Northeast Florida

St. Augustine Pirate Museum offers rare, authentic artifacts; it’s a real museum. But it injects of dose of Disney and interactive exhibits to make it fun for kids.

DAYTONA BEACH — Tiger Bay State Forest is a vast wilderness quite close to Daytona Beach International Speedway, and it’s a great destination for camping, fishing, off-road bike riding, hiking and horseback riding.

With charm, history and the beauty of nearby natural areas, this special destination offers visitors a long list of adventures. St. Augustine’s appeal starts with two key assets: The historic district with its shady brick lanes and and the natural beauty of the region,

Newly reopened after more than a year of closure, St. Augustine’s Fort Matanzas is a small stone fort on a pristine island. You take a short ferry ride for a ranger-led tour and spectacular scenery — and it’s all free.

Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is 46,000 acres of salt marshes, coastal dunes, and hardwood hammocks, but this national park also preserves fascinating Florida history.

This state park is so worth a drive to explore. It would take days to experience it all – a beautiful beach, a well-preserved Civil War fort, hiking, biking, wildlife, great camping.

This state park has superior cabins and is a great base for kayaking the Suwannee and hiking. It’s also home to an oddly dated museum on Stephen Foster. (We considered it a funky Florida find.)

At Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park near Jacksonville, Florida’s largest Civil War battle will be reenacted, with gun smoke, booming cannons and cavalry. Three of the famous “Colored Regiments” were among 10,000 troops that fought here.

Load your bikes on your carrier and head north to Old Florida. Along this bike trail, you can stop and hike a bit and maybe even see gators, wild horses or even bison in Paynes Prairie. This pretty paved trail also lets you use your gears on a hill or two.

Driving Florida’s northern tier on Interstate 10 is a long and lonely road. Florida state parks camping eases the stress with a layover in a peaceful oasis.