What to do in St. Augustine, Florida: walk to Castillo de San Marcos, join the Flagler College tour, climb the Lighthouse, ride the free ferry to Fort Matanzas, and in winter see Nights of Lights. St. Augustine is on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, and Jacksonville International Airport is about 50 minutes north by car. We read each page below on 14 October 2026.
The sights, with hours and price
Castillo de San Marcos
Address: 1 South Castillo Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32084 (National Park Service, hours page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: Open seven days a week. First entry 9:00 a.m., last entry 5:00 p.m., and everyone must be out by 5:15 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and 25 December. The grounds are closed from midnight to 6:00 a.m. (same page)
Price: $15 for ages 16 and up, good for 7 consecutive days. Ages 15 and under are free with an adult. The park does not take cash, only cards. An America the Beautiful pass covers entry (NPS, fees page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Fort Matanzas National Monument
Hours: The monument is open daily, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except Thanksgiving and 25 December (NPS, hours page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Getting there: The ferry runs Thursday to Monday only, with no ferry on Tuesday or Wednesday. Departures are 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30. Everyone, including babies, needs a free boarding pass. Passes are first come, first served, and issued at the Fort Matanzas Visitor Center on the day. The hours page says to be at the dock 5 minutes before your time, and an older NPS ferry page says 10 minutes, so come 10 minutes early. The NPS says passes are often all gone before 11:00 a.m. on ferry days. The ferry can be cancelled without notice for lightning or high wind (NPS, hours page and ferry page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Price: Free. The NPS says all areas of the park are free, including the ferry (NPS, fees page, read 14 Oct 2026)
The NPS lists the address as 8635 A1A South, St. Augustine, FL 32080 (hours page, read 14 Oct 2026). We did not confirm the drive time from the old city.
St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
Address: 100 Red Cox Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32080 (Lighthouse website, visit page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: 1 October to 28 February: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., last ticket 5:30 p.m. 1 March to 30 September: 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., last ticket 6:00 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and 25 December. Closes 3:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Some dates have an earlier last admission, for example 4:30 p.m. on 14 November, and the tower can close for weather (same page)
Price: Not confirmed. The page we read does not list the general admission price. Tickets are sold on the Lighthouse's own ticket site
The tower has 219 steps. A climber must be at least 44 inches tall and climb on their own. The page says carrying a child in the tower is not allowed.
Flagler College tour
Address: 74 King Street, St. Augustine. The tour starts in the main lobby, the Rotunda (Flagler's Legacy, tours page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: Tours run daily, about 45 to 60 minutes. The page does not list times (same page)
Price: $21 a person on the Flagler's Legacy online ticket store (product page, read 14 Oct 2026)
The page says tours stay on the ground floor and can be cancelled, because it is an active campus.
St. George Street, the beach and the trolleys
These are popular, but we could not read an official page with hours or fees for them. The area's visitor site describes St. Augustine as a coastal city with beaches and an ocean pier. Old Town Trolley Tours is named in banners on the Visit St. Augustine site. We did not read a trolley price. The free STAR Circulator bus is a different service, covered below.
Nights of Lights
The area's visitor site (floridashistoriccoast.com) says Nights of Lights is free and runs every evening from 21 November 2026 to 18 January 2027. Light-Up Night is 21 November at the Plaza de la Constitucion gazebo, 170 Cathedral Place. A schooner sunset tour also runs in that period from the St. Augustine Municipal Marina at 111 Avenida Menendez, but we did not read its price. The city's garage notes that the off-peak $5 rate does not apply during Nights of Lights.
Getting there and parking
Jacksonville International Airport is about 50 minutes north of St. Augustine, says the area's visitor site. The same page lists Daytona Beach International about 50 minutes south and Orlando International about 90 minutes south. Northeast Florida Regional Airport (UST) is about 10 minutes away, but the page says it serves private planes. We did not confirm the distance in miles.
Address: Historic Downtown Parking Facility, 1 Cordova Street, St. Augustine, FL 32084 (City of St. Augustine, parking facility page, read 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: Open 24 hours, every day. The office is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. (same page)
Price: $20 per vehicle per entry from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. $5 from 5 to 9 p.m. St. Johns County residents pay $3 with an approved discount. The page lists no rate for 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Peak hours can change on holidays and for events (same page)
The Visit St. Augustine parking article (updated June 2026) lists 1,200 spaces in the garage, street and lot parking at $2.50 an hour, and free parking in any city spot on Sunday mornings and daily from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. Pay at the stations or with the ParkStAug app. The city's STAR Circulator page says the free bus now runs Sunday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. (read 14 Oct 2026). The older hours in the parking article, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., are out of date. Jacksonville Today reported on 25 September 2026 that the route added stops on Anastasia Island and in St. Augustine Beach from 1 October, with pickups every 30 minutes. We did not see the new stop list on the city page. Free park-and-ride shuttles run on some festival days.
Where to stay
We did not check any hotel's rate or room list, so we give no prices.
| Area | What it is near |
|---|---|
| Historic downtown | Castillo de San Marcos, St. George Street, Flagler College, the garage |
| Near the beach | The ocean and the pier. The free STAR bus was reported to reach St. Augustine Beach from 1 October 2026. Check the stops before you rely on it |
The Flagler's Legacy site says the old city was laid out for walking, and parking there is limited. If you want the sights on foot, stay downtown and park once. If you stay at the beach, plan for the garage fee or street rates when you visit the old city.
What we checked and what can change
Read on 14 October 2026: the National Park Service pages for Castillo de San Marcos (hours, fees) and Fort Matanzas (hours, ferry, fees), the St. Augustine Lighthouse visit page, the Flagler's Legacy tours page, the area's visitor site (floridashistoriccoast.com home, transportation and parking pages), the City of St. Augustine's parking facility and STAR Circulator pages, the Flagler's Legacy ticket store, a Jacksonville Today report (25 Sep 2026) on the STAR route, and the Visit St. Augustine home and parking pages. Read again on 15 October 2026: the floridashistoriccoast.com home page, which still lists Nights of Lights from 21 November 2026 through 18 January 2027 and Light-Up Night on 21 November at 170 Cathedral Place.
Not confirmed: the Lighthouse admission price, the Flagler tour times, the drive time to Fort Matanzas, the new STAR stops at the beach, trolley prices and routes, St. George Street and beach details, any hotel rate, the airport distance in miles, and the garage rate from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Prices and hours change, so check each page for your date. We did not visit St. Augustine for this page.
