Driving A1A From Deerfield Beach to Delray Beach: Where to Stop and What Each Stop Costs

Here is the short answer. The stretch of A1A from the Deerfield Beach pier north to Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach is the best slow coastal drive in our part of Florida, and the only hard part is knowing where you are allowed to stop. Deerfield charges by the hour. Boca Raton charges a flat gate fee of $40 on weekdays and $55 on weekends and holidays, good at one park for one day, and its gatehouses stopped taking cash on October 1, 2026. Highland Beach, the town between Boca and Delray, has no public beach access at all. Delray charges $2 an hour in its beach lots. Pick two stops, not six, and bring a card. Every rate and rule below came from the cities, the county, or a local news report, checked this week.

We are Brad and Justina, founders of Yours Truly Hospitality. We manage vacation homes across Southeast Florida, including homes in Deerfield Beach and Lake Worth Beach, and this drive is the one we suggest when a guest says they want to see the coast without spending the day in traffic. This is the order we would do it in.

Start at the Deerfield Beach Pier

Start at the south end, early, at the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier. Walking the pier costs $2. Fishing it costs $4. Those rates took effect February 23, 2026, and sightseeing is free for Deerfield residents, veterans, active military, and first responders with ID.

Parking here is by the hour, and the rate depends on the day. The pier lot is $3 an hour from Monday at 6 a.m. until Friday at 4 p.m., then $4 an hour from Friday at 4 p.m. until midnight Sunday. The rest of the barrier island zones are a dollar cheaper on both schedules. A ticket for an unpaid session is $30. If you are only walking the pier and looking at the water, half an hour is plenty, and that is the cheapest stop of the day.

Into Boca Raton: Pick One Gate

Drive north on A1A and you cross into Boca Raton. This is where the drive gets expensive if you stop everywhere, because Boca does not meter its main beach parks. It charges at a gatehouse.

The city's daily rate is $40 for a car on a weekday and $55 on a weekend or holiday. The pass covers one park for one day. Since October 1, 2026, the gatehouses take debit and credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, and no cash. So the smart move on this drive is to choose one Boca park and stay a while, rather than paying three times.

Here is how the stops line up, south to north.

South Inlet Park, 1100 S Ocean Blvd, sits at the Boca Inlet and is run by Palm Beach County, not the city. It is the exception to the gate rule. Parking is by the hour at automated kiosks: $4 an hour on weekdays and $5 an hour on weekends and holidays. The kiosks take credit cards only, and an unlawful parking ticket is $35. You get 850 feet of guarded beach and a jetty that stays open 24 hours. For a short stop, this is the one.

Red Reef Park, 1400 N Ocean Blvd, is the quiet one, open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. with 230 spaces. It has a boardwalk, a walking trail, and snorkeling pods just off the sand. If the water is calm, this is the best stop on the whole drive for a swim with a mask.

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, sits at the north end of Red Reef Park, about a mile north of Palmetto Park Road on A1A. General admission is free. The nature center and aquariums are open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Monday from noon to 4 p.m. The boardwalk, trails, and the 40 foot observation tower open at 7 a.m. and close at sunset. There is limited free parking for Gumbo Limbo visitors only, and no beach parking is allowed there. One date to know this month: the whole site, trails and boardwalk included, is closed on Thanksgiving Day.

Spanish River Park, 3001 N Ocean Blvd, is the big one, open 8 a.m. to sunset with 816 spaces. It holds a Blue Flag award, it runs from the ocean to the Intracoastal, and it has a canoe and kayak launch, a playground, and 124 grills. If you are doing this drive with kids and you only pay one gate, pay this one.

Highland Beach: Keep Driving

North of Spanish River, A1A runs through Highland Beach, a narrow town of condominiums and homes between the ocean and the Intracoastal. It is a beautiful few miles to drive. It is not a place to stop for the beach.

As of a CBS12 report on October 6, 2026, there is no public beach access in Highland Beach. That day, Palm Beach County commissioners approved $85,000 for preconstruction work on a public beach park at 4705 South Ocean Boulevard, on land the county bought in 1987. The approval does not authorize construction. The county estimates the project at $8.65 million, and the first phase calls for 46 parking spaces. It is a real plan, and it is not open.

So do not park on a side street and walk toward the sand. The beach access points here are private, and the town has spent years dealing with exactly that. Enjoy the road and keep going.

Delray Beach: Park Off the Curb

A1A brings you into Delray Beach along the city's municipal beach, which the city describes as one and a half miles of coastline, centered on the east end of Atlantic Avenue.

The parking rule here is the same one that works downtown. The curb costs more than the lot. The parallel spaces on A1A from Casuarina Road to Beach Drive are $3 an hour, paid 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. The city's beach lots charge $2 an hour from 8 a.m. to dusk. Atlantic Dunes at 1605 S Ocean Blvd is the first one you reach driving north. Anchor Park, Sandoway, and Ingraham sit farther up, and Orange Grove, at 10 N Ocean Blvd, is just north of Atlantic Avenue.

A few house rules. Dogs are not allowed on the beach. Chairs, umbrellas, and cabanas are run by the city's contractor and the beach is set up by 9 a.m., so there is nothing to reserve. Stand up paddle boards can only launch from the north and south ends. And the sailboats you see pulled up on the sand at the north end are there on purpose: the city keeps storage for sixty small non-motorized boats on that part of the beach.

Finish at Atlantic Avenue. The city keeps an elevated covered pavilion and an access mat at the corner of Atlantic and A1A, and the walk west along the avenue starts right there.

How We Would Do It

Leave Deerfield by 8 a.m. on a weekday. Walk the pier while the light is low and the water is clear. Drive north and make one Boca stop: South Inlet Park if you want an hour at the hourly rate, or Red Reef with a walk up the boardwalk to Gumbo Limbo if you are paying the gate anyway. Drive through Highland Beach without stopping. Park in a Delray beach lot for the afternoon, swim, and walk up to Atlantic Avenue when the heat breaks.

Two stops, one gate at most, and the whole coast between them seen from the car. That is the version of this drive that feels like a day off instead of a series of parking decisions.

We plan days like this for our guests so they do not have to read four parking pages before breakfast. If you want a base on this stretch of coast, take a look at our South Florida vacation homes.

Updated November 2026. Rates and rules change, and the posted sign at the gate or meter always wins over any website, including this one.