Located only 3.8 miles from the beach, FAU’s Boca campus offers an unparalleled experience into all that South Florida’s natural beauty has to offer. In only a 15-minute drive, students can be on the sand of some of Florida’s most beautiful beaches. Make the most of your freshman year by visiting these four hotspots to get your fill of sun and surf.

Spanish River Beach

This is the closest in proximity to our school, located less than 12 minutes away. With a small amount of roadside parking, this beach has an exclusive feel to it, as it’s rarely crowded at certain times of the day. But that comes at the price of taking care when trying to find a spot.

Thus I recommend that busy afternoon hours are avoided and that you try to come slightly earlier in the day. Oftentimes students will park at the CVS on Federal Highway (located right before crossing the bridge over to A1A) and walk over to the beach side.

This beach is quick and easy to go to, and while beautiful, lacks restaurants and sufficient parking. But, it does have outdoor showers so you can rinse your feet off before heading back to class.

Delray Beach

If a plethora of great restaurants, easy access and a ton of beach space is what you’re interested in, then definitely head over to Delray Beach located all the way east on Atlantic Avenue, 19 minutes from campus.

Atlantic Avenue, or “The Ave,” is an ideal spot for college kids with tons of pizza parlors, bars, restaurants and ice cream shops. This beach is massive and finding a parking spot is relatively easy, except for on the weekends. Avoid Delray Saturday and Sunday as struggling to find a spot isn’t always worth the time in the sun.

Deerfield Beach

This beach recently gained notoriety for being the main site of filming for summer 2017’s reboot of “Baywatch,” featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron and model Kelly Rohrbach.

While you may be disappointed that you didn’t get to see Rohrbach running slow-mo on the beach in person, I can assure you that this spot located 15 minutes from campus is a popular hangout for college students and offers a great combination of restaurants and easy parking.

Deerfield Beach is most iconic for its 976-foot pier that is popular with amateur fishers. Beachgoers can rent fishing poles and bait for less than $20 and are free to test their luck at catching some of the many varieties of fish that frequent the water below.

Cons for this beach would have to be that the surrounding restaurants and walking area is not nearly as extensive as that of Atlantic Avenue in Delray.

It also should be noted that this beach is unique in that it’s the only beach I’ve ever consistently seen people surf at.

Palmetto Beach

One of the best beaches for college students would have to be Palmetto Beach (located all the way east on Palmetto Park Road and 13 minutes away from campus).

While the beach itself is small, it’s packed with people throwing footballs, drinking, tanning, socializing and having a good time.

Parking directly at the beach is sparse, but located just north of the beach on the east side of A1A is a lot to pull into for paid parking. This entrance is very shrouded with dense foliage so be on the lookout so you don’t miss it.

It also has a few restaurants in walking distance and is fairly close to Mizner Park, which is only a short drive away. (But be aware: This outdoor shopping mall is expensive. You’re better off bringing a picnic and walking around the downtown area instead of getting lunch and breaking the bank.)

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Ross Mellman is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].