Tampa to Cocoa Beach road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time

The best road trip stops on the Tampa to Cocoa Beach drive are Lakeland, Orlando and Cape Canaveral. The distance from Tampa to Cocoa Beach by car is 133 miles, with a 2h4m driving time.

Planning a Tampa to Cocoa Beach road trip itinerary

The Tampa to Cocoa Beach drive crosses Florida – and links two of the state’s top vacation spots.

Tampa is justifiably one of the most popular holiday destinations in Florida. It’s home to top attractions such as the Florida Aquarium, ZooTampa, the Adventure Island water park and Busch Gardens theme park.

Other great Tampa experiences include historic Ybor City food walking tours, seeing the highlights in a street legal golf cart and a Haunted Tampa tour that combines ghosts and pubs.

Also on offer are Segway tours, history cruises, dolphin-watching and celebrity homes tours.

Tampa accommodation is best booked in advance – look for deals here.

Cocoa Beach is an attractive beach town on Florida’s Space Coast. It’s a great base for visiting the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, or for enjoying the long barrier island beaches.

It is also one of the best places in the US to go kayaking. For a kayak tour, choose between seeing dolphins and manatees in the mangroves and paddling through bioluminescent waters at night. There are also sunset tours.

Other great Cocoa Beach experiences include dolphin tours on the Banana River, happy hour bar crawls, multi-stop food tours and tiki boat cruises.

For Cocoa Beach accommodation options, plump for the beachfront Hilton Garden Inn or the well-located Hampton Inn.

Tampa to Cocoa Beach distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Tampa to Cocoa Beach is 133 miles. That makes for a driving time of around two hours and four minutes. The best stops to add to a Tampa to Cocoa Beach road trip itinerary are Lakeland, Orlando and Cape Canaveral.

Tampa to Cocoa Beach drive: Lakeland, Florida

Lakeland is a somewhat overlooked Florida City which is, as the name suggests, based around a series of lakes. Of these, Lake Mirror is the most popular, with a promenade and amphitheatre. It also has Hollis Garden, an impressive botanical garden, at the southern end. For something less sculpted, the Circle B Bar Reserve is a former cattle ranch that is now a great place to see alligators.

The city is also home to Florida Southern University, which has the world’s largest concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.

Good Lakeland hotel choices include the spacious SpringHill Suites and the affordable, pool-equipped Travelodge.

Best stops between Tampa and Cocoa Beach: Orlando

Orlando is known worldwide as the home of Disney World, but there’s far more to it than Mickey and Co. You can get crazy selfies at the Museum of Illusions or WonderWorks, learn how chocolate is made at Chocolate Kingdom and ride the Wheel at ICON Park or Orlando StarFlyer. Alternatively, visit Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, play adventure golf at Pirates’ Cove and say hi to the stingrays at Sea Life.

In the evenings, there’s the Polynesian Fire Luau and Dinner Show, Cirque du Soleil’s Drawn To Life and the Outta Control magic comedy show.

Other Orlando experiences include glow-in-the-dark kayaking, foodie walking tours and kayaking through Cypress forest.

The secret to getting Orlando accommodation deals is flexibility. There are hundreds of hotels, and you’ll likely be driving everywhere anyway. So hunt down the cheapest rates, and don’t get too hung up on exact location.

Tampa to Cocoa Beach drive: Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral has wetlands and beautiful beaches, but that’s not why people come here. This Florida outpost has played a massively outsized part in space exploration, and the Kennedy Space Center is one of the very best attractions in the US.

Here, you can see a space shuttle and Saturn V rocket up close, get absorbed in video presentations about mission launches and learn about NASA’s future plans. The Behind The Gates bus tour, meanwhile, heads out towards the launch complexes and the gargantuan Vehicle Assembly Building.

An admission ticket is pricy, but well worth it.

For Cape Canaveral accommodation picks, take a look at the Shorewood and the Cape Canaveral Beach Resort.