Things to do in St. Augustine
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit St. Augustine
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best weather and festivals, spring rookery and azaleas at peak, late February to April is best overall.
Beach water comfortable, Romanza festival, prices and crowds rise.
Peak beach season and heat with afternoon storms, plan history for mornings and museums midday.
Hottest humid hangover and highest storm risk, cheapest and emptiest month.
Humidity drops and crowds thin from mid October, Nights of Lights starts mid November.
Nights of Lights continues, cooler drier walking, rates dip in late January.
What's on
- Nights of Lights mid-November to late January
More than 3 million white lights across about 20 blocks, the bayfront and Bridge of Lions.
- St. Augustine Film Festival mid-January
Winter festival during cooler, drier walking weather.
- Fort Mose Jazz & Blues Series February
Series at Fort Mose in the winter season.
- THE PLAYERS Championship March
At TPC Sawgrass, book the whole region early or avoid those dates if not here for golf.
- Celtic Music & Heritage Festival March
March festival in the dense spring calendar, alongside the Lions Seafood Festival.
- Lions Seafood Festival March
March seafood festival in the spring season.
- Rhythm & Ribs late March / April
Spring food and music festival.
- Easter Parade Easter Sunday
Parada de los Caballos y Coches, the Easter Sunday parade.
- Gamble Rogers Folk Festival April
April folk festival in the spring calendar.
- Romanza Festivale of Music & the Arts May
May festival of music and the arts.
Best things to do in St. Augustine
Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
Original coquina fort from 1672 with bay views, ranger talks and the best first stop in the city.
Lightner Museum
Gilded Age decorative art inside Flagler's former Hotel Alcazar, where the building outshines the collection.
Flagler College
Former Ponce de Leon hotel with Tiffany glass and Spanish Renaissance detail, best seen on the Legacy Tour.
St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum
Climb 219 steps for the coast's best panorama, with a keepers house museum and maritime archaeology below.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park
Accredited zoo founded in 1893 with every living crocodilian species and a spring rookery boardwalk.
St. George Street
Pedestrian spine of the old town for orientation, best walked early before crowds thicken.
Fort Mose Historic State Park
First legally sanctioned free Black settlement in the US, told in a small museum with a birding boardwalk.
St. Augustine Distillery
Free, unhurried tour of a restored ice plant ending in tastings of small batch bourbon, gin and rum.
Where to stay in St. Augustine
Historic District
first trip, all-round base
Walk to every main sight, dinner and the bayfront, park once and leave the car alone.
Bayfront / Avenida Menendez
views, quieter premium base
Faces Matanzas Bay along the seawall, minutes from the Plaza and quieter at night with sunrise views.
Anastasia Island
value, lighthouse and beach days
Cheaper than downtown, often free parking, and already on the island for lighthouse, alligators and the state park.
St. Augustine Beach / Crescent Beach
beach-first trips
Condo rentals, beach hotels and surf schools on A1A, best when the trip is half beach or more.
Vilano Beach
quieter north beach, return visitors
Restored motor court main street, wide beach and pier, ten minutes from the old town with thin dining.
Ponte Vedra Beach
golf and spa resort trips
True resort luxury format 30 minutes north, right for Sawgrass trips that day trip into St. Augustine.
Think twice about
- I-95 exit strips and World Golf Village as a visitor base
Chain hotel and outlet sprawl 15 to 25 minutes from everything historic, with nothing walkable. You drive and park for every coffee.
- Southern US-1 / Ponce de Leon Boulevard motel corridor
Ageing budget motels on a busy arterial, inconsistent properties and unwalkable setting, rarely enough cheaper than Anastasia Island.
Best restaurants in St. Augustine
Collage Restaurant
The city's fine dining benchmark, a tiny room doing eclectic cooking with local grouper and lobster ravioli.
Llama Restaurant
Peruvian fine dining in a tiny room, with Nikkei ceviche and Andean lamb unlike anything within 50 miles.
Michael's
Chef driven tasting and a la carte cooking with a deep wine list in a late 1700s coquina merchant house.
Cordova Coastal Chophouse
Gilded Age chophouse inside Casa Monica for steaks and raw bar on an occasion or hotel guest night.
The Floridian
Old Florida farm to table cooking on Spanish Street, with shrimp and grits and strong vegetarian options.
Catch 27
Fresh catch seafood rewritten around the day's fish, with crudos and a pretty courtyard patio.
Ice Plant Bar
Craft cocktails on house distilled spirits plus seasonal cooking inside the 1927 ice factory by the distillery.
Cap's On The Water
Waterfront dinner worth driving for, with sunset decks, an oyster bar and coastal cooking above view restaurant level.
Best bars in St. Augustine
Forgotten Tonic
Cocktail bar on Aviles Street that locals recommend, a step up from the St. George Street default.
Best coffee in St. Augustine
Kookaburra Coffee
Local coffee pick for a downtown break.
Cousteau's Waffle Bar
Waffle bar, a casual sweet stop downtown.
Outdoor things to do in St. Augustine
THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass
Pete Dye bucket list course, home of THE PLAYERS and the famous island green 17th hole.
Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass
Sister Sawgrass course with similar design language, wider and gentler at a materially lower green fee.
King & Bear Golf Course
Only course co-designed by Palmer and Nicklaus, open and playable for mid handicaps in St. Augustine itself.
Slammer & Squire Golf Course
Companion World Golf Village course through preserved woodland and wetland, a good second round.
St. Johns Golf Club
County run locals golf at a fraction of resort prices, the affordable round residents actually play.
Royal St. Augustine Golf and Country Club
Local value golf off SR-207, flatter and less manicured, used to balance a Sawgrass splurge.
Anastasia State Park
Four miles of undeveloped Atlantic beach plus calm Salt Run kayaking, the area's best beach day.
Florida Water Tours
Naturalist guided small boat and eco tours for dolphins and estuary wildlife around the old town.
Best hotels in St. Augustine
Casa Monica Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection
Landmark 1888 Moorish Revival palace and the only true full service luxury hotel in the old town.
The Collector Luxury Inn & Gardens
Adults oriented boutique compound of nine historic houses around gardens and a pool near the Castillo.
Bayfront Westcott House
Bayfront bed and breakfast with full breakfast, afternoon social hour and water views done right.
St. George Inn
Directly on St. George Street with a courtyard that insulates you, for being central and sleeping well.
Hilton St. Augustine Historic Bayfront
Reliable full service mid tier hotel with bay views, named a best first timer pick in stay guides.
Renaissance St. Augustine Historic Downtown Hotel
Newer build downtown full service hotel, a predictable option for elevators, gym and accessibility.
Pirate Haus Inn & Hostel
Private rooms and bunks a block from the Plaza at genuine budget prices, pancake breakfast included.
Villa 1565
Motor hotel on the northern edge of downtown, walkable to the Castillo with free parking.
Is St. Augustine expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $125 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $230 a person |
| Splurge | $600 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Flagler College: a few days ahead
- St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum: a few days ahead
- Ghost Tour: a few days ahead
- Sunset Sail: a few days ahead
- THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass: months ahead
- Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass: months ahead
- King & Bear Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Slammer & Squire Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Collage and Llama book one to two weeks ahead in season, Asado Life two to three weeks.
- Flagler Legacy Tour, lighthouse sunset slots and sunset sails book days ahead.
- TPC Sawgrass Stadium books as far ahead as the window allows and blacks out for THE PLAYERS in March.
- Nights of Lights rooms and lights cruises book weeks to months ahead for December weekends.
Is St. Augustine safe?
- Do not leave valuables visible in parked cars, break ins at beach and trailhead lots are the common crime.
- Watch footing on brick and cobbled lanes at night, flat closed shoes always.
- Rip currents at Anastasia and St. Augustine Beach are a serious seasonal risk, swim near lifeguards.
- Summer lightning and heat are real hazards, plan outdoor history for mornings and carry water.
St. Augustine travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- St. George Street eating as a default has the highest prices and most generic food.
- The oldest cluster of small paid novelties is a budget leak at 15 to 25 dollars for 20 minutes each.
- Timeshare pitches disguised as visitor information or implausibly cheap tickets.
- Fountain of Youth is a third day visit, not a first day headline.
Getting around St. Augustine: public transport and more
- Walk the Historic District first and drive last, it is roughly a mile long.
- Use the Historic Downtown Parking Facility on Castillo Drive as the default garage.
- Bridge of Lions openings back traffic up, add 15 minutes or walk the bridge for the view.
- Old Town Trolley is useful day one for orientation and limited mobility, not a substitute for walking.
Who St. Augustine suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make St. Augustine your trip
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