From swim meets to beach parties
In the mid-1930s, college swim coaches began bringing their teams to Fort Lauderdale's Casino Pool each spring to train. Classmates followed, and the city's beaches became an annual gathering place.
Glendon Swarthout's 1960 novel Where the Boys Are and its film adaptation turned the trip into a national ritual. By the mid-1980s, Fort Lauderdale was drawing an estimated 350,000 students a year.
The great migration
- 1985–1990s: Fort Lauderdale cracked down and Florida raised its drinking age to 21, so crowds moved to Daytona Beach and, later, Panama City Beach.
- 1986 onward: MTV's Spring Break broadcasts made Daytona and other beaches into TV events.
- 1990s–2000s: South Padre Island became Texas' spring break capital, and Cancun rose to #1 internationally.
- 2020s: Miami Beach "broke up" with spring break, Daytona's police chief said the city should stop marketing itself, and Caribbean all-inclusives such as Punta Cana and Nassau surged.
What's next for 2027
Tour operators are adding adventure-focused trips like Guanacaste, Costa Rica, while the classic party destinations, Cancun, Punta Cana and South Padre Island, remain the most popular.
