see the birds that are receiving treatment. All birds that are fully recovered are released back into the wild to live free.

As of May 2026, the prices on the Marine Science Center website are:

Seniors (50 +) – $7.00
Adults (13 and over) – $8.00
Youth (3 – 12) – $5.00
Youth 2 and under – FREE

If you’re in the area, the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse & Museum is right by the Marine Science Center, and makes for an incredible way to spend the day. We didn’t stop by on this trip, but we enjoyed our time when we explored the lighthouse and grounds the last time we visited Ponce Inlet.

Have you ever heard of Bongoland? It was new to us, too! We found out about it when we visited the Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens in Port Orange. Not only does the Sugar Mill Gardens have an historic mill that produced sugar and molasses, there is also a beautiful botanical garden, and the remains of Bongoland. It’s free to visit and explore, but donations are always appreciated.

The first place at Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens we ventured to was the Butterfly Garden. There were quite a few unique flowers that captured our attention. We also enjoyed testing the human sundial, which was surprisingly very accurate!

As we walked through more fanciful flowers, we made our way to the old sugar mill. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the sugar mill and see the equipment they used to make sugar and molasses. The cane press and processing equipment was much larger than we expected, and it was in really good condition. It made for an enjoyable and educational history lesson! In fact, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1973.

Back in roughly 1948, there was an amusement park called Bongoland on the property. It had concrete dinosaurs, a train, animals, and a baboon named Bongo. Unfortunately, it closed in approximately 1952. As we strolled through the park, we made sure to stop and find the remaining dinosaurs. They were really neat to see and it felt a bit like a Jurassic Park adventure! It would have been very fun to have visited while Bongoland was still open. It’s a great idea for a theme park and we thought the dinosaurs we saw were pretty cool!

If you visit the Daytona Beach area, we hope you have fun exploring these reasonably priced (or free) places as much as we did. You can find our full YouTube Vlog by clicking the photo below or the link here: South Daytona Beach: The Ultimate Family Getaway!

We hope you enjoyed traveling along with us!

If you’d like to keep exploring, you can find more family travel adventures here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TravelingwiththeTrapps
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@travelingwiththetrapps

We’ve also shared videos on our YouTube channel to complement this post and bring the experience to life.

Thanks so much for traveling with us, and stay tuned for more adventures with Traveling with the Trapps.

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