Bikers converge on Daytona Beach every March for Bike Week, but visitors often have a tough time finding a place to stay or camp and get lost in a sea of things-to-do.
Northeast Florida
Faver Dykes State Park offers excellent kayaking, productive fishing and woodsy camping just 15 miles from historic St. Augustine.
Just five minutes off I-95, we discovered the perfect stop on a roadtrip or weekend getaway destination: a lovely and intriguing historic district in Jacksonville.
Part II of Visiting Jacksonville: A companion to our guide to visiting Jacksonville’s historic Riverside Avondale neighborhood. This is a walking tour of historic homes, with photos and a map to guide you.
Driving U.S. 1 north of Titusville, you would never know Oak Hill even existed. But this gateway to the Mosquito Lagoon is worth finding. There’s fascinating history, a great fishing pier and the sort of atmospheric, out-of-the-way waterfront seafood shack that we love to discover.
Florida has miles of beaches, but nothing like the beach at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. Here, wind and surf have turned coquina rock into sculpture.
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,
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 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.)
There are 35 pawrific dog beaches in Florida. Find one near you.
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.
This original Florida roadside attraction still thrills, especially in the spring and early summer when its rookery fills with hundreds of nesting birds. The gators and crocs are well-presented with lots of information as well as entertainment.
Looking for a camp easily accessible from Interstate 95? These scenic Florida State Parks offer well-maintained campgrounds for your tent or RV.
Anastasia State Park is a stone’s throw from historic St. Augustine and offers 139 cozy campsites on a four-mile-long pristine beach that shimmers in the Florida sun.
Bulow Creek State Park is a lovely discovery. Just 10 minutes off I-95, it’s great for a quick picnic and to gaze at the grand old Fairchild Oak. Or you can spend the day and take a hike or scenic drive.
Hidden among the tidal marshes, Tomoka State Park offers a shady campground, miles of paddle trails, biking and hiking, and a productive fishery.
Crossing the Florida state line is something to cheer about, but there’s a lot more road ahead. Here are a few suggestions for overnight stays at these RV campgrounds.
When driving I-95, you can travel five minutes off the highway and find romantic ruins, have a picnic and a walk through the woods in this Flagler County state park. In minutes, you feel like you’re in another world.
The don’t-miss experience when visiting St. Augustine is touring the Castillo de San Marcos — the historic Spanish fort.
This out-of-the-way rural area on the St. Johns River offers good hiking, kayaking and springs. With Welaka as a base, we explored a place little changed by the years.
The Ormond Scenic Loop is a 30-mile road trip through live-oak canopies, waterfront postcard scenes, abundant wildlife, two state parks. It’s not long but it’s worth spending a few hours exploring the sights and parks.
This historic restaurant near Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park at Cross Creek is a great place to eat like a cracker. It offers an old Florida ambiance and menu.
Jacksonville is blessed with eight really special state parks, but you can only camp at two of them — Fort Clinch and Little Talbot Island. Both are ideal destinations for outdoors summer recreation.
The waterways along the Intracoastal in New Smyrna Beach are a terrific place to explore by kayak or SUP. Richard Barrett shares some of his favorite routes — places you might overlook when going to the popular beaches in the area.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings came to Cross Creek and wrote the beloved story of a young boy and his pet fawn, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. Today, visiting the author’s beautifully preserved home is an excellent way to discover the authentic Florida, far from the strip malls and theme parks.
The Castle Windy Trail is a shady respite from the never-ending sun of Cape Canaveral National Seashore, introducing you to the primitive coastal environment that was once typical of Florida’s Atlantic shoreline.
Driving your car on the beaches is a Florida tradition going back to horse-and-buggy days. Today, only a few beaches still allow the practice. We show you where and how on the Atlantic Coast.
One of the best Florida bike trails – the Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail – is a well-shaded rural trail that makes a stop at a rare-for-Florida Civil War site.