When visiting Florida, and certainly if you live here for even part of the year, one of the great Florida road trips and a place you really don’t want to miss is St Augustine. Bringing our bicycles and biking St Augustine was a great move. The residential area around St. Augustine is very conducive for bike riding to and from the downtown area. And, the distance between most of the places we wanted to visit was a short bike ride. For the best time, we highly recommend biking in St Augustine.
Bike Rentals St Augustine FL
If you don’t have bikes or don’t want to bring them, there are places to rent them.
St Augustine Bike Rentals is in the downtown area on King St.. They also have Guided Bike Tours that you may want to check out. We just made a list of what we wanted to see and let Google Maps guide us.
Island Life Bikes is further south on the A1A past the entrance to Anastasia Park.
COVID-19
***Due to Covid-19 many of the attractions in St Augustine may be closed. Click on the links in this post to go to specific attraction and business websites to find their contact information. Call for updates.
Make Your List of Places to Visit
On the one hand St. Augustine is a tourist attraction, no doubt. Most of the people you see in the downtown area are short term visitors. But attractions are spread out enough where you don’t feel overrun by crowds with the possible exception of The Colonial Quarter. We did have to lock our bikes there to walk around due to the number of people. The Colonial Quarter is very much a tourist trap. It’s filled with overpriced restaurants and shops. But it’s still worth walking through it because hey, you’re in St. Augustine. The rest of St. Augustine is not like that.
The Fountain of Youth, of course!
The two most distant attractions when bike riding in St Augustine, were Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth and Anastasia State Park. The Fountain of Youth is 1.3 miles to the north as you ride down San Marcos Ave. Anastasia State Park is 2 miles over the Bridge of Lions and down A1A. There is a wide bike bath along A1A but cars do travel fast on that road. It can also get a little windy along the A1A so be prepared for a bit of a workout.
Bike the Beach at Anastasia State Park
When you get to Anastasia State Park you can ride your bikes on the paved roads in the park on the bike lanes. But you really don’t want to miss riding on the beach. You can ride on a rubber mat through the soft sand down to the firm sand along the water. Then head north riding right on the beach for 8 miles up and back. Of course, road bikes will have trouble in the sand, but you don’t need fat tires either. There are a lot of shells along the beach to stop and collect. It’s great exercise and a very relaxing ride. There are other Anastasia State Park bike trails too. You can also rent bikes here at the park.
It's Florida So Go See the Gators!
While riding to or from Anastasia Park along the A1A, be sure to make some stops. The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park was a fun time. Alligators are the main attraction but there is a lot more there to see. It’s a very unique experience.
St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
Also, along the AIA is the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum. The view from the top of the lighthouse alone is worth the stop. But you can walk the grounds and visit some old workers' quarters. The lighthouse was built in the 1870s and is still a working lighthouse.
When biking St Augustine another fun experience is the Castillo de San Marcos. This fort was built in the early 1600s and has a rich history that you’ll learn about during your visit. If you have the time you’ll see and hear them shoot a canon out toward the bay.
While driving your car in St. Augustine will get you to the places you want to see, biking St. Augustine was way more fun. We got to stop anytime something caught our eye like the Medici Lion marble statue at the base of the Bridge of Lions, or close up viewing of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.
St Augustine Restaurant Recommendations
We stayed in a bed and breakfast on Riberia St. about a mile from the downtown area. Each morning as we set off for the day, we would stop at the Blue Hen Café on MLKing Ave for breakfast. It was very popular with locals but the most we had to wait for a table was about 15 minutes. It was well worth it. The food and service were great and the price very reasonable.
In addition to the Blue Hen Café for breakfast, another restaurant we enjoyed was OC Whites located on Marine St just off the main coastal road of Avenida Menendez. We sat outside and got a beautiful view of the water.
We did visit another restaurant, Caps on the Water. We highly recommend this place, especially for seafood. This one you’ll want to drive to, however. It’s located across the Francis and Mary Usina Bridge on the Vilano Causeway. Then you head north on the A1A. You can sit outdoors (our favorite way of dining) and get a great view of the Tolomato River.
Best Time to Visit St. Augustine
Springtime is the best time to visit St. Augustine when there are fewer people and really nice weather. Even though It gets warmer in the summer months, that’s when you’ll find the most visitors. Temperatures can drop into the 40’s from December to February.
