Rebecca Miles: Hello, and welcome to Charitable Travel’s Travel Insider Podcast. My name’s Rebecca Miles, and I’m a travel journalist and the host of this podcast series that’s otherwise known as TIPs.

Today, we aim to not just give you lots of great travel tips, but we also want to transport you from wherever you are right now, perhaps you’re walking through the park or maybe you’re squashed into a crowded commuter train, to a place that will inspire you. Today we’re traveling to Daytona Beach on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, just under an hour’s drive northeast of Orlando and an hour south of historic St. Augustine, Daytona is one of the closest beaches to Orlando.

Yet the first thing that most likely comes to mind for Daytona is fast cars. The Daytona International Speedway is a huge deal here but explore beyond the track and you’ll find a lively city with 23 miles of white sand beaches at its heart. Loved by residents and visitors alike, the waterfront, its boardwalk, and all the possible activities are a natural focal point from which to explore the city’s science, arts, and foodie scenes. And at the heart of that foodie scene is Rose Villa restaurant. Built in the late 1800s, the ornate building plays homage to much of Daytona’s history and is currently successfully run by Patrick Sullivan, born and bred in Daytona, and one of the guests on today’s podcast.

Joining Pat is Andrew Booth, director of Communications at Daytona Beach. Andrew’s office is on the Halifax River that runs just behind the beach, so he’s in the ideal spot to share lots of local knowledge. So, let’s hand things over to the pair of them to tell us more about what we should include on a visit Daytona on our next holiday stateside.

Well, thanks so much for joining us, pat and Andrew now, Andrew, let’s turn to you first. Can you set the scene for us? You’re in downtown Daytona, aren’t you? What’s on your doorstep, please?

Andrew Booth: Yeah, that’s correct. The Daytona Beach CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) offices are located here in downtown Daytona Beach, off of the Halifax River, the intercoastal waterway and Beach Street.

So, there’s a lot of great places to visit for visitors who come to the area right around our offices. Right across the street from my office is the Jackie Robertson ballpark and statue. It’s the home to the Daytona Tortugas, the class A minor league baseball affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds.

But historically, Jackie Robinson Ballpark is the site of Jackie Robinson’s first professional baseball game back in 1946. Also located here off of Beach Street is the Halifax Historical Museum. Great music, great dining spots, a riverfront Esplanade, which is a mile of Intercoastal Waterway Park, it’s a premier gathering space, a botanical garden right here in the heart of Daytona Beach. And it’s got comfortable beaches, swings, all overlooking the Halifax River. It’s a dog park agility course and, it’s just a great place to visit and relax. The north end of the park is open, the south end will open later this year.

So that’s kind of the area around my offices and of course, just across the Halifax River is where the Atlantic Ocean and the beaches are located at.

Rebecca: Now, this 23-mile stretch of beach that you’ve got sounds absolutely incredible. How do visitors and residents make the most of it?

Andrew: The one thing that the beaches here in Daytona Beach have is accessibility. We have designated on beach parking zones as well as, convenient coastal parking areas. So, it’s easy to get to the beach and to enjoy it.

We have, 500 feet wide expansive shorelines at low tide, so plenty of space to enjoy the beach, to relax, to just sit in the chair and enjoy the sun. Or if you want to be more active, you can go paddle boarding, fishing, surfing, jet skiing, there’s just a number of activities you can do on the beach. The beaches really are our top attraction here in Daytona.

Rebecca: It’s just that, that I can’t get over how wide it is. That sounds in incredible. And I guess then as well, there must be so many different sections. If you do want to be more active, there’s space to do that. If you do just want to chill out, you’ve got space for everything, is that right?

Andrew: Yeah, that’s correct. Probably more in the centre of Daytona Beach is where you’ll find more people traffic, but, down by the sea or Ormond Beach or Daytona Beach shores, you’ll find more elbow room for sure. And what makes our beaches unique too is that the sand is hard-packed into the ground. So, it’s great for walking or running. And again, that’s why we’re able to have cars on the beach as well. That’s kind of what makes the, the beach so unique. And to kind of go back to that expansive shoreline, that 500 feet at low tide. There’s just lots of room to do things.

Rebecca: Now you mentioned having cars on the beach. What does that entail?

Andrew: Oh, we have, I think it’s around 11, out of the 23 miles. It’s about 11 or 12 miles that you’re able to drive on the beach or park on the beach. So, it depends on what your fancy is. But again, we also have these parks that are scattered along A1A where you can just park your car there and that’s free of charge and you can just walk out to the beach and all those parks also have like, grilling tables and you’re able to take, showers there as well. So, just a lot of resources there.

Rebecca: Fantastic. Um, pat, how about you? So, you are at Rose Villa in Ormand Beach. What’s, describe to us, what’s your neighbourhood like?

Patrick Sullivan: Well, Bec, thank you very much for having us today. The wide beaches here in Ormond is what gave Ormond Beach the name, the birthplace of speed.

Back at the turn of the last century, cars from all over the world would come here to the sands of Ormond Beach to do land speed records. In 1935, they moved to Utah, but one of England’s namesakes, Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the land speed record here in Ormond Beach eight times over that 25-year period. In the Bluebird, which was a 12-cylinder powered roll hose engine, fibreglass-bodied car assembled in England.

Here at the Rose Villa in Ormond and all around the Ormond Beach area, we become known for our culinary experiences. There’s 12 restaurants in the walkable area, close to the Intercoastal waterway here in Ormond from sushi to steak to fine dining Steakhouses to like, here we are at the Rose Villas Southern Fine Dining. To the Ormond Garage, which has many, many different types of, they have craft beer there as well. Frida’s, which is Mexican, 63 Sovereign, 31 Supper Club, Orman Garage, Kona and Grind. So there’s numerous restaurants here and all unique, no national chains here.

Bec: Oh brilliant, so if you’re into your food, basically base yourself in Ormond Beach

Pat: Yeah, we are foody-centric here and you can have the sea fair, there’s plenty of fresh seafood dining restaurants here in the Ormond Beach area, going all the way down to Ponce Inlet which is one of my favourite spots to drive down to.

Its home to the second tallest lighthouse in the United States and has about five or six different eateries right on the water. Andrew can probably expand on that a little bit more. It’s a little bit out of my neighbourhood, about 30 minutes south of here in Ormond Beach. Ormond Beach is located 10 minutes north of Daytona.

Bec: Okay, brilliant. All right, so Rose Villa, there is one of Daytona’s most historical buildings. Where else should people visit to learn more about Daytona’s roots?

Pat: Well, Daytona, the website for daytonabeach.com has great history about, the history of Daytona and Ormond in the entire area.
Ormond Beach was, at the turn of the last century, people weren’t going to South Florida as much. It was widely undeveloped. Ormond Beach was one of the last stopping points for some of the richest people in the United States. The Rockefellers, the Flaglers. Thomas Edison settled here for quite some time and many more like that. Henry Ford spent a lot of time here for the Ford Motor Company. So, Ormond Beach has some great history. Maybe Andrew could expand on where to find that information.

Bec: Oh, sure. I just mean as well though, if people are visiting and, on the ground, is it possible to take in like a walking tour or something like that? Which of the. and which of the sort of which are the sights that everyone must see?

Pat: Oh, oh geez. Here in Ormond Beach, we have the Casements was with John Rockefeller’s Winter Home. John Rockefeller at the time was the richest man in the world. He owned the standard oil company, and his winter estate is here right in Ormond.

The Three Chimneys, which is where molasses was distilled prior to prohibition. And much of the rum going into the United States was coming from right here in Florida.

Bec: Oh, I see, you’ve always been a bit, naughty, have you?

Pat: [Laughing] That’s the area. Yeah. We do have a reputation for that.

Bec: Sorry, you were going to say about down in Ponce Inlet and the lake down there.

Pat: Yeah, that’s, that’s one of my favourite spots because it’s so unique to Florida. It’s a small fishing village and if friends, if family wants to go down and take a fishing charter out of Ponce Inlet to go deep sea fishing, parasailing, like Andrew was saying earlier, kayaking, everything’s available that’s in Daytona on the southern end of the barrier island, which is Ponce Inlet.

Just a great day trip for anybody that’s visiting to the area, even anywhere in central Florida. Daytona’s only an hour away from anywhere.

Bec: Oh, that’s, yeah, that’s really useful to know actually, because it’s always handy to, it feels like Florida’s huge, but actually when you say about, when you say only an hour from, say Orlando or somewhere like that, that’s handy. Thank you. So, Andrew? Turning to you, the International Speedway is obviously a big deal in Daytona. Is it worth a visit, even if you’re not that big, a car racing fan?

Andrew: Oh, yeah, absolutely, Daytona National Speedway is a must-visit if you come to this destination. You do not want to go home and tell your friends and family that you came to Daytona Beach, and you did not see the Speedway.

So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a race fan or not. It’s a facility that you’re just not going to find anywhere else in the world. It’s 31 degrees on the high banks. It’s a 2.5-mile tri-oval. It seats over a 100,000 people. It also has a 3.56-mile road course.

It hosts several events throughout the year, beginning in January with the Rolex 24 at Daytona Sports Car Race, the DAYTONA 500 in February. It’s got motorcycle races, a summer stock car race, hosts Go-Kart races in December.

Bec: Oh wow.

Andrew: And they also have other events such as concerts and other different types of conventions and gatherings. But throughout the year they host daily track tours. So even if you come to Daytona Beach and there’s not an event going on at the Speedway, you can still see the facility by taking a daily track tour. And the track tour ends at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, which has a plethora of displays.

And the Speedway is also home to the DAYTONA 500 winning car every year. And that car is led directly from the victory lane to the Motorsport Hall of Fame Museum area, and the guests can see the actual winning DAYTONA 500 car. And that’s changed out every year. So, a lot to see and do at the Speedway.

And then right across the street from the Speedway is ONE DAYTONA, and that is a dining and entertainment complex. Lot of great restaurants, movie theatre, the Daytona, which is a Marriott signature hotel. So a lot to see and do over there as well. When you come to the Speedway area.

Bec: And is it, um, fairly easy to get tickets for events that are happening there, or do they tend to get booked up quite far in advance if visitors know when they’re going to be in Daytona.

Andrew: Well, it’s certainly great to, I certainly encourage visitors to make their plans early, but tickets are, they’re accessible. The DAYTONA 500 does traditionally sell out, the last year or two, it’s been selling out about a month ahead of time. But again, I encourage you to make your plans early as well as to secure hotels and accommodations and those kinds of things as well.

But it’s definitely a phenomenal experience. The DAYTONA 500. It was one of those sporting events that you have to see in person. It’s complete with a flyover and the pre-race ceremonies, two-and-a-half-mile race. The action is nonstop.

Bec: Yeah, definitely. That sounds incredible. There was one thing I just wanted to backtrack on a bit. You mentioned about Jackie Robinson ballpark, excuse my ignorance, I’m not a huge baseball fan, but, so for anyone else as well, can you tell us about Jackie Robinson? Because I feel like. Clearly a legend, I’d like to know a bit more about why.

Andrew: Yes, he broke the colour barrier in baseball, and he was the first African American that played in a professional baseball. And that happened right here at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. There is a museum onsite here at the ballpark, and they do daily tours there as well as a statue. It’s a very, he’s a very significant historical figure in this country, and we’re very fortunate to have him make that history right here in Daytona Beach.

It’s a, it’s a beautiful ballpark. I’s not like a 5, 6,000 seat stadium. I think it holds about 1,500, 1,600. It’s got a lot of charm, a lot of unique atmosphere to it. And it’s certainly, even if there’s not a baseball game going on, you certainly want to stop by there and see that ballpark. It’s in a very unique setting too. It’s, it’s right on the banks of the Halifax River and the Intercoastal there. So, a very unique place and something you’d like to see if you’re down the downtown Daytona Beach area.

Bec: Oh, fabulous. Thank you. That’s much clearer. So, Andrew, as we’re learning, the city is about more than cars though, isn’t it? What about the other activities that people can do?

Andrew: Well, we kind of, Pat mentioned it a little bit earlier, which is the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, and I really would encourage guests to not miss that. It is the tallest lighthouse in Florida. As Pat mentioned, it’s 175 feet tall and it’s 203 steps to the top of that lighthouse. It really is one of the areas hidden gems, and from that view, a atop that lighthouse, the Atlantic Ocean is just stunning. There are other, a couple other little spots there around the lighthouse to hit and great restaurants down there.

The other area, other thing that I would suggest visitors to do when they’re visiting Daytona Beach area is that we have 70 miles of hiking and biking here in the area. A great place to go to is just a little bit north of Ormond Beach and that’s Tomoka State Park where you can go canoeing, you can walk the trails, ride the bikes, and there’s some great things to see there inside of State Park. So that’s another thing I would encourage just throughout the entire destination here in Volusia County, a lot of hiking and biking available.

Bec: Oh, fabulous. I had no idea. And how about the arts and the sciences? What about the cultural side of Daytona Andrew?

Andrew: Oh, yeah. We’ve, we’ve got a great cultural side here in Daytona. It really begins with a Museum of Arts and Sciences. It’s a Smithsonian affiliated museum. It’s Central Florida’s primary art, science and history museum. It’s a 100,00sq. ft facility that sits on 90 acres here in Daytona Beach. 30,000 objects inside the museum. The finest collections of American art in the Southeast, the sub-Saharan African artifacts, Chinese art, and the largest and most comprehensive collection of decorative arts here in the south.

Another unique thing about the museum is it’s got a massive Coca-Cola artifact and museum display of collection of there as well. We’ve got great Cuban. paintings, they have a lot of art talks, and there’s also a planetarium within the Museum of Arts and Sciences. And right next door to the Museum of Arts and Sciences is the Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art. It’s the largest collection of Florida art. And over in Ormond Beach there is the Ormond Memorial Art Museum in Gardens. Another place to see beautiful art. I mentioned earlier too, here in the downtown Daytona Beach area, the Halifax Historical Museum. That’s a great destination to find out more about the history of Daytona Beach, its origins, and where we’re at now.

Bec: Oh, fabulous. You mentioned Coca-Cola. Is there a local connection then with that huge company?

Andrew: Yes. The Root family, which is local, they had a strong involvement in Coca-Cola and a lot of those artifacts are from their collection.

Bec: Pat, let’s come back to you. As general manager at Rose Villa Restaurant, you must have your nose to the ground when it comes to eating and drinking in Daytona. You touched on your local neighbourhood, but where else is there that’s brilliant and people and visitors must check out.

Pat: Sure Bec, one of my favourite restaurants in Florida is located in downtown Daytona Beach, and that’s the Cellar restaurant and that was Warren Harding’s, former home. Warren Harding was our 29th president, and he lived there, prior to becoming president, in the winters, with his wife and his in-laws. Now the restaurant is one of the best, like I said, in Florida, it’s great Italian food. It’s located. What would describe as the cellar, you actually walk down to getting into it.

And Chef Sam Moggio is one of the best chefs in Central Florida as well. As well as my chef, chef Sylvia Herrera. There’s a new spot and one of my favourite spots here in this area, going down to New Smyrna Beach. It was a great day of walking and dining and eating, and that’s the Avenue. It’s a new restaurant, three stories overlooking the, you can see both the river and the beach from the Avenue, and that’s located on Flagler Avenue. Down in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, which is about 20 minutes south of here. So all these restaurants, oh, another one of my favourites by the way, is Martinis Chophouse, and that’s on South Ridgewood, just south of the core tourist area here in here in Daytona. It’s organic fine dining. Some wonderful spots here, here in the Daytona Beach area and along the beach side in your core tourist area. There’s some wonderful local and national chains all serving the, what Florida’s known for the all the fish and the shrimp and scallops, all the local fresh seafood. So you certainly can find that anywhere. One of the best steakhouses in the area is located inside of our largest hotel, which is the Hilton Daytona Beach, Ocean Walk. And Hyde Park has some of the best steaks in central Florida. So, and that’s also dining al Fresco if you so choose right along the sea line coastline.

Bec: Oh, gorgeous. I can just imagine like lovely summer’s evenings, looking over all this water and just had such a brilliant pick of food. Tell us about, as well, the menu at Rose Villa though, and also, I want to hear more about the building there as well. From the pictures it looks gorgeous.

Pat: Yeah. Yeah. Well, the Rose Villa can be located at rosevillaormondbeach.com. We have a great gallery on there, but the house was built in 1901 by Henry Flagler. So many of your listeners maybe that have visited the area before, have heard the Flagler name. He was an initial investor in the standard oil company with John Rockefeller making them both the richest guys in the country at the time.

Flagler was not a big fan of the oil business, and he used the proceeds from his business to build a railroad here along Florida’s coastline and along the way, built hotels. One of them was here in Ormond Beach, the Ormond Hotel, which he basically he built this house in 1901, he had that opening at the same time, so he was going back and forth.

The Rose was a 10 room guest house for Mr. Flagler. And it had such a cool life, history. A lot of the drivers that broke the land speed record here in Ormond stayed here. And then in 2006, well, Mr. Flagler passed in 1913 and part of it became a boarding house for about the next 75 years.

Then Bill Jones, a local businessman, bought it in 2006 and turned in what it is today, which is one of Central Florida’s best dining restaurants. We just had a visitor from a popular TV show here in here in the United States, Guy Fieri has a show called Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, pretty unique character.

And he visited the restaurant a few weeks ago and fell in love with the Bouillabaisse and the pork chop. Those were his two favourite things.

Bec: Oh, nice.

Pat: Chef Herrera graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. And you wouldn’t think that a seaside tourist town like, like Ormond Beach. Would be known for its bouillabaisse, but he fell in love with it.

So no, we, we have southern fried chicken, the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, the best pork chop I’ve ever had. A couple great steaks. It’s just a really cool atmosphere. It’s very unlike anything. It’s a Victorian style building. 32 patterns of wallpaper, two bars, one being a whisky and bourbon bar, and a lot of great Irish whiskey as well.

And it’s one of the best bourbon collections in central Florida, so it’s a must for any bourbon aficionados coming from the UK. And then downstairs, as I mentioned before, we have the Bluebird Bar, which is a full bar. Dedicated to Sir Malcolm Campbell and the Bluebird and all the drivers that drove in that you’ll see pictures of three of four drivers that did pass driving it along with Sir Malcolm Campbell.

Bec: Oh, fabulous. Brilliant. Now Andrew, one of the things that caught my eye was the self-guided tours of the city that visitors can do. Can you tell me some more about those please?

Andrew: Absolutely. We created something called the Ultimate Daytona Beach Trail Guide, and it’s a guide to the most beloved car, craft, and culture themed attractions, iconic places, photo worthy spots all here in the destination. So those trails include hiking and biking. We talked about those 70 miles of hiking and biking trails here. Craft and artisan spirits, motorsports, iconic sites, African American history such as the Jackie Robinson ballpark, and the statute we talked about. Murals. We have a lot of street art all throughout the destination, and then statues and monuments, so they have a trail for each of those categories.

And those trails really are, it’s really just a collection of theme tours that help guide the visitor through the area. And the many cultural, historical, natural attractions, the great places for food and spirits, it really is just served as a kind of a way to find those different spots. It’s self-guided. You don’t have to do them all. It’s really just a way to find kind of, make your plans and decide what you want to do.

Bec: And are they downloadable from your website or where do people find them?

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. That’s on daytonabeach.com and if you go to ‘things to do’ and click on ‘trails’, you’ll find all the different trails there that you can explore.

Bec: Oh, brilliant. Sounds like a great introduction. So, we’ve touched on it a little bit, but I want to go into a bit more detail. Daytona’s location. You know, Pat mentioned it’s an hour from many places, but Andrew, it sounds like it’s a great base to explore the rest of Florida. Where else should people see and do if they’re staying in Daytona for their holidays.

Andrew: Absolutely. Daytona Beach can kind of be like your base camp just a little bit south of Daytona Beach. About an hour south is the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral area. And of course, that’s where the America Space Program got its start back in the 1960s, and it’s still having active launches today. You might be fortunate if you visit this area, it’s not uncommon to see a launch. At any time during the day, you might be lucky enough to get something at night. Those things are just stunning to watch. Just about an hour west of Daytona Beach is Orlando. That’s where we have Orlando International Airport.

So that’s a great airport to fly into. And you can take Interstate 4 East to Daytona Beach. Interstate 4 connects here in Daytona Beach with Interstate 95, which runs north and south. And of course, there’s great attractions in the Orlando area such as Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios.

So those are all the things you can do in Orlando. Now, just north of Daytona Beach, about 45 minutes to an hour is St. Augustine, one of the oldest towns in the United States. And of course, they’ve got a several different forts there and a lot of great Spanish history and some great restaurant and dining there.

So Daytona Beach can be a great place where you can make a lot of day trips throughout Florida during your visit.

Bec: That sounds perfect. Yes, definitely. Well, lastly, Pat, let’s just turn to you, Let’s say one of your oldest friends was visiting, how would you spend your ideal day in Daytona Beach with them?

Pat: Well, that’s a great question, and let’s go back to the boozing that I seem to be doing all the time. One of my favourite spots here is the Ocean Deck. So picking up a good buddy, I’d probably hit the Ocean Deck, which is located just south of the pier, here in the core area of Daytona Beach. And then after that, maybe, depending on the weather, round of golf at one of the wonderful golf courses here in the greater Daytona Beach area.

And then to top the night off, if I wasn’t going to the Rose Villa for dinner, I’d certainly be going to Hyde Park for a seaside steak dinner with one of my best mates.

Bec: Mm-hmm. Sounds good. Andrew, how about you? How would you spend your dream day?

Andrew: If I had a visitor who was joining me here today in Daytona Beach, I would probably kick off by going to the beach to see the sunrise. Probably grab a quick breakfast at Donny’s Donuts. That’s a great gourmet donut establishment that we have both in Ormond Beach, Smyrna Beach, and at ONE DAYTONA near the racetrack.

And speaking of Daytona, I would probably take them on a track tour of the Speedway because I want to make sure that they see one of the America’s greatest racetracks. And of course, I would make sure that we see the Motorsports Hall of Fame and that’s where they’ll find the Bluebird 5. I forgot to mention earlier, the Bluebird 5, Malcolm Campbell’s great land speed vehicle, maybe catch the archives, which is also, um, across the street, it’s a great site for NASCAR memorabilia. After the track tour would probably try to cash a Museum of Arts and Scientists on our way down to Ponce Inlet, where we would see the lighthouse and kind of wrap up our day and probably have a nice seafood dinner somewhere along the way there in Ponce Inlet. That’s probably what I would do during the day.

Bec: They both sound like pretty nice days, to be honest. Well, thank you so much, both of you for joining us today. It’s been brilliant to hear more about Daytona Beach.

Andrew: My pleasure. Thanks for having us.

Pat: Thanks, Bec.

Bec: To find out more and book your next holiday to Daytona Beach, visit charitable.travel/daytona-beach and for more info on Daytona Beach. Visit daytonabeach.com. Follow them on social media. And to learn more about Rose Villa Restaurant, go to rosevillaormondbeach.com.