St. Augustine, FL

Activities and Attractions

As the oldest city in the nation, St. Augustine is rich in history and culture. This quaint city was founded 42 years before Jamestown, Virginia, and 55 years before Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts making St. Augustine an important part of Colonial Spanish culture. Due to the unique history of the city, visitors to St. Augustine can expect a vacation that is exciting, relaxing, educational, full of activities and adventures.

Population figures for the year 2000 reflect that over 11,000 people live in the 8.4 square miles that make up the city of St. Augustine. The climate is conducive to tourism with the lowest temperatures in the winter rarely dipping below 55 degrees.

While in St. Augustine, you can lodge in a historic bed and breakfast inn, a five-star hotel, a tropical beach retreat, or a cozy European-style motel. Whatever your taste or budget, there’s something for everyone in America’s oldest city.

St. Augustine is compact in size, and tourists who want to take everything in at their own leisure can walk from one end of the city to the other in approximately 20 minutes. One walking attraction is St. George Street, a pedestrian walkway lined with shops. Once you’ve shopped ‘til your heart’s content in the historic district, tourists can take a short drive over to The Outlet Center, located at I-95 and State Road 16, for more great bargains.

The St. Augustine Beach, located on Anastasia Island, is enjoyable for people of all ages. The attractions include a playground, the St. Johns County Pier, a fishing pier, volleyball courts, and fine shopping and dining. 43 miles of sandy beaches can be found in the areas around St. Augustine, if a secluded spot is more up your alley.

Historic cities usually offer visitors a variety of tours, and St. Augustine is no exception. For those tourists interested in the supernatural, St. Augustine is known as one of the most haunted cities in the United States. The city offers several ghost tours and haunted walking tours that are both fun and educational. If you’re more interested in learning about the history of St. Augustine, there are also tours that take vacationers to Castillo de San Marcos - the oldest stone fort in the United States- and to the Gonzalez-Alvarez house - the oldest surviving Spanish Colonial dwelling in the state of Florida.

While on your trip to St. Augustine, be sure to visit one of the many museums. One popular museum is the Colonial Spanish Quarter, a living history museum. Visitors can watch tradesmen go about their work and learn about ways of life in the 18th century.

St. Augustine is conveniently located near three major airports. In addition to the airport directly in St. Augustine, vacationers can fly into Jacksonville International Airport, which is 48 miles away, or Daytona Beach International Airport, which is 54 miles from St. Augustine. The Orlando International Airport and all of Orlando’s attractions are slightly over 100 miles away.