Pictures: The 25 Florida beaches you have to visit

Daytona Beach (Dennis Wall / Orlando Sentinel)

Orlando Sentinel

May 12, 2016 4:44 PM PT

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When it comes to Florida beaches, it’s not just an East Coast vs. Gulf Coast debate as to which one you should choose. In fact, make time to visit all 25 of these Florida beaches at least once in your life. It’s worth it.

Thousands enjoyed the official last weekend of summer at the Cocoa Beach Pier Sunday, September 4, 2011, as professional and amateur surfers of all ages competed in the 26th annual National Kidney Foundation Pro-Am Surf Festival.

(Tom Benitez / Orlando Sentinel)

Beachgoers at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park just south of Juno Beach watch as a baby sea turtle struggles toward the ocean Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000.

(Lannis Water / Associated Press)

Santiago Velez carries his kite to the water in preparation for kitesurfing on the ocean

(Michael Laughlin / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Scenes from the art deco district on Ocean Ave. at South Beach, in Miami Beach, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013.

(Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel)

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, the Cape Florida lighthouse is seen Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, in Key Biscayne, Fla.

(Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press)

Storm clouds provide a dramatic scene at sunset at the Bahia Honda bridge, in this view from the bayside of Bahia Honda State Park, near Big Pine Key, Fla., Saturday, August 4, 2012.

(Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel)

Marco Island’s Tigertail Beach.

(Richard Tribou / Orlando Sentinel)

Delnor-Wiggans Pass State Park is just north of Naples.

(Richard Tribou / Orlando Sentinel)

Sanibel Island is known for its shelling.

(Richard Tribou / Orlando Sentinel)

The crowds come out to enjoy the sunset on Captiva Island.

(Richard Tribou / Orlando Sentinel)

Emily Rolston, 11, shifts through the sand looking for seashells and -- if she is lucky -- shark’s teeth. Her sister Hannah on the left in the surf and their grandfather Jack Berning, right, were searching Venice Beach on Friday, August 17, 2001. Venice Beach is well known for its sharks teeth.

(Tom Burton / Orlando Sentinel)

Houses along the shore near the point where the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay meet.

(Julie Fletcher / Orlando Sentinel)

Miles of empty beach and billions of sea shells await a lone beachcomber at St. George Island State Park near Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle on Feb. 5, 2007. Its called the Forgotten Coast because Floridas winter tourists tend to prefer the warmer beaches of south Florida, but for tourists from the far north, sunny days in the 50s and 60s can seem like spring, and without any crowds.

(William Kronholm / Associated Press)