Cocoa Beach

Every city-managed space in Cocoa Beach is paid through the Passport Parking app. The rates, from the city's parking page on September 22, 2026:

• $6 per hour, one-hour minimum.
• $25 for a full day, plus a $0.35 convenience fee in the app.
• Enforced 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, weekends and holidays included.
• No overnight parking in city lots. Pay as soon as you park; tickets are issued for late payment.

The city lists more than 1,600 spaces across Alan Shepard Park (216 E. Cocoa Beach Causeway), Sidney Fischer Park (2200 N Atlantic Ave), the downtown garage at 25 S. Orlando Ave, and dozens of street ends from Harding Avenue down to 15th Street South. Visitors without a US phone number can check out as a guest in the app using 00000 as the zip code.

Lori Wilson Park is the exception. It is a Brevard County park, parking is free, and it has restrooms, showers, a dog park and full-time lifeguards. Free spaces go first, so arrive early or expect to pay the city rate a few blocks away.

Lori Wilson Park is the pick for families: lifeguards, bathrooms, free parking and a boardwalk through the dunes. Dogs are allowed only in the dog park, not on the beach.

Alan Shepard Park sits where the Cocoa Beach Causeway (SR 520) meets the ocean. You pay the city rate here, but it is the first beach park you reach from the causeway.

The street ends, 1st Street South through 15th Street South, are small beach accesses with a few spaces each at the city rate. They suit two people with a cooler better than a family with a wagon.

The Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier stretches 800 feet over the Atlantic. It has Pier 62 Oceanfront Restaurant and Bar, the Rikki Tiki Tavern at the end, Chuck's Arcade, gift shops, beach rentals and year-round lifeguards on the beach beside it. The pier does not publish its parking price online, so check the sign before you pull in.

Ron Jon Surf Shop is the flagship store on A1A, with sand sculptures and vintage cars out front. It is a large souvenir and surf shop. Twenty minutes covers it.

Neither is a reason to drive from Orlando. Both are fine on the way to or from the sand. If you want a proper sit-down lunch with a view, the pier is where to spend it.

Cocoa Beach faces the launch pads at Cape Canaveral, which makes it one of the best free places to watch a launch. Launch times slip often, so check the calendar on the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex site the day before and again that morning.

Night launches are the ones worth planning a trip around: you see the flame long before you hear it. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is about 18 miles and 30 minutes north, so a morning at the complex and an afternoon on the beach is a natural pairing if you have a car.

From International Drive or the I-Drive area, take SR 528 east, the Beachline Expressway. It is tolled; rental cars usually bill tolls through the rental company, so ask at the counter what they charge per day. Stay on SR 528 as it becomes SR A1A at Cape Canaveral and follow A1A south into Cocoa Beach. OpenStreetMap routing puts it at 57 miles and about 70 minutes from the Orange County Convention Center, and 64 miles and 80 minutes from Disney Springs, without traffic.

Leave by 8 a.m. if you want a free space at Lori Wilson Park. There is no practical public transit to Cocoa Beach, so this is a car day. See whether a rental car is worth it and getting around Orlando.

Cocoa Beach Dolphin and Wildlife Tour

Starts in Cocoa Beach: no transport from Orlando. Drinks not included. Weather cancellations possible.

2 hours

4.8★★★★★★★★★★(1,211 reviews)

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Rating as shown on Viator

Mangrove Tunnels, Dolphins, Manatee Tour #1 Rated in Cocoa Beach

You paddle (mostly tandem kayaks). No transport from Orlando. Wildlife is not guaranteed; weather cancellations.

2 hours

5.0★★★★★★★★★★(897 reviews)

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Rating as shown on Viator

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