Discover Jacksonville Beach

Jacksonville Beach offers several starting points for planning a trip: the Atlantic, with its pier and surfing conditions; a preserve on the Intracoastal Waterway; and sports and history. If you’re looking for a hotel for your stay, considering these different highlights can help you find a destination that suits your interests.

Water and Coast

Cradle Creek Preserve is a 43.3-acre, largely undisturbed area on the Intracoastal Waterway. Its landscape offers a different emphasis from activities on the Atlantic. If you want to look beyond the beach when considering Jacksonville Beach, you can also include this preserve in your plans: it is an expansive, largely undisturbed area along a different kind of waterway.

On the Atlantic: Pier and Surfing

The Jacksonville Beach Pier offers access to fishing and extends almost a quarter mile into the Atlantic. Its length and fishing access give the pier a distinct role among waterfront activities. Jacksonville Beach also offers surfing conditions for both beginners and experienced surfers. This means surfing accommodates different experience levels, while fishing from the pier is a separate activity.

When planning your trip, you can distinguish between these two Atlantic activities based on what you’re looking for: the pier is for fishing, while surfing offers conditions for different experience levels. This makes it easier to choose specific activities without treating the two options as interchangeable.

Sports and Everyday Life

The Jacksonville Beach Tennis Club offers clinics for adult beginners and advanced players. This adds a distinct sporting option alongside surfing and fishing. The clinics are specifically intended for adults at two experience levels, which is helpful to know if you’re considering tennis.

Everyday life in Jax Beach includes leisurely rides on beach cruisers along First Street. This is another aspect of local life, separate from the specifically mentioned tennis and surfing options. Together with the sports activities, it paints a picture that includes both organized clinics and a form of transportation rooted in everyday life.

Street and Hotel History

Third Street through Jacksonville Beach is also known as FL State Road A1A and as Florida’s Historic A1A National Scenic Byway. All three names refer to the same road: the name Third Street, its designation as a state road, and the name of the scenic byway. If you encounter these names while learning about Jacksonville Beach, you can associate them with the same street.

A historical connection to hotel history leads to Pablo Beach. After the railroad there was completed in mid-1886, the first resort hotel was built and opened to the public. This sequence ties a specific date to the early history of the resort hotel: first the railroad was completed, then the hotel was built and opened its doors.

A Museum Visit

At the Beaches Museum, visitors can see a 28-ton steam locomotive. This is a specific place to visit for a cultural experience alongside the themes of water and sports: the focus is a technical artifact, whose weight gives a sense of the locomotive’s size. If you’d also like to include a museum visit in your travel plans, this exhibit adds a different kind of experience to the other Jacksonville Beach themes.

Discover more destinations: Neptune Beach, Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach

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