Jacksonville/St. Augustine Overview

Welcome to Jacksonville, a beach and banking capital, that, together with historic St. Augustine, is the hub of Florida's First Coast. First visited in 1493, the region surrounds the glittering (and north-flowing) St. John's River.

Districts

Jacksonville defines itself by its historic past and its location where the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean meet.

A key crossroads for more than 200 years, Jacksonville lured Northeasterners in search of winter sunshine. The city has gone to great lengths and expense to retain and restore its oldest homes and earliest settlements.

Trees line the avenues, lawns roll down to the river, and porch-rocking folks sit "of an evening" waving to passers. Such tranquil settings are part of the charm of this city billed as the largest metropolitan area in the nation, covering more than 840 scenic square miles.

A half-hour's drive south brings you to historic St. Augustine, renown for its historic sites and beaches lined with hotels, restaurants and entertainment facilities.

More occurs just south of Jacksonville at Ponte Vedra Beach, where many settle in to take advantage of the area's top golf courses.

Entertainment

The heart and soul of this Southern metropolis is the north-flowing St. Johns River, twisting and turning through the city and finally emptying into the Atlantic Ocean on the city's eastern border.

All that water seeps into every aspect of Jacksonville's entertainment scene, from the fast-paced downtown grid that straddles the river to miles of sandy beaches where the parties last well into the night. If you're looking for something to do in this young urban city, you won't have to look far from the water to find it.

Sometimes funky, sometimes elegant, sometimes down-home, this up-and-coming city shines as music, dancing, arts, and history unite here in harmony. Jacksonville is a place with no pre-defined "scenes"; you choose your own kind of fun from the hippest nightclub to the coolest pub, from classical music to rock n' roll, from trendy cuisine to old-fashioned Southern cooking, from upscale malls to footballs.

Dining and Drinking

Identifying "local" flavors along Florida's First Coast is no easy task. Over these sandy shores has streamed a long parade of "foreigners," from Italy's Christopher Columbus to Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, to French Protestant Hugenots, settlers, and African slaves, including residents of the Caribbean islands from from Aruba to Trinidad and beyond. Along with Cubans settlers came Mexicans, Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Italians.

Add to those international culinary influences chefs from nearby Southern states, lured by the abundance of natural ingredients and Southern atmosphere and locale, and together the combination has created a seaside bouillabaisse of cultures that brings to discerning diners an array of flavors from simple to complex, from sizzle to sauté.

Numerous as are the options, but the best part of dining out in Jacksonville and St. Augustine is finding your own favorite flavors on the flavorful First Coast.

Where To Stay

Expressways surround this bustling city where towering skyscrapers soar in a blaze of silvery reflections. Now the state's insurance and banking capital, Jacksonville spread out for miles, making this city of about 700,000 the largest metropolis in the nation. Through it all streams the wide St. Johns River, one of the few rivers in the United States that flows north!

On this river flowed the first stream of tourists who sailed from New York on steamers, lured by mild winter temperatures. They settled into guesthouses and later into huge hotels built by railroad entrepreneur Henry Flagler who had a major economic impact on the state.

Those early hotels built to provide every amusement for wealthy, wintering northerners who swam in a huge pool at the Lightner Hotel, now a museum, and dwelled in splendor at Flagler Hotel, whose magnificent grounds live on as a handsome college.

In all months of the year, the city also proves alluring to a steady stream of business travelers who drive, fly and even cruise here to wheel and deal with a bevy of bankers and insurance vendors who have made this city their headquarters.

While those business travelers settle into sleek downtown hotels sporting conference centers and meeting rooms, leisure travelers head for the region's alluring beaches, dotted with dunes and sea oats and lapped by gentle waves. It is, in fact, whispered that a number of business travelers also opt for a place in the sun, settling into oceanside accommodations that offer play at the end of day.

In nearby St. Augustine, bed-and-breakfast inns outnumber hotels and can be found in every antique street. Cozy, cheerful, laden with antiques and warm welcomes, these small hostelries are romantic spots to settle in, no matter your reason for visiting the area. In these beauties, sparkling chandeliers, fireplaces, pools and gardens, porches and claw foot bathtubs, abet four-poster beds. With all their antiquity, however, the houses in which these inns reside have been modernized, offering all the necessities of contemporary life in an antique environment.

Whatever your pleasure in hotels, there's a pleasure palace hoping to please you here on Florida's First Coast.

Did You Know?

Jacksonville is geographically the largest city in the continental United States.

Orientation/Geography

Situated on Florida's northern border and coastline, Jacksonville and St. Augustine are only a short distance from both the beaches and Georgia.


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