St Augustine and northeast Florida at a glance

Historical: St Augustine was established 55 years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed in Massachusetts

&#42 While in St Augustine, visit the Florida Heritage Museum, the Government House Museum, the Museum of Weapons and Early American History, and afterwards take a trip to the St Augustine Lighthouse and Museum.

&#42 St Augustine and St Augustine Beach are located in St Johns County, a one-hour, 40-minute drive north of Orlando. Nearby are the quiet beaches of Anastasia Island, as well as the more sophisticated Ponte Vedra Beach resort.

&#42 In St Augustine there are 28 Victorian and Spanish-style bed-and-breakfast inns, some centuries old, with period-style bedrooms, four-poster beds and claw-foot baths. These usually need to be booked in advance for weekend stays.

&#42 St Augustine is an ideal destination to visit either as an excursion from Orlando, Daytona Beach or St Petersburg on the Gulf Coast, or as part of a flydrive taking in other less well known areas of northeast Florida. These include Jacksonville, Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach.

&#42 Jacksonville was a beach retreat for stars of the 1920s and ’30s, and the Sea Turtle Inn on Atlantic Beach figures in John Grisham’s novel The Brethren. Grisham stayed here while writing some of the book.

St Augustine and northeast Florida at a glance