St Augustine

Founded by the Spanish in 1565, St Augustine has been continuously occupied ever since, which makes it older than Jamestown or Plymouth by decades. Its centrepiece is the Castillo de San Marcos, a fortress built of coquina, a soft local stone of compressed shell that absorbed cannonballs rather than shattering, which is why the fort was never taken by force. Behind it runs a grid of narrow colonial streets, St George Street at its heart, with balconied houses, the oldest wooden schoolhouse, and a cathedral basilica. The later Gilded Age layer is just as striking, with Henry Flagler's grand Spanish Renaissance hotel now a college and a Tiffany-glass-filled museum. Beaches and the lighthouse sit across the bridge on Anastasia Island.

What you actually see

• Castillo de San Marcos - the coquina fortress that cannonballs could not break.
• St George Street - the narrow colonial pedestrian spine of the old town.
• The Flagler buildings - the Gilded Age hotel and the Tiffany glass museum.
• The lighthouse and beaches - across the bridge on Anastasia Island.

When to go

October to April is the comfortable season; Florida summers are hot, humid and stormy, and the hurricane season runs into November. The town is busiest in spring break and around the winter Nights of Lights illumination, which is genuinely worth seeing.

Honest expectations

St George Street is heavily commercialised, with a dense run of souvenir shops and costumed attractions that can feel like a theme park, and the quieter colonial streets either side are where the atmosphere survives. Parking in the old town is difficult and expensive. Several private museums lean towards the gimmicky.

Nearby

Jacksonville is an hour north; Daytona and the Space Coast lie south.