The Riverview Hotel & Spa

The Riverview Hotel and Spa occupies one of the oldest continuously operating hospitality sites in New Smyrna Beach, with a history the property traces back to 1885. The hotel sits at the intracoastal end of Flagler Avenue, right where the avenue meets the North Causeway drawbridge, a location that has made it a gateway building for the beachside district for well over a century. Flagler Avenue itself is New Smyrna Beach’s signature beachside street, a few blocks of shops, restaurants, and surf culture running from the Intracoastal Waterway straight to the beach access at its far end, and the Riverview sits at the quieter, waterfront edge of that corridor.

The current operation describes itself as a boutique, bed and breakfast style hotel, and it includes a hot breakfast with a stay, along with on-site spa services, a restaurant and gift shop, and individually decorated rooms rather than a standardized chain layout. That combination of a historic Victorian-era coastal building with modern spa and dining service is unusual for New Smyrna Beach, where most of the beachside lodging is smaller motels and condo-style resorts. The hotel also offers add-on packages for occasions such as anniversaries, which fits its positioning as a destination stay rather than a simple roadside motel.

Its location at the foot of the North Causeway bridge puts guests within walking distance of the length of Flagler Avenue, with its restaurants, surf shops, and galleries, and only a couple of blocks from the public beach access at the east end of the avenue. Because the hotel sits directly on the Indian River Intracoastal Waterway rather than on the open Atlantic, guests get water views toward the mainland side of New Smyrna Beach as well as easy access to the sand. New Smyrna Beach as a whole draws visitors for its surfing near the inlet, its laid-back beach town character compared to Daytona Beach farther north, and its historic downtown across the causeway on Canal Street.

As an independently owned and operated property with a documented nineteenth century history, the Riverview Hotel and Spa is a genuine example of the small, locally rooted lodging this Florida coast is known for, distinct from the national chain hotels that have since been built farther down the beachside strip. Travelers looking for a walkable Flagler Avenue base with historic character, on-site spa treatments, and breakfast included will find this property sits right at the entrance to the avenue’s restaurant and shopping row, with the beach itself only a short walk beyond.