In our September-October issue, I recount my adventures in St. Augustine on a press trip celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. But the journey included many stops outside of the central theme of the Spanish influence on the nation’s oldest city. This exclusive Web Extra covers other St. Augustine highlights from a jam-packed three-day excursion.
ATTRACTIONS
St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum
100 Red Cox Drive, St. Augustine, 904/829-0745, staugustinelighthouse.org
Lighting the way for mariners since 1871, this towering structure painted in ribbons of black and white is an essential St. Augustine experience, especially if you’re fit to walk its 219 cast-iron steps to enjoy the sweeping 360-degree views of St. Augustine. The trudge up the spiral stairs sounds intimidating, but it’s doable if you pace yourself: Visitors are encouraged to pause at the window overlooks and rest areas along the way, which contain painted text on the walls that tell story of the lighthouse and odd bits of historical trivia. Those who reach the pinnacle are rewarded with an up-close look at the two-ton lens in the lantern room, where a human lamplighter worked daily until 1989.
By the time I visited the adjoining Maritime Museum on the property, which includes myriad artifacts and dioramas about lighthouses, shipwrecks, and the “lonely life of the lamplighter,” my rubbery legs wobbled like Jell-O, but their owner appreciated the workout.
Florida Water Tours Wine Tasting Tour
107 Yacht Club Drive, St. Augustine, 904/827-7728, floridawatertour.com
The best way to experience sunset in St. Augustine is on the water, on a leisurely 90-minute tour on the Intracoastal Waterway on a 45-foot pontoon boat. Included in the admission, boaters sample six wines during the journey—three reds and three whites—along with a personal charcuterie cone, while the ship’s guide condenses St. Augustine history into manageable chunks. Views of the historic fort Castillo de San Marcos, the Big Cross at Mission Nombre de Dios, and the St. Augustine Lighthouse compete, if you’re as lucky as we were, with up-close views of the ospreys and Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins that patrol its waters. Our guide’s expert knowledge of the local fauna illuminated their cameos. Bossa nova-style covers of pop songs emanated from the ship’s speakers, perfectly capturing the laid-back atmosphere.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park
999 Anastasia Blvd., St. Augustine, 904/824-3337, alligatorfarm.com
A vintage advertisement posted in a display at the aforementioned Maritime Museum touts the St. Augustine Alligator Farm as “the largest and best collection of alligators on Earth.” In operation since 1893, the park is home to 24 species of crocodilians—regular and albino alligators, caimans, gharials, various species of crocodiles—and is in the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors wind around various themed regions (The Land Down Under, Birds of Africa, Lemurs of Madagascar), spotting such seldom-seen creatures as the blue-billed curassaw, black-crowned crane, and two-toed sloth in addition to the innumerable gators and crocs, which often can be seen piled atop and around each other like pick-up sticks. Daily wildlife shows, a theater screening a video about the park’s mission, and an on-site zipline adventure complement the experience.
Villa Zorayda
83 King St., St. Augustine; villazorayda.com
This Gilded Age home, owned by a wealthy Bostonian named Franklin Smith and still run by his descendants, helped define, along with Henry Flagler’s contributions, the European-inspired look of St. Augustine. Everything about the place is stunning, from the diamond-shaped multicolored stained-glass windows near the ceiling to the imported collectibles and certifiably weird knickknacks that populate its floors and walls. For the latter, dig the plate with a three-dimensional octopus and snake emerging from it, preserved under glass next to a pitcher shaped like a lizard. But nothing beats the Egyptian Room, where visitors learn the story of a sacred rug, made entirely of cat hair, which was discovered 2,400 years ago in a casket on the Nile, alongside the foot of mummy, which is also preserved in the room (one cannot make this stuff up). Visitors can check out a small audio recorder that contains a self-guided tour of the house, with more than 20 distinct stopping points.
WHERE TO DINE
Llama
415 Anastasia Blvd., St. Augustine; llamarestaurant.com
This chef-driven Peruvian restaurant is reservation-only, with about a dozen intimate tables. Dining is an experience here, from the design of the space, with its llama art emerging from living walls and its collection of Peruvian textiles and pottery, to its creative menu, which includes multiple options for vegetarians like myself, including a pasta with foraged wild mushrooms that was to die for. In presentation and aroma, as well as taste, the food at Llama tells a story, complete with occasional culinary theatrics. “This S’more is on Fire,” an elevated take on the classic campfire treat, is lit ablaze on the table. The Sacred Valley dessert, with its Quillabamba cacao mousse and Lucuma fruit puree, is served in a boat adjoining eucalyptus leaves burnt at the table, filling diners’ nostrils with a sensory feeling of the journey into the titular Peruvian region.
La Cocina at the Cellar Upstairs
157 King St., St. Augustine; cellarupstairs.lacocinarestaurants.com
I can’t imagine a better send-off for our final night in St. Augustine than the pampered dining experience we received at La Cocina, another chef-driven destination that’s angling for a Michelin Star. Our four-course prix fixe dinner, each course paired with wines from the restaurant’s downstairs neighbor, San Sebastian Winery, marvelously accommodated my vegetarian palate, while catering equally to other dietary restrictions in our tour group, which included two visitors on the all-carnivore diet and three easy-to-please omnivores. For us, the meal included a shiitake mushroom and hearts of palm ceviche; a tomato saffron risotto; an edamame and cauliflower peri peri; and a white chocolate mousse with pistachio cream. Each dish was nothing less than superb.
Bar Citra
3676 N. Ponce De Leon Blvd., Unit 0, St. Augustine, barcitra.com
This unassuming coffee and wine bar was awarded a Bib Gourmand this year—the Michelin’s first foray into Florida—and after one taste of its pastries, baked in house daily, it’s easy to see why. Made in flavors such as cardamom, pistachio, and cinnamon, the challah-style buns are an indulgence that one shouldn’t depart St. Augustine without enjoying. Don’t sleep on the focaccia breakfast sandwich or sourdough pizza, either, served in an inviting, artistically designed café that’s made for lingering.
This Web Extra is from the September/October 2026 issue of Boca magazine. For more like this, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
