About The Best Local

The Best Local publishes practical guides for people who live in or visit New Smyrna Beach and the rest of Volusia County, Florida.

What we cover

We write about things to do, food and drink, and local services. Our first guides are evergreen planning help: how to have a good beach day, what to expect at Canaveral National Seashore, and similar topics that stay useful year after year.

How we decide what goes in a guide

We don't charge businesses to be ranked, and we don't publish ratings we can't back up. For now our guides don't name or rate specific businesses. When we start adding recommendations, we'll include places only after we've checked the details, and we'll clearly label anything sponsored.

Local businesses can suggest a listing through our contact page.

How articles are written

Articles on this site are drafted with the help of AI tools and reviewed and edited before publishing. We only include local facts we're confident in, and we point to official sources (like the National Park Service and Volusia County) for rules, hours, and fees that can change. If you spot something out of date, please tell us and we'll fix it.