I spent five action-packed days in Saint Augustine last month. The city and surrounding area—sometimes called Florida’s Historic Coast—has so much to offer, especially if you like nature and history as much as I do. Here are my top picks.
Favorite hotel: Holiday Inn Express Vilano Beach
Okay, it’s the only hotel I stayed in. But it was perfect for me. Vilano Beach is across a bridge from the historic part of Saint Augustine. It’s only about three miles away, but feels like you’re in a beach town. A long, long beach is only a few blocks from the Holiday Inn Express Vilano Beach, convenient for early morning runs and sunrise watching. Which is a big thing here. My first morning, I went down to the beach expecting to be alone. Maybe 100 people had beat me there!
I love to be places that people care about the sunrise. Or I could stay in and watch sunrise from my hotel balcony. The hotel is also convenient to a boardwalk nature trail through wetlands, and to the dock of the fun Red Boat Tours. As a vegan, I appreciated that the hotel buffet featured oatmeal made with water rather than milk. The staff were friendly and helpful.
Favorite outdoor activity
This was a toss up between going out on SUPs with a local friend and kayaking with AyoLane Halusky, who owns a tour and nature education company called Earth Kinship. But I’ll go with the latter, as anyone reading this can sign up for that experience. We put in our kayaks at Deep Creek, about half an hour southwest of Saint Augustine, and meandered through the swampy habitat, spotting turtles, herons and anhingas.
AyoLane chose the name for his company because he believes in humans being in kinship with nature, rather than stewardship—a word that assumes we know how to take care of nature and should impose our will upon it. He’s very at home in nature and believes strongly in relationships between humans and other species. “Elders they used to say, ‘If you have an issue, go talk to a tree,’” he told me. Advice he often takes. And it reminded me of being a very young child and having a tree friend who lived outside my branch library. I would sit with it and talk to it by putting my hand on its bark.
Toward the end of our paddle, we chose spots at some distance from each other and backed our kayaks into the greenery. Then we sat in silence for ten minutes. The place was so beautiful and peaceful.
Favorite museum tour
Tour guide Katie Timoney gave me an excellent one-on-one tour of the Spanish Military Hospital Museum. Dressed in a period outfit, she explained 400-year-old methods of amputation and trephination, and showed me the tools of the trade. Gruesome and fascinating!
Runner up, the tour of Flagler College. Built as the Ponce de Leon Hotel by uber-rich 19th century industrialist and Florida developer Henry Flagler, it has amazing Tiffany windows and chandeliers.
Favorite historic building: Villa Zorayda
I loved Villa Zorayda, a house built in 1883 by an eccentric millionaire trying to capture the 13th century Moorish ambiance of Spain’s Alhambra Palace.
I was especially taken with the turquoise, lapis and dark red accents, the harem room with its intricately carved window covering and, best of all, the world’s oldest existing rug. The cursed 2400-year-old rug depicts a cat and is made entirely of cat hair. It hangs on the wall because anyone who walks on it dies!
Favorite vegan meal: Catch 27
This one surprised me. I went because of their mocktail menu, but didn’t expect such a delicious vegan meal. I had the vegan Cuban black beans, with, rice, guacamole, salsa, tortilla chip strips and Datil pepper hot sauce. Datil pepper is the local hot sauce of choice. If I’d been checking luggage, I would have brought home a few bottles. Anyway, we sat in the back patio of Catch 27. The night was cool but the outdoor heaters kept us warm.
Favorite new culinary trend: Mocktail Trail
Saint Augustine has embraced the nondrinking trend with its new Saint Augustine Mocktail Trail! As a sober person, I love to see this. I visited several places on the new trail during my five days in the city. At The Floridian, (also good for vegans), I had Original Sin’s non-alcoholic White Widow cider. The 1912 Ocean Bar and Rooftop in Ponte Vedra, north of Saint Augustine, made me a Faux-Pache. This lovely drink contained Fever Tree Ginger Beer, pineapple, lime and lots of fresh mint leaves.
At Catch 27 in downtown Saint Augustine, I went wild and had two mocktails. The All Bark consisted of preserved lemon, grapefruit, Giffard aperitif, and orgeat. For dessert, I drank a Mr. Snuffleupagus, made of house spiced Thai tea and coconut cream. Fans of zero-proof wines will find a few at Pesca Rooftop Kitchen and Bar at Hyatt Place Vilano Beach.
I didn’t make it to Chez L’Amour, but it has a well-rounded N/A section on its menu with four drinks, including the intriguing Bandleader, a concoction of with beet, almond, fennel, lemon and NA aperitif. I hear that the mocktail trail will expand as more restaurants and bars hop on the non-alc bandwagon.
Favorite animal activity: Crocodile Crossing
I’m not the biggest fan of zoos, but I was intrigued by the chance to zipline over gators at at the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. The zip and ropes course, called Crocodile Crossing, was extremely fun. I loved the aerial view of gators, plus being up in the treetops and seeing the roseate spoonbills that pick this place to nest. People have been coming here for thrilling encounters with massive reptiles since 1893, making it one of the state’s oldest attractions.
I was also taken with Scott Brown, Crocodile Crossing’s manager. If I had any worries that the workers didn’t care about the animals, he quickly dispelled them. Scott had me laughing and crying as he told me the story of his love affair with Maxine, an umbrella cockatoo who tragically died trying to pass an infertile egg. “Every day I’d go talk to her for 20, 30 minutes first thing in the morning,” he said. “I called her my dirty chicken.”
While people usually say that birds are just mimicking words without understanding their meaning, it sounds like Maxine understood more than science gives birds credit for. “She had a few naughty words, too,” Scott said. “She didn’t use them out in public, like on the perches. But one morning I was playing peekaboo with her. And I came up in a different spot than she thought I was going to come up. And she called me a B-I-T-C-H. Plain as day. And one of the keepers said, ‘What did she say?!’” Maxine just whistled innocently. “She was something else.”
Favorite place to recharge
Saint Augustine supports two cat cafes! Which officially makes it one of the best cities ever. Witty Whisker Cat Café is downtown, so it provides a nice cat and coffee break in the midst of historical touring. I bought a $1.50 bag of cat treats and befriended the 18 resident cats. Hostess Skirmante Danial made me an oat milk cappuccino complete with a cat face design in the foam! What does Danial like about working at a cat café? “Everything. Everything,” she told me. “I worked with animals for most of my life. I was in the veterinary field. That’s where I realized I had some healing properties in me.” She’s now a certified animal massage and reiki therapist. “I’ve helped many, many animals and keep on going.” The café opened in 2020 and had found homes for 457 cats by the day of my visit. They offer special events like painting with cats, yoga and meowditation.
The next day I visited Frisky Cat Café, which was larger and had between 40 and 50 resident cats. There was lots of space for playing—and most of these cats wanted to play, if they weren’t sleeping. I felt like an orchestra conductor waving a feathered wand in front of half a dozen cats at a time. There’s also a kitten room.
Favorite fort: Fort Matanzas
Saint Augustine’s most iconic structure is Castillo de San Marcos, the US’ oldest masonry fort. And while it’s awesome, I think I liked the underdog Fort Matanzas National Monument even better. This 18th century fort is about 14 miles south of Saint Augustine and requires a ferry ride. Such a darling little fort!
Favorite religious shrine
Saint Augustine even has a beautiful Catholic religious shrine! The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche attracts mothers and wannabe moms. It’s a gorgeous spot with a statue of Mary nursing baby Jesus.
Have I convinced you yet? These are only a few of the fun things to do in Saint Augustine.
Disclaimer: While this article was not sponsored, I visited Saint Augustine during a press trip with Florida’s Historic Coast. As always, Veg Travel & Fitness operates independently, and this doesn’t influence my coverage.
