We are planning a trip to Florida at the end of the month. We will likely be staying in Orlando area for the majority of the trip but would like to take a couple of days and go to St. Augustine. We’ve never been so what are the “must see” things to do there?
Also, other than the theme parks, are there any off-the-beaten-path suggestions for Orlando?
It’s been many years since I’ve been, but the fort to me is the one must-see. Other than that, I understand the “old town” has been fixed up and has some interesting archaeological sites. But, that’s just hearsay.
We used to stay on Anastasia Island back before it got condo-ized – the beach is really nice. There’s also a state park on one end of the beach.
We’ve been researching online and there are some museums that look interesting, pirate cruise (cheesy?) and of course the fort.
St. Augustine is just a 15 minute drive south from where I live, on scenic A1A. My daughters and I go there almost every week and always have a jolly good time. Forget the great seafood restaurants and historical sites; go straight to the Alligator Farm… honkin’ big, stinky gators, all over the place! It just doesn’t get much better than that!
But, seriously, book a room at a quaint Bed & Breakfast on or near St. George Street, have dinner at Cap’s, maybe take an evening horse carriage ride—you won’t be disappointed.If you enjoy fishing, go a few miles south to Devils Elbow, get a water front cabin, rent an inshore fishing boat, catch the tide right for jig fishing with live bait…you’ll haul in buckets of redfish, black drum, sheepshead, flounder, seatrout…
Kinda wishin’ I could experience it all as a tourist once again…
When I retired from Volvo, a fellow SDMBer invited me to come to Florida and chill (The late and missed Nic2004)
We spent about a week in Orlando and 2 days in St. Augustine. If I had to do it over again, I would have flip flopped those times. A week in St A and 2 days in Orlando.
I enjoyed the hell out of it and want to go back. The history there is amazing.
I’ve already booked the week in Orlando but St. A is less than 2 hours away…we should be able return any time for a day trip.
The B&B prices were <ahem> above our budget so we’re staying at a resort that I booked through Priceline. Rick, I did try to reverse the trip but the prices in St. A were about 3x higher than Orlando.
Be sure to put some thought (and save up for) into where you’ll dine in St. Augustine—restaurants are a prime raison d’etre to visit the city. There are clunker restaurants to be sure, but the jewels offer culinary and aesthetic experiences you won’t readily forget.
As mentioned above, I’m partial to Cap’s but it’s off the beaten track from downtown, so you may prefer something closer to St. George Street. You can’t go wrong choosing from this top 10 list. Try the calamari at 95 Cordoba (inside the Casa Monica Hotel…worth going just to see the lobby), the fried green tomatoes at Harry’s, or enjoy the Mejiliones y Chorizo and a mojito at Columbia. If you’re traveling with kids, or you feel like a kid yourself, go to the family oriented Santa Maria restaurant, where you can scrape your food scraps down through little table-side trap doors to large, eagerly awaiting mullet and catfish. It’s one of those little pleasures that never gets old!
And…promise me you’ll smoke a stogie hand-rolled by this Cuban expat (his wife and daughter roll them well, too).
Oooo, the stogie is a GREAT idea. Hub loves an occasional cigar. This will be a special treat for him.
I can hear the passion in your posts, Tibbytoes. 
Thank you!
When driving there or back from Orlando take the scenic route up A1A from Daytona to St. Augustine. If you want to skip the traffic of Daytona you can still connect up with A1A just north of Ormond at exit 278 (Old Dixie Highway) that takes you through a state park to the ocean.
Sorry never been (sure would like to tho) but I thought I’d offer this bit of trivia. Some of the original inhabitants of St. Augustine came from the tiny island of Menorca, Spain. This cut & paste from Wiki:
The story of the Minorcan colony (as the entire group came to be known) is told, fictionally, in the book Spanish Bayonet by Stephen Vincent Benet, a prominent descendant of one of the leading Minorcan families of St. Augustine. The Minorcans, stayed on in St. Augustine through all the subsequent changes of flags, to become the venerable families of the community, marking it with language, culture, cuisine and customs.
Are you in Ponte Vedra? I just spent a week there and loved it. That coastal road, (Ponce deLeon?), was a remarkable display of high end architecture.
Ruby, we stayed at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. Rooms are right on the beach, there are NO crowds and there’s a number of good restaurants on site and more just a few miles away in town. We particularly liked the Palm Valley Fish Farm (off either Solana or Corona). Good golf there at the club too if you play.
In St. Aug we had a pretty good meal at the brewery near the bridge at old town. Just exploring around in that area was entertaining enough and the town square was nice. My crazy FIL followed one of the tours buses too and that led us to other sites worth visiting. By and far though the fort was the highlight. Be sure and ask the staff there to elaborate on whatever arouses your interest. We found them very knowlegable and eager to share.
It was a 45 minute drive north from where I used to live on scenic A1A (Ormond by the Sea).
“That coastal road, (Ponce deLeon?), was a remarkable display of high end architecture.”
Make that Ponte Vedra Blvd., S.H. 203.
If you eat at a place called Saltwater Cowboy’s, don’t order the alligator.
There used to be an outdoor pageant on the history of St. Augustine. Admittedly I was a teenager the last time I saw it but I remember liking it, and they had great special effects for regional theatre (especially during the hurricane scene). Does anybody know if it’s still in existence?
We like to take the trolley when we go. You can park your car there and I think the trolley is around $13 per person. They stop at most of the places of interest, and you can get off at every one and just catch the next trolley, as they come by every 10 minutes or so. The driver is also a tour guide and they share a lot of history and legend. Worth every penny!
There’s more than one cigar joint in the vicinity, make sure Hub ask’s where the Cuban guy’s shop is (it’s small and down a hallway). You’ll have a great time; be sure to post when you return.
Yes, liew, I am in Ponte Vedra. Small world: The head chef-owner of the Palm Valley Fish Camp (near Solano, on Rosco) is the little brother of a former business partner of mine (he owns two other fine restaurants in town), but now we usually go to one of the other Rosco Blvd fish camps, Lulus, Barbara Jeansor The Bridge(which is a very short walk from my house). On Julington Creek, Clark’s Fish Camp is a fun place to experience some exotic dishes.
The PV Inn & Club is quite nice (although we belong to the Cabana Club down the road). The “wife” and I had a couple of couple’s spa retreatsthere when we first got married, after she convinced me that they weren’t too foo foo for a man, but before she revealed herself as being the spawn-daughter of Satan :eek:.
We rent a big beachhouse by the Ponte Vedra club for a month every year & get a month-long membership there so we can dine/golf/swim, etc…
MIL drags us to SA at least once during that time. The fort is cool, and the museums as well.
We always arrive at lunchtime so we can eat at The Columbia. We usually have 14 in our party, and there’s something there for everyone.
This leads us to the downtown shopping area, which is a little hokey/touristy, but interesting nonetheless. There are some interesting and unique shops as well as some out of the way places to get a bite. And speaking of bites, The Alligator Farm mentioned above is pretty cool, even without kids. There is a big elevated walkway out back, and the trees are full of dozens of species of birds. Many are nesting when we’re there, and if you have a good lens - 200 to 500mm, you can get some awesome shots.
The view from the nearby lighthouseis nice, but you’ll have to climb it. I’ve yet to find a lighthouse with an elevator! There is a museum and giftshop of course, so stop by!
Tibby - we always go to Barbara Jeans, but last month went to Palm Valley instead. Loudest restaurant I’ve ever been too! Man, the place was crowded and just crazy loud. We had the far corner table by the window and all we could do is look at each other and laugh. The food, however, was excellent!
I must caution you about one thing: Ripley’s Museum!
As a kid, I loved Ripley’s Believe it or not books, and when I saw this place years ago, I thought “This is gonna be so awesome!” We took the kids, and while they sort of enjoyed it, I felt so disappointed that I asked for a refund. Didn’t get it.
Can’t really remember details - it’s been 8 years or so - but just felt it was such a waste of time. That’s just my opinion. YMMV.
Have fun!
We’re here just in time for the tail end of Irene. We arrived yesterday and we’ve already had dinner at Caps, lunch at Columbia, and got soaked at the pier at St. Augustine Beach. The actual pier is closed for fear of waves washing people over but we were able to see the 10’ waves from the beach today. Totally fricken awesome. Being land-locked in Indiana, it’s amazing to us to see the power of the ocean. We’ve taken the trolley around town and will be seeing some of the attractions tomorrow before we leave for Orlando.
Dinner tonight was at Murray Brothers Caddy Shack which was also pretty cool. We’ve heard from the locals that the french onion soup at the Bistro de’ Leon (or something like that) is good enough to commit a felony for. We arrived at the cigar shop just in time for closing so we’ll be back there tomorrow.