Draft, pending checks
Anything marked [VERIFY] is a figure or a claim that has not been confirmed against a primary source yet. Those lines should be checked or cut before this page is promoted anywhere.
When to come
The single biggest lever on the cost of a week here is the week you pick. Nightly rates on the properties we list swing by a factor of two or three between the quiet months and the busy ones, for exactly the same house.
- Cheapest: late summer into the autumn, outside holiday weekends. Hot, humid, and inside hurricane season, which is the reason it is cheap. [VERIFY exact months against rate data]
- Also cheap: the weeks after the new year, once the Christmas lights season ends. [VERIFY: when the Nights of Lights season actually ends]
- Most expensive: spring break, Easter, the summer holidays, and the Nights of Lights run before Christmas. [VERIFY dates]
If your dates are fixed, the lever you have left is where you stay rather than when, which is what the rest of this site is about.
Stay a few miles out
This is the one the site exists for. The premium for being on the sand is large and it is charged on every night of your stay. Moving inland, or simply a couple of streets back from the ocean, routinely saves more over a week than every other saving on this page added together.
On our own listings the gap runs from about $100 a night inland to $400 for an oceanfront house with a pool. Different houses, of course, but the pattern holds within the same size and standard too.
Parking downtown
Downtown parking is a real cost if you are visiting daily, and it is the thing most visitors get wrong.
- The city's main parking garage near the visitor centre charges a flat daily rate. [VERIFY current price and whether it is still flat-rate]
- On-street metered parking exists but turns over slowly in season. [VERIFY hours, rates, and whether any streets are free]
- Parking further out and walking in is usually the cheapest option. [VERIFY which free or cheap lots are actually available and legal to use]
If you are staying on the island, consider leaving the car and taking the local bus or cycling in on quieter days. [VERIFY Sunshine Bus route, fare and whether it serves the beaches usefully]
What costs nothing
- The historic district itself. Walking the old streets, the plaza and the waterfront is free, and it is most of what people come for.
- The beaches. Access is free, though beach parking may not be. [VERIFY which beach access points charge, and how much]
- The Palatka to St. Augustine State Trail, which is genuinely free, 19 paved miles, open 8am to sunset. More about the trail.
- Looking at the fort from the outside. The grounds and the view across the bay cost nothing; going inside is ticketed. [VERIFY current admission and whether the grounds are open separately]
Where the money actually goes
For most trips the order is: accommodation first by a long way, then eating out, then paid attractions, then parking and fuel. That ordering is why this site concentrates on the first one. Saving twenty dollars on tickets is pleasant. Saving a hundred a night for six nights is a different kind of holiday.