Every morning while I stayed at the Hammock Beach Resort, I watched the sunrise over the Atlantic. In the breezy spring evening, I stepped out the door of my suite and watched it set from the hall balcony. There aren't a lot of places you can do this, but this enclave just over the Intracoastal Waterway bridge in Palm Coast, is one of them.
The full-service resort is just short of a two-hour drive from Orlando and 40 minutes from Daytona Beach Airport. After crossing the toll bridge be sure to bring cash for the crossing clients will find a quiet residential and vacation area. If you stop the car and listen, the only thing you'll hear is the rustling of palmetto fronds and the not-so-distant roar of waves crashing on the coquina beach.
The lobby is fresh from a 2017 renovation, and the spacious one-bedroom, oceanfront guestrooms underwent a sprucing up, as well, highlighting a coast-chic motif with pastels that reflect the hotel's exterior color scheme. Next up for a reboot: the restaurants.
Fit for couples, groups, families and multigenerational travelers, Hammock Beach's rooms and suites start at 700 square feet and graduate to multibedroom 2,350-square-foot mega-condos. There might be hundreds of rooms among the hotel's three towers, but sellouts, especially around holidays, aren't uncommon.
The resort complex abuts the Atlantic Ocean and Flagler Beach, and vestiges of Hurricane Matthew are still apparent. The recently renovated Jack-Nicklaus-designed golf Ocean Course, a major draw to the resort with holes just a stone's throw from the sand, was completely underwater during the aftermath of the 2016 hurricane. The last of the golf course renovations wrapped up this spring, and the new platinum paspalum turf is saltwater-resistant, just in case another Matthew shows up in the future. Beach restoration is still underway and is expected to continue through 2018.
Exterior view of Hammock Beach Resort from the beachfront golf course. Photo Credit: Holly V. Kapherr
The Lodge, a more exclusive boutique hotel-within-a-hotel, features 20 rooms in a separate building closer to the shore. Rooms at the Lodge have been recently restored, featuring floor-to-ceiling views of the golf course and Atlantic Ocean. Each room has a king bed, private balcony, marble entry and granite-clad bathroom. Reserving a room at the Lodge also nets clients a $25 daily breakfast credit per guest; personal check-in with a Champagne toast; access to the Lodge Club Lounge with snacks, pastries, coffees and beverages; and advance dining reservations. The building also features its own pool and in-house restaurant, Atlantic Grille, an upscale, seafood-forward dining experience with items like she-crab soup, Parmesan-crusted sea scallops, and seared tuna salade nicoise.
The reality is that there's enough to do on site that guests don't have to leave the resort at all to fill their days with fun. Outdoor enthusiasts will certainly spend time in the waves, where stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking are popular. The area is situated between two major surfing destinations, Jacksonville Beach and Cocoa Beach, so small-wave surfing is tops here.
On land, there's a nine-hole putt-putt golf course and cruiser bikes available to explore the resort on wheels. Guests can relax in the cigar lounge or roast some marshmallows and make s'mores over the fire pits on the great lawn during fall and winter months.
Equestrian Adventures of Florida in Ormond Beach has partnered with Hammock Beach to treat guests to 45-minute shoreline rides on their "sea-horses." Or guests can opt for a two-hour trail ride in one of the state parks in Volusia or Flagler counties.
Kids will swoon over the 91,000-square-foot fantasy water pavilion, which features a lazy river, twisting waterslide and sandpit for all the fun of sandcastle-building on the beach without the saltwater splash. The pavilion comes with full-service food and beverages, so parents can order lunch while the little ones work up an appetite. The upper level of the pavilion features an adults-only pool, a pool-size spa, beach volleyball and a poolside bar, all open at 8 o'clock each morning.
The tennis club at Hammock Beach Resort features eight clay courts overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway. The tennis cardio classes, helmed by tennis director Gene Paul Lascano, blend high-intensity cardio with tennis drills, and after 15 minutes of running, laughing, high-fives and hitting balls, guests won't even realize they've worked up a serious sweat.
America's first permanent settlement, St. Augustine, offers shopping, museums and some of Florida's top dining destinations, like the St. Augustine Distillery and Ice Plant, and Columbia Restaurant, a mere half-hour drive north. Foodies won't want to miss the signature tableside 1905 salad at Columbia, named for the year the restaurant was established.
Marineland Dolphin Adventure is only 15 minutes north of the resort, and plans for a renovation and redesign of the 80-year-old original Florida theme park are underway this summer. Captain's BBQ at Matanzas State Forest is a must for lunch, where diners can watch boats, kayaks and paddleboarders glide along the intracoastal while chowing down on a stuffed pulled-pork burrito or dry-rubbed ribs. The real stars of the menu, though, are the 10-plus varieties of cheesecake created by award-winning baker "Cheesecake Mike," including lemon-coconut, pecan pie, and devil's food.
To the south, Daytona International Speedway and the Daytona Beach Boardwalk await, with both indoor and outdoor thrills aplenty, like the new open-air tram tour of the speedway, which ends at the Motorsports Hall of Fame.