How to Spend a Day in St Augustine

We spent the first full day of our Florida trip in St Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States. Let me start off by saying that one day is not enough time to see all the great things this city has to offer. Here are some suggestions based on everything we did on our busy day in St Augustine.

A little History Lesson

I had always thought Jamestown (occupied by the early pilgrim settlers) was the first city. Although Jamestown is noted as the first English settlement, it wasn’t established until 1607. St. Augustine was founded by the Spaniards in 1565 after Spanish explorer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles planted the Spanish flag on the eastern cost of Florida. Because of this rich Spanish history, you can expect to see Spanish influence around every corner.

Old Town Trolley Tour

Our day began with tickets for the St Augustine Trolley Tour. This is a great all-day, hop on , hop off style tour that takes you past all the best attractions in the city. There are 22 stops in total. If you’ you’re lucky, your guide will offer funny and educational stories throughout the tour. As first timers to St Augustine, this was a great option. Although we didn’t stop at every attraction, we got to see all the highlights without driving around, looking for parking. All of the points of interest in this post are stops along the Old Town Trolley route.

Take the trolley tour to see St Augustine

Visit Castillo de San Marcos

The first stop of the day was at Castillo de San Marco National Monument. We spent an easy two hours here and learned so much early American history. One of the many highlights was the cannon firing demonstration. For details on visiting this fort, you can read my post Five Great Reasons to Visit Castillo de San Marcos.

Explore Colonial Quarter

There is so much to see in Colonial Quarter. While you are there, climb to the top of the 17th century watch tower for a view of Castillo de San Marcos. Then peek inside early settlement replicas and watch entertaining blacksmith demonstrations.

Tour a replica late-1500s Spanish ship called a caravel.

Walk down the “Flags Over St Augustine” boardwalk featuring all the different flags that have flown over the harbor since Ponce de Leon’s explorations.

Visit the Old City Gates

The city gates and wall was constructed in 1704 to help protect the Spaniards against invasion by English forces. The pillars you see here were re-built in 1808 from a material called coquina which consisted of crushed shells.

Grab a Bite to Eat along St George Street

St George Street is a pedestrian-only thoroughfare filled with shops and restaurants. Here you will find something for everyone. From pizza, seafood, crepes, Cuban, ice cream and cocktails, you are sure to find something you like.

We were on a mission to see all the things, so we opted for a quick empanada at the Spanish Bakery. You can read more about what else we tried in this post Quick Bites in St Augustine.

If we had more time I would have made reservations for Spanish/ Cuban food at The Columbia, Florida’s oldest restaurant!

Marvel at the Beautiful Churches and Buildings

There is no shortage of gorgeous architecture in St Augustine and Henry Flagler had his hand in almost all of them. Henry Flagler was the founder of the Florida East Coast Railway and was one of the main developers along Florida’s Atlantic coast.

Memorial Presbyterian Church was constructed by Henry Flagler in memory of his daughter who passed away in 1889. The church design is based on the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, Italy and features an ornate copper dome imported from Italy. If you enjoy unique/historic churches, there are several others in the area including Ancient City Baptist, Grace United Methodist and Cathedral Basilaca of St Augustine.

Other Places Worth Exploring

When you only have one day to spend in St Augustine you have to make some hard choices. Some places we were really excited about checking out just didn’t happen. On the top of that list for me was Flagler College. I had done a little (okay a lot) of research ahead of time and was in awe of this place and all the design details both on the exterior as well as the interior. Don’t take my word for it, check out these images from Trip Advisor.