Looking for memorable ways to experience the New Smyrna Beach Area? Beyond its beaches, the destination offers creative workshops, outdoor adventures, live performances, and opportunities to explore some of Florida's most distinctive natural environments.
Add these five experiences to your list and discover a few of the many ways to make the most of your time along the coast.
1. Experience the Joy of Painting at the Bob Ross Art Workshop & Gallery
Step into a piece of television and art history at the Bob Ross Art Workshop & Gallery.
Bob Ross opened the workshop in New Smyrna Beach in 1993, and it remains in its original location on East Third Avenue. The gallery displays a large collection of Ross's original oil paintings, including works that viewers may recognize from The Joy of Painting.
Visitors who want to create something of their own can sign up for classes using the Bob Ross Wet-on-Wet painting technique. Landscape, seascape, floral, and wildlife classes are offered, including options for those with little or no previous painting experience.
Class schedules and availability vary, so advance registration is recommended.
2. Watch a Rocket Launch Near Canaveral National Seashore
Florida's Space Coast is close enough to the New Smyrna Beach Area to make rocket launches a memorable addition to a visit.
Canaveral National Seashore provides opportunities to see launches from nearby Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station when launches occur during park operating hours and designated areas remain open.
Launch schedules can change with little notice, and NASA may restrict or close areas of the seashore for operational and safety reasons. The park can also reach capacity during major launches. Check both the current launch schedule and National Park Service alerts before heading out, and arrive early when launch viewing is permitted.
Even without a launch on the schedule, Canaveral National Seashore is worth exploring for its undeveloped shoreline, lagoon environments, and opportunities to experience the natural side of Florida's coast.
3. Experience Bioluminescence on a Nighttime Kayak Tour
Some of the area's most memorable adventures begin after sunset.
Viking EcoTours offers stargazing and bioluminescence kayak tours through protected waters near Canaveral National Seashore. Movement in the water can illuminate naturally occurring bioluminescent organisms, creating flashes of light around the kayak.
Bioluminescence is a natural phenomenon, so its intensity varies according to environmental conditions. Viking EcoTours identifies May through October as the area's peak bioluminescence season, with stargazing season running from October through May.
Current tours depart from River Breeze Park in Oak Hill, about 15 minutes south of New Smyrna Beach.
4. Catch a Performance at the Little Theatre of New Smyrna Beach
Live theater has been part of the local arts scene for decades at the Little Theatre of New Smyrna Beach.
The community theater has been presenting productions since 1947, with a season that includes musicals, comedies, and dramas performed by local talent.
The 2026–2027 season includes productions such as Shrek the Musical, Deathtrap, Jekyll & Hyde, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Company, and Twelfth Night.
Performances change throughout the year, so check the theater's current schedule and purchase tickets in advance for a performance during your visit.
5. Explore the Indian River Lagoon with Marine Discovery Center
Discover one of North America's most biologically diverse estuaries with the Marine Discovery Center.
The Indian River Lagoon supports more than 4,000 species of plants and animals, including Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, Florida manatees, horseshoe crabs, coastal birds, and numerous species of fish.
The Marine Discovery Center offers guided boat and kayak eco-tours led by certified Florida naturalists. Kayak tours explore habitats including mangroves, salt marshes and oyster reefs, while pontoon boat tours provide another way to experience the lagoon and learn about local wildlife and conservation.
Wildlife sightings vary because these tours explore a natural ecosystem, but each trip provides an opportunity to better understand the lagoon and the efforts underway to protect it.
Visitors can also explore the Marine Discovery Center campus, which features educational exhibits, aquariums, gardens, a nature trail, restored salt marsh, and other outdoor spaces.
These five experiences offer just a glimpse of what can be discovered beyond a day at the beach. Painting in the same workshop Bob Ross established more than three decades ago, watching a rocket launch along the coast, paddling beneath the night sky, exploring the Indian River Lagoon, or settling in for a local theater performance can add an entirely different dimension to a New Smyrna Beach Area visit.
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