You can swim in the Atlantic then walk into a 1672 fort before lunch in St. Augustine

St. Augustine’s coast isn’t your typical Florida beach

St. Augustine Beach sits on Anastasia Island along Florida’s northeast Atlantic coast, about 40 miles south of Jacksonville.

It’s a short drive from downtown St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European-founded settlement in the continental United States.

You can spend a morning on soft white sand with easy Atlantic waves rolling in, then walk into a fort built in 1672 before lunch. Not many beach towns in America give you that combination.

How a Spanish military outpost turned into a resort town

Spain planted St. Augustine in 1565 as a military base, staking its claim to La Florida and protecting its Atlantic shipping routes.

Over the next few centuries, the settlement passed from Spain to Britain and back again before the United States took over in 1821.

Then, in the late 1800s, industrialist Henry Flagler arrived with railroad money and a vision. He built grand hotels and pulled wealthy Americans south for the winter.

Tourism took root, and St. Augustine Beach grew up alongside it.

Walk 1,300 feet over the Atlantic on the Ocean Pier

The St. Johns County Ocean Pier stretches 1,300 feet into the Atlantic. You can walk it for sightseeing or drop a line for fishing for a small fee.

Back at the beach, Pier Park surrounds it with free access, volleyball courts, a covered pavilion, restrooms and a gift shop. If you’re traveling with young kids, the free splash pad nearby will be a hit.

On Wednesdays, a farmers market sets up in the parking lot with local produce and handmade goods.

Anastasia State Park’s four miles of protected shoreline

North of the beach town, Anastasia State Park covers more than 1,600 acres of Anastasia Island.

Four miles of white sand sit protected inside the park, backed by ancient sand dunes, tidal marshes and maritime hammocks. You can swim, surf, kayak, paddleboard, fish or hike the Ancient Dunes Nature Trail.

The park sits on the Great Florida Birding Trail, and Salt Run, the tidal waterway along the island’s edge, draws roseate spoonbills, painted buntings, osprey and bald eagles. There are 139 campsites, all a short walk from the water.

Cannonballs bounced off this fort’s walls for a reason

The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, and the Spanish started building it in 1672 using a material called coquina.

Quarried from Anastasia Island, coquina is a soft limestone made of compressed ancient shells, and it turned out to be perfect for absorbing cannon fire.

During British sieges in 1702 and 1740, cannonballs sank into the walls instead of shattering them. The fort was completed in 1695 and never taken in battle.

The National Park Service manages it today and keeps it open year-round.

Climb 219 steps for a view that covers three landmarks at once

The St. Augustine Lighthouse stands 165 feet tall on Anastasia Island, and the climb to the top is 219 steps.

The tower went up between 1871 and 1874 to replace an earlier structure that erosion slowly pushed into the sea.

From the top, you can see the Atlantic in one direction and the Intracoastal Waterway and downtown St. Augustine in the other. It’s the oldest surviving brick structure in the city.

The original 1874 first-order Fresnel lens is still inside the tower and still guides ships today.

St. George Street runs on a colonial roadbed from the 1700s

St. George Street runs through the heart of the Historic District as a pedestrian-only corridor, and you’re walking on a path first laid out in the colonial era.

Many of the buildings along it are original structures or reconstructions built on historic foundations.

As you work your way down the street, you’ll pass the Oldest Wooden School House, the Colonial Quarter and the City Gates. Local shops, art galleries and small restaurants fill the storefronts.

Most people who come for an hour end up spending half a day.

A Gilded Age hotel where the pool became a restaurant

Henry Flagler commissioned the Hotel Alcazar in 1888, and the architectural firm Carrere and Hastings designed it in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style.

Those same architects later went on to design the New York Public Library.

The hotel is now the Lightner Museum, and its three floors hold Gilded Age art, Victorian glass, antique musical instruments and natural history specimens.

The former indoor swimming pool, once one of the largest in the country, now serves as a restaurant. It’s one of the more unusual dining rooms you’ll find in Florida.

Tiffany windows inside a building made of poured concrete

Flagler College occupies the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, which opened in 1888 as Flagler’s first great resort in St. Augustine.

The building went up as one of the first large poured-concrete structures in the United States, and the interior is loaded with ornate hand-carved woodwork, imported marble and Tiffany stained-glass windows.

The college sits in the Historic District, so you can walk over from St. George Street. Public tours run seasonally and take you through spaces that most visitors to Florida never get to see.

Paddle Salt Run and watch dolphins work the shallows

Salt Run is a calm tidal waterway that runs along the length of Anastasia Island, sitting between the beach and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Kayakers and paddleboarders move through it at a slow pace, and dolphins, manatees, roseate spoonbills, great blue herons, wood storks and tricolor herons are regular company.

The waterway borders Anastasia State Park, and rentals are available inside the park if you don’t bring your own board or boat. It’s a different way to see the island, and a quieter one than the beach side.

Free concerts, food trucks and a Saturday farmers market

St. Augustine Beach runs a seasonal Music and Art by the Sea series at the Pier Park pavilion, and admission is free. You’ll find live music, local art and food trucks in the same place on the same afternoon.

The Wednesday farmers market at the pier runs every week with fresh produce and handmade goods.

Just outside Anastasia State Park, the St. Augustine Amphitheatre hosts its own Saturday morning farmers market year-round in addition to concerts.

Between the pier events and the amphitheatre schedule, there’s usually something going on any day of the week.

Start your morning on sand and your afternoon inside a 350-year-old fort

Almost no beach town in America gives you what this stretch of Florida coast gives you. Four miles of protected sand in the morning, then an afternoon inside a fort that cannonballs couldn’t crack.

A lighthouse with its original 1874 lens still working. A pedestrian street walking on 300-year-old ground.

The area works for a long weekend, but a full week won’t leave you bored.

Families, couples and solo travelers all find something here that a regular Florida beach trip doesn’t come close to offering.

Visit St. Augustine Beach in Florida

St. Augustine Beach sits on Anastasia Island at St. Augustine Beach, FL 32080, about 40 miles south of Jacksonville. The beach has free public access at several points along A1A, with parking near the pier.

Pier Park is open daily, and the free splash pad and volleyball courts are open to anyone. The Wednesday farmers market runs weekly at the pier parking lot.

Anastasia State Park, Castillo de San Marcos, the St. Augustine Lighthouse, St. George Street and the Lightner Museum are all within a short drive.

Check the official websites for current hours and admission prices.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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