Things to do in Atlantic Coast
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Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
There’s dazzling art inside this handsome museum, includes newly-acquired Norman Rockwells and George PA Healy’s famous portrait of the city’s namesake close to death. Also look for antiquities and a really fun interactive kids’ exhibit. Draped with wisteria and shaded by a massive, mossy oak so large it needs supports for its limbs, the garden is a grand place to unwind after absorbing all the beauty inside. Both the museum and gardens are impressively accessible, including a number of braille and audio guides.
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Dancing Avocado Kitchen
Fresh and healthful, a meal here makes you feel better…or is it just the fresh air flowing through the custom-made air filters? Yummy Mexican dishes like extreme burritos and quesadillas dominate the menu at this vegetarian-oriented café, but the signature dancing avocado melt is tops. There’s a juice and smoothie bar on-site, the salsa is made from scratch, and once a month all tips go to charity.
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Clark's Fish Camp
It doesn't any get more Floridian than this. Absolutely worth driving 27 miles for, this restaurant, on a gator-filled lake, was originally a bait-and-tackle shop and now combines the art of taxidermy (hundreds of stuffed lions, tigers, leopards, you name it, proliferate indoors and out), with mind-boggling meals of fried or charred turtle, kangaroo, antelope and rattlesnake.
Work up your courage with a Swamp Fest platter of gator tail, soft-shell crab, frog's legs, conch, catfish and squid, plus two sides and hushpuppies. There's a rustic elongated timber bar with barrel tables, but the best tables are on the lakeside outdoor deck. From Jacksonville, take the I-95 south …
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Southbank Riverwalk
This 1.2-mile boardwalk on the south side of the St John's River, opposite downtown and Jacksonville Landing, has spectacular views of the city's frequent firework displays. The Riverwalk connects the museums flanking Museum Circle and makes for a pleasant promenade.
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Museum of Science & History
The Museum of Science & History is more your speed, with dinosaur fun and educational exhibits on Jacksonville's pre-Columbian history (but no beer).
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Museum of Contemporary Art
Small, but one of the best cultural offerings in town, the Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on 1960 to the present.
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European Street Cafe
If you just don't know what you want, this place has a lengthy menu, enormous bakery case and over 150 kinds of beer.
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Mck's Tavern
Just want a low-key spot to enjoy a beer? Chill over drafts and darts at McK's Tavern.
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Nascar
During Prohibition, production of moonshine (corn liquor with an almighty kick) was an important part of the rural Southern economy, and young people with cars fast enough to outrun local cops handled distribution. On their time off, they tried to outrun each other; when alcohol was relegalized the races continued. The most glamorous venue was the Beach St track in Daytona, where entrepreneurial driver Bill France began promoting 'Race Weeks,' attracting thousands.
The sport took off, though it was often dismissed by other automotive enthusiasts as upstart rednecks racing cars that any mechanic could build in their own garage. France knew better, and in 1947 organized Nas…
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O'Reilly House Museum
Caught in the grip of a severe offshore hurricane in the late 1800s, the desperate captain of a supply ship heading from the Minorca Islands to St Augustine ordered most of the cargo to be thrown overboard to save the ship from sinking in the tumultuous seas.
It was then that the crew found a little statue of the Madonna, 3ft high with human hair curls and silk and Spanish lace petticoats. They prayed to it for their safe passage and, as the story goes, the winds dropped and they were able to make it to port.
The statue was passed down through the generations of Minorcan families, who prayed to it when hurricanes threatened the town. Its last caretaker, Sister St Charles o…
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Historic Remains
Opposite the Bridge of Lions, in the heart of downtown, the expansive, grassy Plaza de la Constitution, a former marketplace, has a gazebo, a couple of cannons and a Civil War memorial, as well as the remains of the town well. It was the central market for food, but also for slaves.
Other historic remains include the Old City Gate, at the northern end of St George St, built in 1739 to defend the northern St Augustine line from British attacks; and the Rosario Defense Wall (opposite the Huguenot Cemetery), a re-creation of a section of the original Spanish-built earth barrier - spiky yucca plants and prickly-pear cacti along the top successfully fended off the Brits.
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Boomtown Theatre & Coffee Salon
About a mile north of downtown, Jacksonville's historic district of Springfield is budding as a hip center for the arts.
Check out the Boomtown Theatre & Coffee Salon , a very experimental dinner theater, whose lineup runs from gospel-style sing-alongs to contemporary(ish) tunes (Tainted Love tears the roof off), spoken-word open-mic nights, an ongoing Vampire improv serial every Thursday, swing dancing (including free lessons), and 'Soul Release', a spoken-word jazz hip-hop jam. All this is accompanied by an equally eclectic - and excellent - menu that includes a 4000-year-old recipe Egyptian honey cinnamon chicken.
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Ninth & Main Street
About a mile north of downtown, Jacksonville's historic district of Springfield (www.thenewspringfield.com) is budding as a hip center for the arts.
A former disused automotive repair shop, the 'place of no particular style', Ninth & Main Street, now houses an outstanding Caribbean restaurant, Henrietta's, a theater, an art gallery, and a live-music venue (Thursday and Friday). It also hosts the annual Springfield Film Festival, showcasing independent filmmakers from Florida and beyond. The festival kicks off in spring, with a rolling series of screenings (usually Thursdays) until the fall.
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Sports Complex
Completed in time for the 2005 Superbowl, Jacksonville's Sports Complex encompasses the 82,000-capacity AllTel Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the venue for high- profile fixtures throughout the season. In front of the stadium is the Veterans Memorial Wall tribute to local soldiers.
Also at the complex are the brand new, 16,000-capacity Veterans Memorial Arena, home to the Jacksonville Barracudas hockey team (formerly the Lizard Kings), and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, where the minor-league Jacksonville Suns play to a capacity crowd of 10,000.
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Jackie Robinson Ballpark
On an island in the Halifax River, Jackie Robinson Ballpark is home to the Daytona Cubs, a Class A minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. In 1946, the Montreal Royals, Jackie Robinson’s team, was in Florida to play an exhibition against their parent club, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Other Florida cities refused to let the game proceed due to segregation laws, but Daytona Beach cried, ‘Play ball!’ and Robinson later went on to be the first African American baseball player in the majors. The ballpark, seating 4200 people, was renamed in his honor in 1990.
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Fountain of Youth
Almost 500 years old (but not looking a day over 450) the Fountain of Youth was the original tourist attraction, drawing Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León for a visit in 1513. It still serves the nasty sulfur water in tiny paper cups - and that's absolutely as much as you'll want - but this is more than a five-minute pit stop. Educational exhibits, gorgeous grounds and the approximate spot where the explorer came ashore make it more than just a tourist trap - OK, well a little more, anyway.
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Daytona Beach Pier
Follow Main St further east and you’ll stumble onto coral-colored Daytona Beach Pier. Easy to spot for its iconic 180ft tower (which formerly zoomed sightseers heavenward for panoramic views, but now sits frustratingly impotent on the pier), two-person cabled gondolas carry you the length of the 1000ft pier and back for $7 per person. It is worth a gander, but the pier’s vintage feel has somehow disappeared. Too bad: this pier – among the longest on the east coast – has been around over 100 years.
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Daytona USA
Adjacent to the speedway, Daytona USA is a superbly flashy shrine to the sport. In addition to stock cars driven by Nascar’s biggest names, highlights include the Pit-Stop Challenge (changing a tire in 16 seconds), a 30-minute tram tour of the track and pits, a 45-minute IMAX film screening throughout the day and a motion simulator ride based on the Daytona 500. The VIP Pass ($50) gets you an extended tour, lunch and vouchers for Acceleration Alley, which is an interactive racing experience.
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Alligator Farm Zoological Park
Maximo – a 1250lb, 15ft, 3in Australian saltwater crocodile – is the biggest of the reptiles at the Alligator Farm Zoological Park, the world’s only facility with every species of crocodilian in residence. Look for albino alligators, freaky gharials and seven different species of endangered monkey, including the world’s smallest, the pygmy marmoset (the size of a mouse). There are talks and shows throughout the day; catch hungry alligators snapping their jaws at feeding times (noon and 3pm).
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Ritz Theatre & La Villa Museum
This refurbished 1929-built grande dame incorporates a museum and 400-seat theater. Both showcase the La Villa area's African-American cultural heritage, which in its heyday saw it dubbed the 'Harlem of the South'. The museum's newest permanent exhibition, Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing, is an animatronic tribute to the district's native son James Weldon Johnson, composer of the slave freedom anthem of the same name. Performances at the Ritz range from choral to jazz as well as stage productions.
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Sally Corporation
If you’ve ever wondered how theme-park rides like Universal Studios’ ‘ET Adventure’ weave their robotic magic, a tour of Sally Corporation, makers of animatronics and ‘dark rides, ’ will demystify the process and explain initial design, special effects, sets, scenery, soundtracks, lighting systems and cooling technology. Free tours (reservation only) take you behind the scenes of the art and costuming, mechanical, pneumatics, and computer-programming departments.
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Jacksonville Zoological Gardens
Northeast Florida’s only major zoo opened in 1914 with one deer; today, it’s home to over 100 exotic species. Jaguar football fans won’t want to miss jaguars prowling replicated Mayan temple ruins. Other highlights include the wetlands of Wild Florida, with rare Florida panthers, and an elevated viewing platform that brings you face to nose with giraffes (you can even feed them!). There’s also an animal-spotting train ride through the grounds (adult/child $4/2).
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Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Houston, we have an attraction. It was perhaps inevitable that, considering its proximity to Orlando, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex would have to come up with a ride, and thus Shuttle Launch Experience officially achieved lift-off. Reaching a top 'speed' of 17,500mph - vertically - this spookily realistic simulator ride was designed by an astronaut to feel just like taking off in a space shuttle but without all the teary goodbyes.
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Cap’s on the Water
Overlooking the Matanzas River, the setting sun streaks through an unobscured sky offering the region’s best sunset. Featuring new coastal cuisine (Southern dishes with Asian-European influences) in an Old Florida setting (this former fish camp was built in 1947), this restaurant has three seating areas (inside, waterfront, oyster bar). You’d think that’d be enough, but the wait often exceeds two hours. Arrive early or be prepared to linger.
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