Welcome to Routes 1 and A1A, the dual coastal roads alongside the Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Key West that type the best Florida seashore street journey.
U.S. Route 1 runs alongside the japanese coast of the USA for greater than 2,000 miles between Key West, Florida and Fort Kent, Maine. Designed within the 1920’s to cowl a route much like that of the outdated Atlantic Freeway, it connects the main east coast cities in a direct method that the extra trendy I-95, which parallels it, doesn’t.
A New York to Florida street journey (a.ok.a. low cost seashore getaway) occupied two or three weeks every summer season in my youth. At this time, time-pressed households sometimes discover a shorter stretch in Florida. But, that is nonetheless gradual journey at its finest.
This 12 months, give attention to the fantastic mixture of Route 1 and Route A1A that snakes alongside the Atlantic coast of Florida. Drive yourselves or select personal transportation from Jacksonville to Key West.
The southernmost finish of the route is probably essentially the most enjoyable drive of all. It was constructed because the two-lane Abroad Freeway from Miami to Key West within the mid-Thirties and was annexed to US 1 quickly afterward.
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The Appeal of Florida’s Route A1A
From the Georgia border south, driving US1 will take your loved ones by means of Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Palm Coast, Daytona Seaside, Titusville, Melbourne, Fort Pierce, West Palm Seaside, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and all the best way to Key West.
Word the factors the place US 1 runs inland from the seashore. The Atlantic coast and US1 are separated by the scenic Intracoastal Waterway (Florida’s marine freeway). To the east you’ll discover Route A1A, additionally marked SRA1A (State Highway). This smaller coastal street veers off into the charming little (and massive) seashore cities for which Florida is known.
A Household Favourite Florida Seaside Highway Journey, Particularly for East Coast Households
The federally-designated A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Freeway can also be a Nationwide Scenic Byway. It adjustments names because it programs by means of cities and alongside somewhat little bit of undeveloped shoreline.
This stretch of street protects a few of Florida’s final remaining native habitats. Nature lovers should cease on the Guana River Administration Wildlife Space or Washington Oaks State Park. Chook life, large oaks and coquina rock tidal swimming pools are conserved in each areas. Again on the primary street, the view adjustments again to swaying palms, dune grass and sea grapes, gold sand seashores and glowing waves to make sure a enjoyable street journey.
Professional Tricks to Plan Your Jacksonville to Key West Journey
1 . Be careful for street closures, particularly throughout the summer season hurricane season. A lot of A1A runs alongside Florida’s barrier islands, so the street is topic to flooding or different storm harm
2. Customise the drive by selecting just a few key household locations alongside the best way (or veer west to Orlando.) Spending as a lot or as little time as you’d like at every cease.
3. Depart rental vehicles in Key West and fly residence, or else backtrack alongside the Abroad Freeway to Miami, then soar on I-95 for the lengthy journey north.
4. Plan forward to seek out very reasonably priced locations the place the youngsters can let off steam at evening. An Airbnb various and good useful resource for lodging is the reserving.com app . Many family-owned properties with kitchens, swimming pools, and outside play areas (and business trip rental businesses) use it to succeed in a broader viewers.
Our recommended 8-day Florida Seaside Highway Journey itinerary follows:
Day 1: Jacksonville
Day 2: Jacksonville to St. Augustine
Day 3: St. Augustine to Daytona Seaside
Day 4: Daytona Seaside to Cocoa Seaside
Day 5: Cocoa Seaside to Palm Seaside
Day 6: Palm Seaside to Fort Lauderdale
Day 7: Fort Lauderdale to Miami Seaside
Days 8-10: Miami to Key West
Day 1: It Begins in Jacksonville
Start in Jacksonville on US 1. Households who need to keep just a few days have greater than sufficient to maintain them busy. Nestled within the northeast nook of Florida, the place the St. John’s River meets the Atlantic Ocean, town of Jacksonville has two riverwalks full of eating places and retailers. Discover nice museums and a number of other galleries. Uncover loads of outside recreation area, and a full of life waterfront that may be toured by watertaxi.
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Households with youthful kids shouldn’t miss the Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the place greater than 1, 000 animals dwell in pure habitats. Metropolitan Park, town’s downtown park, presents many free live shows in summer season.
Been driving for some time and wish one thing extra lively? Take the household to Journey Touchdown for its amusement rides, waterpark, go-kart racing and teddy bear manufacturing facility. A free trolley circles lots of the principal points of interest. For extra details about the realm, contact the Go to Jacksonville workplace.
Day 2: Jacksonville to St. Augustine – 41 miles
From Jacksonville Seaside, drive US 1 south to St. Augustine, the oldest constantly occupied European settlement within the continental U.S. Make time to drive the 72-mile A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway. Comply with the waterfront two-lane blacktop on a street that started greater than 500 years in the past.
Stroll round St. Augustine’s small historic district or change modes of transport. Hail a horse-drawn carriage, be a part of a sightseeing prepare, e book an Uber, or hop aboard a guided, sightseeing trolley.
By the early 1600’s, the Spanish colony of St. Augustine had a fort, church, hospital and greater than 100 homes and retailers. Tour Fort Mose Historic Park for the story of Free Black troopers and households loyal to the King of Spain. It’s simply a part of the fascinating Black historical past of St. Augustine.
Feeling worn out by the drive? Rejuvenate the household on the touristy Fountain of Youth, a pure spring stated to be found by Ponce de Leon in 1513. Search for reveals concerning the indigenous Timucua tribes, a Christian Burial Floor, and paper cups to drink from the spring.
St. Augustine Enjoyable for the Household
You’ll need to spend no less than two nights to get to know this enjoyable city.
Take a golf cart Ghost Tour of the city’s historic district, or perhaps a haunted boat journey. Between Thanksgiving and New Years, households can benefit from the annual Night time of Lights illumination, when the historic metropolis heart glitters in white vacation decor.
For extra details about St. Augustine and the area’s historical past, go to Florida’s Historic Coast.
Day 3: St. Augustine to Daytona Seaside – 59 miles
Maintaining the Matanzas River in your proper, proceed south on A1A to Marineland Dolphin Journey. Little ones can be thrilled with a dolphin interplay at ‘the world’s first oceanarium’ – a little bit of classic Americana based in 1938. Cross Flagler Seaside and inside an hour you’ll attain Daytona Seaside.
This bustling seashore city is thought for its Daytona Speedway. Overlook about navigating US 1 or A1A and proceed your street journey driving proper on Daytona’s 17-mile stretch of seashore!
Right here’s your seashore getaway. Stroll the Daytona Seaside Boardwalk. Cease for some treats on the pier, then see if there’s dwell music (at all times free) taking place on the Bandshell. Hire a chaise and umbrella or put down your seashore towels and benefit from the heat Atlantic surf. Vacationers with pets can head to the Ormond Seaside Canine Seaside.
Quirky Daytona Seaside Enjoyable
Admiring the numerous colourful dune buggies out on the sand? When you don’t have your personal low-rider convertible Corvette, hire one, or a four-seater ATV or dune buggy, from native distributors. Make sure to take a helmet for every rider.
The Daytona Lagoon is an leisure heart with a small water park, amusement park rides, minigolf and a zipper line.
If you’re in Daytona Seaside on a Sunday, take a look at the Drive-In Church. The First Christian Church established it in 1957 after they bought the Neptune Drive-In Theater. The Drive-In Church welcomes everybody. You may even put on your seashore apparel to church since you get to remain within the automotive and tune in in your radio or hear by means of the audio system. On the finish of the service the reverend will come by to shake your fingers. Then, hop throughout the road to the seashore or carry on driving.
Then comes the well-known Area Coast. The 95-mile stretch of Florida coast is residence to the Kennedy Area Heart and cities of Titusville, Cocoa Seaside, Melbourne, and Palm Bay.
When you’re becoming a member of our street journey after a theme park go to, you’ll see that Orlando is just 35 miles to the west.
This space is a cost-effective base for just a few days of enjoyable and sand. Relying on the time of 12 months, select between watching shuttle and rocket launches, browsing or studying the game. Between June and October, be a part of a bioluminscent kayak tour on the brackish waters of the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River, or Indian River Lagoon. Tiny underwater creatures glow while you disturb the water floor making a Milky Means of their very own. Alternatives for conventional chicken watching, golf, contemporary and saltwater fishing — in addition to airboat rides — abound.
Area Speak on The Area Coast, A part of Your Florida Highway Journey
The principle attraction for wannabe astronauts is the Kennedy Area Heart at Cape Canaveral. Permit a full day right here. Admission features a terrific, two-hour bus tour of the launch pads and the U.S. Astronaut Corridor of Fame. (Ebook forward to dine with one.) The distinctive, half-day ATX: Astronaut Coaching Expertise is designed for ages 10+ to encourage budding astronauts and rocket scientists. Households can even benefit from the Area Shuttle Atlantis exhibition, which supplies guests an opportunity to get nose-to-nose with the ultimate shuttle orbiter to fly a NASA mission, Atlantis.
Offbeat Cocoa Seaside Has Spacey Charms
Again on earth on the surprisingly fascinating Brevard Zoo, the youngsters can feed giraffes or kayak alongside the zoo’s river.
A star alongside A1A, Cocoa Seaside is an effective worth city to spend just a few days of your loved ones seashore getaway. There are fascinating eating places and enjoyable sights. Go to Ron Jon’s Surf Store — the most important on the earth — so youngsters can admire the most recent surfboard kinds. Open 9am-11pm every day.
Watch native surfers paddle out and glide in, or fish the day away, from the Cocoa Seaside Pier. Have a meal within the Historic Cocoa Village. The preserved Victorian-era city constructed alongside the Indian River lagoon may be very business and an incredible photograph opp alongside the scenic Intracoastal Waterway.
Nonetheless holding the mainland in your proper and the slender seashore strip and Atlantic in your left, head south alongside US 1 to considered one of America’s finest identified resort areas, toney Palm Seaside.
Day 5: Cocoa Seaside to Palm Seaside – 138 miles
Throughout the 2.5-hour-long drive between Cocoa Seaside and Palm Seaside, you’ll go just a few family-oriented landmarks. Vero Seaside is the gem of Florida’s so-called Treasure Coast. Search for the basic Cracker homes relationship to the mid-Nineteenth century. Sometimes white, cedar-or cypress-plank, peak-roofed cottages, the properties of poor plantation farmers at the moment are thought-about energy-efficient marvels.
Hallmarks of the Florida Crackers in Vero Seaside
- Oyster shell and lime foundations (to offer shade for chickens and canine who ate the mosquitoes)
- Extensive cracks between the floorboards to flow into air
- Deep porches and infrequently a middle walkway to create shade
- A number of home windows to reinforce the cross breezes.
The Indian River Citrus Museum is devoted to the Florida orange-growing enterprise. Name forward to examine their working schedule: 772/770-2263. McKee Botanical Backyard options historic sub-tropical plant specimens that improve the genuine outdated Florida really feel; closed Monday.
The Highway to Palm Seaside Paved with Gold
About 30 miles south and never a lot to have a look at, the city of Port St. Lucie is finest identified to household vacationers as the location of the previous Membership Med Sandpiper resort. Not far-off in Jupiter, the non-touristy Busch Wildlife Sanctuary gives rehabilitative care to over 4,000 sick, injured and orphaned wild animals every year. That is the kind of hospital that youngsters will need to tour.
Whether or not you’re an E.F. Hutton inheritor, descendant of European royalty, or identical to to observe Donald Trump, it’s price a cease in Palm Seaside. That’s particularly throughout “The Season” when the wealthy and well-known flee chilly climate to assemble at their yachts and mansions. Guests should make do with a room on the legendary Palm Seaside resorts, or one of many many different motels in all worth ranges that cater to households.
Add West Palm Seaside’s Household Actions to your Florida Seaside Highway Journey
West Palm Seaside, inland on US 1, attracts a youthful and hipper crowd. However in summer season, this enticing Mediterranean model metropolis on Route 1 has enchantment to households. Disover loads of swimming swimming pools, an extended sand seashore, and pure points of interest that give households somewhat little bit of that south Florida, tropical really feel.
Begin on the 500-acre John D. MacArthur Seaside State Park on Singer Island. Right here, a secluded seashore presents alternatives for beachcombing, swimming or watching nesting turtles between Could and August. The character heart brochure guides you to gumbo-limbo, strangler figs and three varieties of mangrove timber, in addition to butterflies, toxic vegetation and big spiders.
The Cox Science Heart and Aquarium additionally presents outside nature trails in addition to a kid-oriented planetarium, aquarium, observatory and miniature golf course. When you’re staying just a few days within the Palm Seashores and touring with youthful kids, they’ll take pleasure in time on the Palm Seaside Zoo at Dreher Park. The very business Lion Nation Safari is a drive-through “sport park” that’s most enjoyable throughout the morning feeding classes.
Day 6: Palm Seaside to Fort Lauderdale – 47 miles
Heading south to Fort Lauderdale, pause for conch fritters at any of the seafood shacks alongside the Intracoastal Waterway. (Conch is farmed now so contemporary fritters are tougher to seek out!)
Detour to Hollywood Seaside to stretch legs or bike alongside the 2½-mile oceanfront Hollywood Boardwalk. This space is full with outside cafes and quite a lot of up to date condos and old-style motel lodging. The 3½-mile-long Pompano Seaside, with play areas and ongoing household festivities, is at all times lively too. Most households will have already got their Fort Lauderdale Resort picked out, as that is considered one of Florida’s hottest household resorts and advance reservations are advisable.
The palm-fringed, gold sand Fort Lauderdale Seaside is a very long time favourite. Discover the mangrove-lined shoreline, countless rivers, canals, lakes and ponds the place households can discover dolphins, manatees, ospreys and pelicans. It’s an excellent seashore trip vacation spot if your loved ones is curious about deep sea fishing or watersports. Amenities are plentiful and well-priced! Water ski or jet ski, parasail, be a part of a canoe or kayak tour, scuba dive or snorkel. The children can be taught kite browsing or standup paddleboarding right here too.
Fort Lauderdale & Everglades Household Sights
That is additionally a spot to go to The Everglades, a various natural world ecosystem that covers 750,000 acres of southern Florida. At Everglades Vacation Park, be a part of a guided airboat skimming throughout the highest of the water by means of the “River of Grass.” After presumably viewing alligators and child crocodiles, waterfowl and eagles of their pure habitat, you may catch the superb alligator present again on the park.
Enjoyable and academic shows of wildlife could be discovered on the business Butterfly World and on the 60-acre Flamingo Gardens. Nature trails at Hugh Taylor Birch State Recreation Space and mountain biking paths in Fort Lauderdale’s Markham Park are much less business. On this giant metropolis, there are fixed leisure choices, too. Store at a myriad of malls and revel in outside cultural performances. Enroll youngsters in summertime kids’s camps. Go to high quality artwork museums, together with the Museum of Science and Discovery, a kids’s museum and kids’s theatre. When you’ve bought a Michael Phelps within the household, take a look at the Worldwide Swimming Corridor of Fame.
Day 7: Fort Lauderdale to Miami Seaside – 28 miles
The temporary US 1 drive south from Lauderdale to Miami presents colourful outdated and new Florida sights. Anticipate slow-moving site visitors, key lime pie retailers, Jewish delis, Cuban cafes and at all times, sun shades and bathing swimsuit retailers. Town of Miami is a nice household vacation spot as a result of its particular mix of Latin and European influences makes for an thrilling multi-cultural panorama.
For many road-trippers, although, that is the time to open the sunroof and cruise east throughout the MacArthur Causeway, that lengthy, low bridge that connects the mainland to the well-known barrier island of Miami Seaside. Drive previous the pastel-colored Artwork Deco resort towers and beach-bums in flipflops on the sidewalks of Collins Avenue (additionally A1A.) 1st Road is the south finish of the well-known South Seaside (or SoBe strip.) Flip east right here towards the seashore and drive north on Ocean Drive.
Throughout the winter excessive season or any weekend night, we suggest you park on Washington, one road inland, after which stroll alongside Ocean Drive. Or you may park at one of many Deco motels and make this buzzy stretch your loved ones seashore getaway.
Placed on the Glam to Get Acquainted with SoBe’s Ocean Drive
South Seaside’s Ocean Drive could also be only a two-lane street. Nevertheless, this a part of A1A is town’s most well-known half-mile stretch. Everybody will benefit from the people-watching, assured. It’s possible you’ll spot a mannequin being photographed on the sands of Lummus Park or a rock star out for a stroll. Watch for huge cruise ships leaving the Port of Miami. Try this busy stretch of gold sand and the wild curler rink in MacArthur Park.
The must-see is the Artwork Deco District of South Seaside. An entire neighborhood is comprised of untamed and colourful Nineteen Twenties and ’30s structure. Begin your strolling tour of the registered Nationwide Historic Landmark district on the Miami Design Preservation League, the place maps, guided excursions and souvenirs can be found. The FIU Wolfsonian Museum close by homes a rare design assortment, from early twentieth century to Artwork Deco and past, that older youngsters will take pleasure in seeing.
Miami Space Household Sights
Plan a meal or a procuring spree on the Deco thoroughfare that runs perpendicular to the seashore, now the pedestrian-only, seven-block-long Lincoln Highway Mall. All ages will benefit from the sidewalk cafes, retailers, galleries, road performers and public fountains. The Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, a spectacular 820,000-gallon pool fashioned from a rock quarry in 1923, is a worthwhile detour. With two waterfalls, coral caves, grottos and stone bridges, the spring-fed Venetian Pool sees greater than 30,000 guests yearly.
From a base in South Seaside or the neighboring, family-freindly neighborhoods of Miami, Coral Gables or Coconut Grove, your loved ones will take pleasure in a few of Miami’s south Florida basic points of interest. Permit time to see the attractive Vizcaya Museum and Gardens on Biscayne Bay, and the Miami Seaquarium marine exhibits. Work together with the cool reveals on the new Frost Science Museum and Planetarium.
Pause for some croquettas and cafe con leche to arrange youngsters for a go to to Calle Ocho. The neighborhood is Miami’s “Little Havana” the place the delicacies and tradition of the pre-Castro Cuba nonetheless thrives. Extra data and particulars could be discovered at MiamiAndBeaches.com.
Days 8-10: Miami to Key West – 160 miles
You haven’t accomplished the US 1-A1A journey till you attain the southernmost level in the USA: Key West. The Florida Keys lengthen south of Miami in a string of slender limestone and mangrove islands bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. You may rush this Nationwide Scenic Byway to Key West in about 3.5 hours or take every week and savor it slowly.
Professional Tip: Most addresses are written as MM; the “mile marker” indicators start close to Florida Metropolis at round MM 127 and descend to MM 0, web site of the Inexperienced Parrot Bar (“The first and Final Bar on US 1” their signal proclaims) in Key West. Whoever invented this technique anticipated that backseat passengers would sometime ask, “Are we there but?” and fogeys may inform them to see for themselves.
Exploring the northern Florida Keys
You don’t need to drive all the best way to Key West to understand the bohemian attraction of lots of the Keys communities. The primary main key you’ll attain after Key Biscayne (nearly an extension of Miami Seaside) is Key Largo. It’s residence to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park a famous diving spot, the Nationwide Marine Sanctuary, Molasses Reef, and the underwater caves of French Reef. Every space is thought for its wrecks and the plush coral reef formations and marine habitats which have developed among the many ship’s ruins.
The signage turns into denser and the seashores turn into leaner as you attain Islamorada, the self-styled “Sport Fishing Capital of the World.” You may’t miss the enormous brown lobster exterior the Treasure Village present store. Cease for the fountains crashing over the illuminated signal of Theater of the Sea, a marine amusement park with animal exhibits and items galore, on little Windley Key.
Driving south from the very business and developed Marathon Key is Grassy Key, the place you may see a statue of what appears to be like like Flipper. Certainly, that is the place the unique pet dolphin movie “Flipper” was shot within the Fifties. It’s stated the bones of the late star are buried underneath the sculpture. Virtually any turnoff alongside A1A has a narrative.
Florida Keys Resorts within the Center of Keys
Decelerate and revel in among the glitziest points of interest within the Keys. There are notable Florida Keys resorts just like the Cheeca Lodge & Spa with ith its elegantly furnished household condos or The Moorings Village and Spa.
A bit south on Duck Key, Hawks Cay Resort is a vacation spot for a lot of Florida households. It has a picturesque setting between the bay and the Atlantic, with docks and seashores on either side. This property is bisected by artifical canals, the primary swimming pool has a pirate-themed waterplay space, friends can swim with dolphins, and the household cottages are well-liked with bigger household teams.
The Florida Keys are full of small resorts. They owe years of prosperity to Henry Flagler. The visionary railroad magnate’s identify is in all places. He determined in 1912 he would lengthen his Floridian Abroad Railroad to the tip of the nation and made historical past.
Heading south, look inland to the unique roadbed for the railroad (destroyed way back by a hurricane.) The well-known Seven Mile Bridge (truly 6.9 miles) is damaged in locations to permit taller ships to cross by means of. You may stroll or jog down the northern finish from Marathon to Pigeon Key. The islet to the west of the not too long ago constructed freeway is a Florida Heritage landmark due to its unique conch homes.
See Extra on Your Florida Seaside Highway Journey within the Decrease Keys
At about 128 miles south of Miami are the Decrease Keys. This area is finest identified for scuba diving and snorkeling spots. The MS Looe, which ran aground in 1744, is the centerpiece of the Looe Key Nationwide Marine Sanctuary and a magnet for tropical fish.
An uncommon cease is on the Nationwide Key Deer Refuge about 30 miles north on Large Pine Key. It’s the solely official North American residence of the tiny Virginia white-tailed deer. Dense mangrove hugs every caye (key) in addition to the roadway. Look ahead to autos pulled onto the slender shoulder of the street, the place kayakers and canoers can unload their boats. A lot of the Keys’ shoreline is damaged coral. Nevertheless, there’s somewhat visited stunning sand seashore on the 500+ acre Bahia Honda State Park. That is the place to snorkel, kayak, fish, camp, hike and bike.
And, immediately, trendy suburban malls seem and also you’re approaching the outskirts of Key West. Stil charming and eccentric, Key West is a well-preserved enclave of two-story Victorian homes and conch cottages clustered alongside Duvall Road.
Permit no less than one in a single day in case you’ve pushed this far! Style an unique key lime pie and present the youngsters the enjoyable retailers. Speak with the colourful locals, the deep sea fishers who spend their days consuming, and staff within the pirate museums.
You’ll need to be a part of the road performers and artisans who flip the well-known sundown celebration at Mallory Pier right into a carnival, simply since you’ve come this far.
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