85 Best Sights in Northeast Coast, Florida

This 2-acre living-history museum with costumed re-enactors provides a vivid sense of life in St. Augustine from the 16th through the 18th centuries. The De Mesa–Sanchez House dates from the 1740s; though built on original foundations, other buildings—including a soldier's home, print shop, blacksmith's shop, and gunsmith—are replicas. Climb the 35-foot watchtower for a panoramic city view, dig for replica artifacts, create a leather medallion, take part in a musket drill, or watch a 16th-century ship being built. Tours start daily at 10:30, noon, 1:30, and 3. The complex also includes three restaurants: the Taberna del Caballo, St. Augustine Seafood Company, and Bull & Crown.

Parents looking for a nonsandy way to occupy the kids for a few hours or a whole day may find their salvation at this colorful complex that features go-kart racing, an 18-hole miniature golf course; a 3,000-square-foot laser tag arena; a 25-foot rock wall; the Sky Maze ropes course and zip line; a video arcade with 80 games; and a water park featuring slides galore, a lazy river, and seven different water attractions. There's a bar for adults as well as two eateries, Wave Grill and Paradise Grill. Poolside cabanas are available for rent.

The spring water at this lovely park 15 minutes north of the city, constantly at 72°F, might make swimming here a bit chilly, but there are plenty of other attractions if you're not up for it. The 4-mile Wild Persimmon Hiking Trail cuts through areas inhabited by deer, turkey, wild boar, and Florida black bears. You can take a 50-minute eco-history boat tour, walk through a butterfly garden, and rent canoes and kayaks. Need some fuel for all these activities? Start the day at the on-site Sugar Mill Restaurant, where you make your own pancakes on a table-top griddle.

Scientists surmise that, thousands of years ago, an underground cavern collapsed and created this park's most noteworthy geological wonder: a 500-foot-wide, 120-foot-deep sinkhole that's a designated National Natural Landmark. You can pack a lunch to enjoy in one of the park's picnic areas, and hike its nature trails. Guided walks typically take place on Saturday at 10 am. And you can bring Spot on a visit here, too; just keep him on a leash.

The best view at Port Canaveral is no longer from the top of a cruise ship. In fact, the view from atop this towering seven-story structure makes the cruise ships look—well, not so massive after all. The tower, a short walk from the cruise port, is equal parts museum and scenic overlook. From the seventh-floor deck you can see the cruise port, the Atlantic Ocean, the Banana River, and even the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. Displays on others floors highlight everything from space flight to surfing and marine life to maritime history. Don't miss the interactive exhibits, including a virtual ship's bridge that lets you pilot a boat through the Canaveral Channel and into the Atlantic. A theater shows a 20-minute film on the history of Brevard County, and a small café sells refreshments and baked goods. The ground floor houses a visitor information center.

To look at a marvelous Venetian Renaissance–style structure, head to this church, built by Flagler in 1889 as a memorial to his daughter Jenny, who died during childbirth. In addition to Jenny, this is the final resting place for Flagler himself; his first wife, Mary; and their granddaughter Marjorie. The dome of this stunning sanctuary towers more than 100 feet and is topped by a 20-foot Greek cross.

On the campus of the University of Florida, the state's official museum of natural history (and the largest of its type in the Southeast) has more than 40 million specimens of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, mollusks, reptiles, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, recent and fossilized plants, and archaeological and anthropological artifacts. It also holds one of the world's largest collections of butterflies and moths. Permanent exhibits include those on Florida's geological and fossil history, its early Indigenous peoples, and the biodiversity of its flora and fauna. Enjoy live butterflies at one of many feeding stations, experience a life-size limestone cave, and see fossil skeletons of a mammoth and mastodon from the Ice Age. The museum also features changing temporary exhibits.

Spread over 130 acres along the St. Johns River 13 miles northeast of Downtown Jacksonville (via Route 113), this site is part of the vast Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, which has both historical and recreational options. Exhibits explore first contact between the Timucua people and Europeans, and the waterways and shady paths offer hikes and pristine beaches.

The original fort was built in the 1560s by French Huguenots, who held what may have been the original Thanksgiving on the site. They were later slaughtered by the Spanish in the first major clash between European powers for control of what would become the United States. An oak-wood pathway leads to a replica of the original fort—a great, sunny place to picnic (bring your own food and drink), stretch your legs, and explore a small museum. There's a 1-mile, self-guided nature trail and wayside exhibits between the visitor center and the fort.

This once-dated attraction continues to undergo a major rejuvenation. There are still fun elements from the original "Old Florida" (admittedly somewhat kitschy), but there's much that's new and exciting, too. The timing is appropriate—in 2013, the park celebrated the 500th anniversary of Ponce de León's arrival. The 15-acre waterfront site is also the location where Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, in 1565, established the first and oldest continuous European settlement in what's now the United States. Excavations have also shown it was the site of a Franciscan mission to the Timucuan Indians. The park includes a replica of the mission, a Timucuan village and burial grounds, a boatyard in which a 16th-century-style boat is being constructed, and a three-story watchtower with broad, panoramic vistas of the bay, inlet, and Mendez Settlement field. Other highlights include cannon firings; a working blacksmith shop; Navigators Planetarium; a gift shop; a small, elegant café; and the springhouse where you can still quench your thirst from "the fountain of youth."

This historical building has been a hospital, a courthouse, a customs house, a post office, and, during the American Revolution, the home of the British governors. And it was from here, in 1821, that the Spanish governor ceded control of East Florida to the United States to conclude 256 years of colonial control. After a major renovation, the building reopened in 2013 and features revolving exhibits. A shop on-site sells history-related souvenirs and a wide selection of books.

Memorabilia from the early days of beach automobile racing are on display here, as are historic photographs, Native American and Civil War artifacts, a postcard exhibit, and a video that details city history. There's a shop for gifts and antiques, too. Admission is by donation on Thursday; on Saturday, kids 12 and under are free.

This 112,800-square-foot museum has five main collections: Asian, with works dating back to the Neolithic era; African, encompassing costumes, domestic wares, and personal adornments; Modern, featuring the works of Georgia O'Keeffe, William Morris Hunt, Claude Monet, and George Bellows; Contemporary, with original pieces by Yayoi Kusama and El Anatsui; and Photography, including the work of Jerry N. Uelsmann, a retired University of Florida professor.

Though it's officially a Jacksonville city park, this popular spot on the northern side of the St. Johns River is often grouped with Amelia's beaches. It's one of a handful of beaches on which you can drive; no special permit is required; however, four-wheel-drive vehicles are highly recommended. Families with lots of beach equipment like the option of parking close to the water, but it takes vigilance to avoid soft sand and incoming tides. The ocean side offers good surfing, bodyboarding, and surf fishing. On the northwestern side is a shallow, sheltered lagoon that's a favorite with windsurfers, paddleboarders, and parents of small children. The southeastern side offers views of the aircraft carriers and destroyers at Mayport Naval Station. Rough campsites are available. The park is also an important stop for migrating birds, so at certain times of the year, some areas are closed to vehicles. Amenities: lifeguards (seasonal); showers; toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming; windsurfing.

Enjoy the waves at one of the region's busier beaches, which stretches along the coast for 4 miles. A boardwalk and a bevy of beachfront restaurants and shops are also draws, so expect crowds, especially during spring and summer school breaks. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (seasonal); parking; showers; toilets. Best for: partiers; sunrise; surfing; swimming.

A wonderful taste of the real Florida, this 4½-acre beach and oceanfront campground has picnic pavilions, bike paths, and a 1,200-foot-long fishing pier that doubles as a perfect vantage point from which to watch a liftoff from Cape Canaveral or to glimpse the gigantic cruise ships as they depart the port for the Bahamas. Lifeguards are on duty year-round, and all manner of equipment from beach chairs and umbrellas to bodyboards to beach wheelchairs is available for rent. A jetty constructed of giant boulders adds to the landscape; a walkway across it provides access to a less-populated stretch of beach. This is Florida without the theme-park varnish. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: sunrise; surfing; swimming; walking.

Here you'll find a stone waterwheel house, a campground, a natural-spring swimming pool, and hiking trails. The 7-mile Juniper Springs run is a narrow, twisting, and winding canoe ride, which, although exhilarating, isn't for the novice.

Built in 1792 by Zephaniah Kingsley, a landowner who produced Sea Island cotton, citrus, sugarcane, and corn with the aid of about 60 slaves, this is the oldest remaining cotton plantation in the state. Take a self-guided tour of a barn and 23 tabby (a concretelike mixture of sand and crushed shells) slave houses to learn about the lives of the people who labored here. Weekend open-house hours are available, yet limited from 10 am to 12 pm and 1 pm to 4 pm to protect the structure.

In his quest to turn Florida into an American Riviera, Henry Flagler built two fancy hotels in 1888: the Ponce de León, which became Flagler College, and the Alcazar, which closed during the Great Depression, was purchased by publisher Otto Lightner in 1946, and was donated to the city in 1948. It's now a museum with three floors of furnishings, costumes, Victorian art glass, not-to-be-missed ornate antique music boxes, and even an early-20th-century-era shrunken head from the Jivaro Indians of Ecuador.

Of all Fernandina Beach beach access points, this is likely to be the most crowded—but it's also the most fun for kids and teens. Not only are there shaded playgrounds, sand volleyball courts, a beachfront playground, picnic tables, and a multipurpose court at the park itself, but there's old-school fun to be had at the adjacent skate park and vintage miniature-golf course, whose concession stand sells cold drinks, ice cream, and snow cones. A casual restaurant and bar are right on the beach. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (seasonal); parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

The world's first oceanarium was constructed in 1938, 18 miles south of St. Augustine. This National Register of Historic Places designee, now part of the Georgia Aquarium, has come a long way from marine film studio to theme park to its current iteration as dolphin research, education, and entertainment center. The formal dolphin shows are history, but you can have a far more memorable experience with interactive programs that allow you to swim with and feed the animals or become a dolphin trainer for a day. Programs start from a simple "touch-and-feed" option and are as elaborate as a super-expensive "trainer for a day." General admission allows you to observe the dolphins through 6-foot-by-10-foot acrylic windows. The 1.3-million-gallon facility is home to 13 dolphins, and until 2014 the park housed Nellie, the longest-lived dolphin in human care until her death at the age of 61. A new calf, Coquina, was born shortly after Nellie's death. Other exhibits feature native Florida marine life such as tarpon, sharks, spotted eagle rays, and giant sea turtles, as well as historical artifacts dating back to the park's inception as a nautical movie studio.

One of America's most cherished authors found inspiration in this out-of-the-way hamlet about 20 miles outside of Gainesville. The 90-acre park, set amid aromatic citrus groves, has a playground for kids and short hiking trails, where you might see owls, deer, or Rawlings' beloved "red birds." But the main attraction is the restored Florida Cracker–style home, where Rawlings wrote classics such as The Yearling and Cross Creek and entertained the likes of poet Robert Frost, author Thornton Wilder, and actor Gregory Peck. The house is guarded closely by spirited roosters, and access to its interior is only available by guided tours.

The site, north of the Historic District, commemorates where America's first mass was celebrated. A 208-foot-tall stainless-steel cross (purportedly the world's tallest) allegedly marks the spot where the mission's first cross was planted in 1565. Also on the property is the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, the first shrine devoted to Mary in the United States. The landscape is exquisitely maintained, and the mission is crisscrossed with paths. A museum and gift shop are also on the property.

This behemoth museum's displays range from expansive collections of Cuban and American art to Coca-Cola and Americana items. Other highlights include a rare Napoleonic exhibit and a complete (and eye-popping) skeleton of a giant ground sloth that's 130,000 years old. Kids love the Charles and Linda Williams Children's Museum, which features interactive science, engineering, and physics exhibits; a nature preserve with ½ mile of boardwalks and nature trails; and a state-of-the-art planetarium with daily shows. Florida art dating back to the 18th century is featured in the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, a freestanding, 26,000-square-foot Florida Cracker–style addition. Artists represented include John James Audubon, Thomas Hart Benton, and N.C. Wyeth.

Bordering the Stetson University campus, the museum's main hub houses five galleries that display rotating exhibits and a permanent collection that includes ceramics, watercolor, mixed media, and photography, including a haunting portrait by photographer Jack Mitchell of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken just weeks before Lennon's death. Another satellite downtown location, just a mile away, has three more galleries and the museum store.

MOSH, as it's known locally, is home to the Bryan-Gooding Planetarium, one of the largest single-lens planetariums in the United States, where the resolution of the shows (an additional $6) is significantly sharper than that of the biggest HDTV on the market. The planetarium also presents 3-D laser shows to accompany its ever-popular Cosmic Concerts ($12).

MOSH itself has a variety of interactive exhibits and programs that include Health in Motion: Discover What Moves You, where you'll gain a better understanding of your body in motion, as well as health and nutrition; JEA Powerplay: Understanding our Energy Choices, where you can energize the future city of MOSHtopia as you learn about the science of energy and alternative power sources; the Florida Naturalist's Center, where you can interact with northeast Florida wildlife; and the Currents of Time, where you navigate 12,000 years of northeast Florida history. Atlantic Tails: Coastal Creatures of Northeast Florida has a life-size sculpture of a right whale and an intertidal touch tank. Nationally acclaimed traveling exhibits are also featured.  Before visiting, be sure to purchase your timed-entry tickets online.

Between Atlantic and Jacksonville beaches, this is a great family spot—perfect for combining a day at the beach with other activities. Because Neptune and Atlantic beaches share Atlantic Avenue's Town Center, with its assortment of restaurants, galleries, stores, and boutiques, you can easily escape the sun when you're ready for great food, shopping, and live entertainment. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (seasonal); showers. Best for: sunrise; swimming; walking.

This public beach extends 7 miles from the northernmost part of New Smyrna's barrier island south to the Canaveral National Seashore. It's mostly hard-packed white sand lined with heaps of sandy dunes; because they're endangered, it's against the law to walk on or play in them or to pick the sea grass, which helps to stabilize the dunes. From sunrise to sunset cars are allowed on certain sections of the beach (speed limit: 10 mph). In season there's a $20 beach-access fee for cars. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (some with fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: sunrise; surfing; swimming; walking.

Just five minutes from St. Augustine, this site (aka Usina Beach) includes boat ramps, two campsites, and a picnic area with grills. If you'd rather eat in a restaurant, you're in the right spot—a variety of eateries overlook the ocean or the Intracoastal Waterway. Amenities: lifeguards (seasonal); parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; walking.

At this 19th-century prison, felons were detained and released or detained and hanged from the gallows in back. A knowledgeable "inmate" will guide you through the men's, women's, and maximum-security cells, relaying tales of executions and the less-than-appealing sanitary conditions of the jail in its heyday. After learning the history of local crime and punishment and seeing displays of weapons and other artifacts, you can browse the surfeit of souvenirs in Gator Bob's Trading Post and the adjacent Old Store Museum.  Note that the museum is at the starting point of the Old Town Trolley Tour.

Known as the Gonzalez-Alvarez House, Florida's oldest surviving Spanish-colonial dwelling is a National Historic Landmark. The current site dates from the early 1700s, but there's been a structure here since the early 1600s. Much of the city's history is seen in the building's modifications and additions, from the coquina blocks—which came into use to replace wood soon after the town burned in 1702—to the house's enlargement during the British occupation. The complex also includes the Manucy Museum; the Page L. Edwards Gallery and its rotating exhibits; a gift shop; and an ornamental garden.