St Augustine?

[Keacc]

We will be spending a week (Nov 7th-14th) at Cypress Point GV in Orlando to relax. We may do a day or two at the parks and a trip to the Space Center. I just found out that Trans Siberian Orchestra will be doing a concert in Jacksonville on Nov 12th. We have seen them in Chicago and in Lakeland Florida every year for the last 6 years and always enjoy them. I thought that we may go to see them in Jacksonville and I was wondering about going to St Augustine for the day. I heard that there are a lot of historical sites to see. Can anyone recommend things to see and do there? I am also looking for a decent but reasonably priced hotel for Nov 12th in either Jacksonville or St Augustine because we don't want to drive back to Orlando after the concert. Suggestions please.

 

[Pikester]

Hello! One place that I heard to visit is the St. Augustine Lighthouse. A lot of history there. The place was even featured on Ghost Hunters. They visited twice and caught figures and voices on video. Could be an interesting location to visit.

Here is a website:

http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/

 

[ChristusG]

We live in Jacksonville, so we're about 45 minutes away from St Augustine from the part of Jacksonville we live.

There's plenty to do in St Augustine. There's a wax museum, the Fort, the Fountain of Youth, the Old Jail, you can visit the Lighthouse, check out the beach, walk along the shops on St George street. You can rent a scooter and ride around the city like we did one weekend. You can visit Ripley's Believe It Or Not. There's all sorts of historical sights, ghost tours, sight seeing tram rides. You can take a horse drawn carriage ride through the city. Then there's also the outlet malls. There's plenty to do in St Augustine for a day.

As for a hotel, we celebrated hubby's birthday one year by staying in the Embassy Suites on Baymeadows Rd in Jacksonville. Very nice and clean, seperate bedroom from the living area, nice garden atrium with streams in the middle of the hotel, indoor pool, inroom movies. Reasonably priced. We enjoyed it there.

 

[wen8jr]

St. Augustine is a hidden jewel because it has not been completely taken over by tourism. Good Morning America had it on about two weeks ago as the #1 hidden USA vacation getaway that makes you feel like you are visiting another country.

I recommend Freedom Schooner for a tail ship cruise, especially at sunset. It is a great way to see St. Augustine from the water...which is beautiful. Reasonably priced and they serve drinks/snacks. Crew is very nice. It lasts 2 to 3 hours. We had a lovely time, our 13 year old loved it and it was the highlight of our stay there.

You'll also want to visit Castillo de San Marcos, stroll by historical Casa Monica Hotel (we stayed there but it can be pricey) & visit Lightner Museum. A trolley tour gets you around the city and you can jump/on off as you like. It is easy to get around in town by car as well.

 

[spiceycat]

here is some more information.

http://staugustine.com/history/

hey my brother does volunteer work for the lighthouse! don't think he believes in ghost though.

he definitely enjoys his work there.

 

[loriandmatt]

i have always wanted to visit!!! after speaking to some Fla locals on our last WDW trip we decided that next Fla trip we will make it a point to spend a day in St Augustine. We wanted to see old florida, they said St. Augustine was the place to do that.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Hello! One place that I heard to visit is the St. Augustine Lighthouse. A lot of history there. The place was even featured on Ghost Hunters. They visited twice and caught figures and voices on video. Could be an interesting location to visit.

Here is a website:

http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/

Go on line and sign up for Entertainment two week free trial and you well be able to get coupons for anywhere in the country but they expire in two weeks so you need to wait to print them till you are going. They had one for the St. Augustine Lighthouse. It saved us 10.00! There are lots of other coupons for St. Augustine. If you decide to do a ghost tour do not do the Ghosts and Gravestones tour. We took it last week and it was not worth anywhere near the 25.o0 per person. It was not a great tour. There is however a coupon for Old Town Trolley daytime tours and it would be worth it. If you have more than two people, have more than one person sign up and get more coupons.