Daniel and I went to St. Augustine for our honeymoon, so it holds a special place in our hearts. I immediately fell in love with the rich history of the Old City, but it wasn’t until after we converted that I realized what an amazing Catholic heritage it has! The first Mass in the New World was celebrated on September 8, 1565 on the shores of St. Augustine and the oldest devotional site in the New World devoted to Our Lady (The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche) can also be found there. We finally got our act together so the kids could experience St. Augustine for the first time and planned a trip for the Feast of Our Lady of La Leche!
Here’s what we learned about enjoying the city with young children:
Transportation
One word: TROLLEY. St. Augustine is old. The oldest continuously populated European settlement in the U.S., which means that it wasn’t designed for convenient parking. And nothing is less fun than circling for ages to find parking with a hungry or tired baby crying to get out of her car seat….not that I would know anything about that. Ahem. The Old Town Trolley had a stop right by our hotel and that made life much easier. In fact, I wish we’d used the trolley more than we did. Everytime we decided to drive, we regretted it. But, be careful to plan well because the last trolley leaves at 4:30pm so make sure you ride it back to your car before you get stranded. The kids LOVED riding it and with a 16-month-old who never fails to raise a stink about getting strapped into her car seat…it was a blessed change.
Places to Go and Things to Do
Pirate and Treasure Museum:
Learn about pirates and see real Jolly Roger flags, pirate treasure from sunken ships, and “fire” cannons. The museum is small, but very fun. A few things were too spooky for our three-year-old, but the five-year-old loved it and begged to go back.
Mission de Nombre de Dios:
On these beautiful grounds you can visit an altar on the same spot they believe the first Mass in the U.S. was celebrated. There’s also a small museum and a Church beside the site. You can see the 208 ft. cross commemorating the first Mass and the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche. (And it doesn’t cost a penny to visit.)
You can pray and walk around the grounds visiting sculptures of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
Little Lucy wanted to comfort Jesus when she saw this Pieta.
The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche:
This beautiful devotional site is one of my favorite spots in the world. I brought with me all the requests for prayers from my readers who are suffering from nursing struggles or infertility. It’s an approved pilgrimage site and the early 20th century chapel is build less than 100 ft. from where the original chapel from the 17th century was built.
Inside is a beautiful statue of Our Lady nursing Baby Jesus.
The Cathedral of St. Augustine:
The Cathedral is beautiful and it’s currently being renovated right now, so it will be even lovelier soon. We went to the Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of La Leche and the bishop gave a beautiful homily celebrating life, love, and families.
Castillo De San Marcos
It’s the oldest masonry fort in the U.S. and you can explore and even watch a re-enactment of a cannon firing.
But the cannon is loud, so be sure to have little folks cover their ears.
Exploring the fort was definitely a highlight of the trip!
St. Augustine Scenic Cruise
Just before dinnertime the first night of our visit, we took the Scenic Cruise, because what kid doesn’t want to be on a boat?
We went right by the Castillo de San Marcos, past the Bridge of Lions, and onward to a great view of the Lighthouse.
I tried not to freak out about one of the kids falling into the water. I think it was more fun for the big kids than it was for our wriggly 16-month-old who wanted to climb everything.
The Colonial Quarter
This living history museum is tucked right in the historic district. It would be the perfect place to take older children (I think our kids were a little to young to appreciate it).
Although there were fake firearms to be played with, so everyone was happy. And the kids loved climbing the watchtower where they could see many of the sites we visited over the weekend.
St. George Street
One of our favorite things to do in St. Augustine is just to wander around historic St. George Street. It’s beautiful and there are interesting little shops to visit.
Flagler College
It’s definitely worth it to take a stroll over to Flagler College to see the beautiful architecture of the historical building that once was Henry Flagler’s Ponce de Leon Hotel.
Can you imagine having a dorm room in there?! Simply gorgeous.
To Skip:
I would choose the other attractions over Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum. It was too creepy for our little ones and I prefer the historical sites.
Accommodations
There are oodles of lovely places to stay in the historic district (and with the added perk of parking there and just meandering around the city on foot.) A particularly affordable (and super fun) hotel is The Pirate Haus Inn. Although we didn’t stay there this time, we’ve enjoying staying there in the past. It’s right behind the Cathedral AND they serve pirate pancakes in the morning, so win! We ended up staying at the Howard Johnson this time because it was a busy weekend for The Pirate Haus. And we managed to fit two adults, a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 17-month-old in one room AND get decent sleep because…budget travel!
Restaurants
When traveling with little ones, we take a different approach than when it’s just the two of us and we can stroll at our leisure until we realize we’re hungry. Traveling with children is an exercise in keeping the enemies of hunger and tiredness at bay to avoid sudden child meltdowns, so a little more planning where meals are concerned is needed.
We wanted to eat at local places that will give our kids a feel for the city, but we also looked for restaurants that easily accommodate children so that we can enjoy ourselves. That means the super fancy quiet restaurants are probably out for us during this season of our lives.
What made this trip slightly more exciting was that our daughter’s godparents and their five children were in St. Augustine the same weekend and we often met up with them for meals, which made us a PARTY OF TWELVE. So it’s not like we could just waltz into anywhere and expect to be seated right away. Here’s a few spots that we found to be very family-friendly and tasty:
Cruisers: Great burgers, fries, amazing salads. Casual and kid-friendly.
Columbia: I’m so glad we had reservations, because it was very busy and I would have been devastated to miss out on eating here. We ate at Columbia on our honeymoon and dinner there is a gorgeous experience. It’s located in the historic district in a beautiful old building and the Sangria is to die for. I also recommend the signature 1905 salad, the tapas, and the paella. So, now I’ve ordered for you, you’re welcome. It’s bustling enough that chatter from the kids didn’t draw any attention. Great service and great food.
Athena Restaurant: Fantastic Greek food. We had a huge breakfast of souvlaki and traditional bacon and eggs. It would be the perfect place to go right after Mass since it’s just down the road from the Cathedral.
Other great spots to pop in and grab a bite are Gaufre’s and Goods for really amazing Greek and Polish food, pastries, and coffees and Cafe de Hidalgo for gelato because…gelato, right?
It was a trip we’ll always remember! In fact, the kids cried on the way home because they wanted to stay forever.
A big thanks to St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau for their help.
You can also read our tips for taking young children to New Orleans.
Have you ever traveled to St. Augustine? Any tips for easy, affordable travel with young children?
Dumb question, but what about naps? I’ve been avoiding taking my 2-year-old on any trips because he still needs a 4-hour nap in the afternoons to be agreeable. And I have a hard time justifying spending that much time in a hotel lol. Just wondered what you all did!
Also thanks for praying. 🙂
HOLD UP. Dax sleeps for FOUR HOURS in the afternoons? I’m speechless. He’s like the toddler of my dreams. Gwen only sleeps for an hour (and she gave up her morning nap, so that hour is IT). We thought about trying to skip it, but we didn’t want her to be a terror at evening Mass (she was anyway) so Daniel took the trolley back to the hotel and let her sleep a bit while the big kids and I moseyed around. My take: enjoy the best naps of your life for the next few months until he grows out of this magical era.
YES. We know that we are SO STINKING BLESSED in this regard. He is SUCH a sack hound. He goes down around 8:30/9PM, wakes up around 8:30AM, and then goes back down from 1-5PM.
It would be nothing short of a miracle if any future children followed in Dax’s glorious footsteps. He has set the bar impossibly high. 🙂
Dan says he takes after him; “Dax and I don’t nap — we just go back to sleep.”
I had a sleeper just like this, and it turned out he had an iron deficiency. After I began to give him vitamins and iron, it turned out he needed no afternoon nap at all. Good Luck to you! And prayers!
Thanks for the prayers! Yeah our pediatrician said at his 1-year appointment that his iron is low, so we’ve been giving him vitamin supplements with iron ever since. Still sleeping like this, though! (Also I’m told that I also have an iron deficiency but I didn’t take naps AT ALL and I also didn’t sleep through the night till I was like 8 so who knows.)
My three year old still naps most afternoons. When we travel we hold him until he falls asleep and pop him in the stroller and then bring him along for the ride. We were able to successfully do 3 days in Disneyland without returning to the hotel using this strategy as well as other vacations and events.
I know this won’t work for every child, but it is worth a try.
I never thought it would work for my son until we tried it in a desperate parenting moment.
Good luck!
Oh my, that photo of Lucy hugging Jesus is precious. What a sweet little soul!
This post is so interesting. I’ve never thought about St. Augustine as a fun vacation spot. We might ned to plan a stop there the next time we’re in Florida. Isn’t it the city where people used to think there was a “fountain of life” or something?
She is just…..the sweetest. And yes! Same town as the Fountain of Youth legend. There’s an archaeological park centered around the Fountain of Youth stuff that we wanted to visit, but we ran out of time!
Thanks for this! St Auggie is one of my favorite places in the world but I haven’t been back since I became a Catholic! I never knew about any of the Catholic sites, except of course the cathedral. I’m excited to go back and visit them all!!!
Yes! We had no idea of all the Catholic history when we went the first time. So fun!
I loved this post!! I haven’t made it this city yet, but now it is definetly on my list!
Thanks, Wanda! It’s such a neat place.
*sigh* Travel posts are always my favorite. Between this one, and Christy’s Seattle one, I think I *may* have my wanderlust satisfied for a while.
Or did it just stir it up? I don’t even know. But St. Augustine looks amazing.
When Benjamin was a baby, we weren’t brave enough for travel. But sometime between then and now we lost our minds and think traveling with kids is kind of…..fun. I love traveling, too. How’re the PEI plans coming?
We’re fools for travel. The only thing standing between us and a group trip to PEI is the mere tracking down of 5 birth certificates and the application for 8 passports.
Easy!
The pic of Lucy hugging Jesus! You must have melted! My little loves the Mary statue at our Parish and every Sunday will rub her stomach right where Jesus would have been in her womb. It could just be that it’s right at her height, but I like to think there’s something special about it.
Great post! Really enjoyed it and I want to go on vacation right now! Or stay right where I am on the couch snuggling this beautiful baby 🙂
Aw, that’s so precious!
Lucy comforting Jesus is the sweeting thing I have ever seen. seriously.
She is just the dearest love. <3
We love St. Augustine too, although we’re lucky to be close enough for day trips–for another week anyway…..The kids LOVE the fort but it gives me panic attacks every time since there aren’t really any walls up top and it’s a long way down! But if you’re military admission to the fort is free so at least I’m not paying to be scared out of my mind as my children prance and wrestle next to the precipice of doom.
We also always make sure to stop by the Taco Shop and get the baha style fish tacos. So good! We usually hit the one in St. Augustine Beach instead of the St. George St. location because it seems a bit more family friendly and not so black-lighty 🙂 There’s also a beach access right near it that’s fun for the kids pretty much year round–an excellent place to let them run and dig and let off a little steam!
Now I need to convince my husband to take us down for one last visit next weekend so I can eat fish tacos…..and maybe hit those outlets 🙂
I am a ‘the children could fall to their deaths’ panicker, too. You should have seen me holding onto Benjamin’s belt loops when we were on that boat, haha.
Never been to the Taco Shop, but I LOVE fish tacos. Next time!
Lovely! I now have somewhere new to visit the next time we venture to Florida! I love exploring new restaurants, especially ones that are friendly to kiddos. It’s important for them to experience new dining experiences too!
Yes! I think the more culinary experiences they have, the easier it is to cook for them. They’ll try anything at restaurants!
Awesome post! I love reccomendations. I hope we make it there someday.
Thanks, Lizzie! I hope you do get a chance to visit 🙂
My husband and I visited St. Augustine, maybe 8 years ago now. We were struggling with several years of infertility (and a loss). Seeing your pix took me right back to the beauty and peace of the shrine for Our Lady. We really enjoyed SA. Reading your post makes me want to take our 4 year old (yes, the primary infertility did finally end). He looooves pirates. And all things fort will please him mightily. Now, if I could get him to hug Jesus like your sweet girl did! :). Thanks for reminding me of the beautiful old city on our own shores.
For those wondering about travel with littles, just do it. It won’t be the same as without, and you will need to split up sometimes, but it is worth it.
Thank you for sharing that, Susan! What an awesome story. And great advice 😉
Hi Haley,
My hubby and I are thinking of going on a vacation to Florida in January or February to escape the Ohio winter for awhile. Do you think this would be a good place to go that time of year?
Peace be with you,
Sarah
Anywhere in Florida can be a little chilly that time of year, but it would certainly be a blessed change from the Ohio cold! A little windy because it’s on the coast, but probably beautiful!
Thanks for the advice Haley! 🙂 A blessed All Saints and All Souls days to you and your family!
Such memories! I lived in Daytona Beach for a short time when I was about 10 years old. I LOVED visiting St. Augustine. Sigh.
What a lovely trip!
Thanks, Karen! I didn’t know you lived in FL for a time!
My father was stationed in Korea, so my mom moved us all to Florida for a year to be close to her parents. We lived a couple of blocks from the ocean. It was a dreamy time. 🙂
So sweet seeing your little girl comforting Jesus. Thank you again for taking my prayers to this Shrine! <3
It was my joy! Thank you for sharing your intentions with me <3