How to spend 24 hours in St Augustine Florida

I recently traveled with The PGA Tour for THE PLAYERS Championship – the Tour’s crown jewel golf championship that takes place each March in to Northeast Florida. Lucky for me, they arranged for a little downtime in St Augustine, a short 30-minute trip from Ponte Vedra Beach along the historic A1A highway. Here’s a recap of all the amazing things I explored.

Known for its Spanish colonial architecture, this Atlantic beach town is straight up gorgeous. I began the day with my friends over at Florida Water Tours for a Dolphin and Wildlife Cruise. We ended up spotting three pods of flipper friends, several marshland birds and got a coastal view of some of the city’s most famous landmarks. It was the perfect way to start the day; I highly recommend it!

On a personal note: the staff here is straight up amazing. I had a little trouble getting an Uber after the tour, so they welcomed me inside their office, gave me their wifi password and offered to even drive me themselves if I couldn’t get my app to work. Sending a special thank you to their team for being so accommodating. A wonderful example of Southern hospitality.

Next I headed over to St. George Street. This pedestrian-only thoroughfare is lined with several restaurants, local shops and pubs. Definitely a gem within the heart of America’s oldest city. The team over at Florida Water Tours recommended that I have lunch at Prohibition Kitchen, so that’s exactly where I went.

This vintage gastropub features seasonally inspired dishes made with local ingredients.

I was immediately thrown back to an old-world era, filled with an array of flapper dresses, moonshine and illegal shenanigans. I found a spot up at the bar and spiked up a conversation with my server. He had lived there for a while and gave me a few pointers of where I should venture next.

I ordered a Negroni to start while I browsed through their menu. It’s an impressive mix of fresh seafood, upscale bar food, build-your-own burgers, and hearty mains. I knew I’d be eating my way through the city, so I decided to go with a leafy entrée. The Super Bowl Salad immediately caught my eye: baby kale, avocado, asparagus, quinoa, snap peas, cucumbers, pickled eggs, toasted pumpkin seeds and hemp hearts with green goddess dressing. I also added grilled chicken breast for some extra protein. It was deeeeelish. I’m definitely going to try and remake this at home in the near future.

After a pleasant meal, I strolled the streets… soaking it all in. I really enjoyed perusing through Saint Augustine Art Glass & Craft Gallery, Serenity Blue and Sunburst Trading Company. I passed by a few museums and historic monuments, there’s so much to explore! To be honest, I think you could spend a couple of days here. However, since I just had one, I was going to make the most of it.

After a few hours of site seeing, I suggest that a you head on over to St. Augustine Distillery. Situated inside a restored ice plant (circa 1907), this slew-house offers self-guided tours and tastings to all their guests. They make small batch whiskey, rum, gin and vodka that you can purchase in-house, at specialty markets or even have them package it up and mail a bottle home!

After my tour, I headed upstairs to check out Ice Plant Bar.

It was here where I met up with Barbara from Florida’s Historic Coast. We ordered a cocktail and clicked immediately. She was great company and we ended up spending the rest of the evening together. All of Ice Plant’s cocktails have creative names associated with music and songs. Barbara ordered a “Little Red Corvette: gin, Campari, cranberry, thyme and lemon. I ordered a Burt Reynolds: Rye Whiskey, Avua aged cachaca, sweet vermouth, smoked cherry wood, barrel spiced and chocolate bitters.

If you followed along on my Instagram stories, you know that one of my main goals was to find a couple shark teeth for our oldest son Dylan. Barbara knew everything there is to know about finding them along the beach… and you know what? I found THREE the next day! After our happy hour we headed over to The Floridian for dinner.

Our drive back to Saint George Street was breathtaking. Just look how beautiful their city hall is! I honestly feel like I could spend an entire day just walking around, gazing at the buildings and palm trees.

Saint George Street transforms at night. There’s live music, people dancing in the street and everyone has a smile on their face. I absolutely loved it.

We grabbed a table outside and ordered a couple appetizers.

If you just so happen to be in the area, I highly recommend ordering what we did! The Biscuit and Belly was one of my favorites. Gluten free buttermilk biscuit with braised pork belly, hot sauce honey, Lil Moo cheese, fancy mustard and Bourbon-Apple Butter. Barbara said she orders this at least once a week… and now I certainly know why. I could honestly eat this every day and not be mad about it.

Next up was their Fried Green Tomatoes, a southern classic. Cornmeal-dusted fried green tomatoes served over spinach, green tomato relish, house-herbed ricotta and basil aioli. Oh my… their team executed this perfectly. So, so good.

The presentation here is lovely, and the flavor combinations are spectacular.

Barbara and I both decided to get grilled protein bowls for our main dishes. She got the Citrus Beat Salad: blackened salmon over spinach-arugula greens tossed with citrus-cured beets, sweet potatoes, spiced chickpeas, and shaved Vidalias. Finished with German Farmer Bread Crostini, Chili-Orange Zesty Yogurt schmear and Cashew Dukkah. I opted for the Cornbread Panzanella: blackened chicken over arugula tossed with pan-toasted cornbread croutons, heirloom cherry tomatoes and sweet pickled onions with Thomasville Tomme Cheese, and a side of buttermilk-herb dressing.

I’m not normally a dessert person, but when they brought the menu out I absolutely knew we had to try it. Have you ever heard of a Lavender + Sea Salt + Honey Pie before? This intensely flavorful, creamy, dreamy pie made with orange blossom honey, lavender and finished with Fleur de Sel. Doesn’t that description just make your mouth water? I can’t even describe in words how much I loved it. Trust me on this one.

My day spent in St Augustine was organized and sponsored by The PGA Tour, THE PLAYERS Championship and Florida’s Historic Coast.

Per the usual, all opinions here are mine alone and I would never recommend a destination or ingredient that I did not immensely enjoy myself. Thank you for supporting the organizations that support SliceOfJess.com!