North Atlantic Info
Here’s a short general description of Florida’s North Atlantic Coast.
Go to the Locals’ Guide for the scoop on restaurants, seafood markets and what to do.
If you’re ready to find a great place to stay, head to our North Atlantic vacation rentals.
View all of our Florida vacation rentals.
The Discovery Coast
The north Atlantic coast of Florida is heaven on earth with its moss covered oaks, old settlement towns from early European exploration, the big St. John’s River ambling through vast national forests out to the coast, and those beautiful big beaches.
With its vast inland forests, ranging horse farms, quiet little Victorian villages and beach towns, big collegate Gainesville, big city Jacksonville, and rockin’ Daytona, the North Atlantic Coastal area offers a wide range of opportunities for fun and relaxation.
Fernandina Beach area:
Fernandina Beach on peaceful Amelia Island was a pirates’ den back in the day and is now a Victorian resort full of charm and manicured lawns. Its beaches, along with all of Amelia’s, are great for swimming and beach sports. Discover Big and Little Talbot Islands, with miles of unspoiled beach, a superb 4 mile hiking trail, and a 20 ft bluff on eerie Boneyard Beach.
Jacksonville area:
Jacksonville is full of big city amenities like a new performing arts center and ultra cool shopping, and it has more than 6 miles of beach, all stunners. Neptune, along with Atlantic Beach, is popular with families, and posh Ponte Vedra is famous for great golf courses.
St. Augustine area:
Keep heading south and you’re in beautiful St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US, which can be seen by horse drawn carriage 
or from the wrought iron balcony of the A1A Aleworks overlooking the Bridge of Lions and the Mantanzas River. The town has great restaurants, lots of live music, and an Old World ambiance that makes walking home in the evening a lifetime memory.
Then there are the great beaches just across the bridge.
From Ripley’s Believe It or Not to carriage rides with believable ghost stories to that good old Florida beach scene, St. Augustine is unique beauty.
South along the beach it gets pretty quiet, but Marineland is worth a stop. It used to be the hottest attraction in Florida, but those days are long gone and it’s now a research center for the University of Florida that gave it a big rebuild in 2006.
Flagler Beach south to Daytona:
A little further down the beach you come to funky Flagler Beach, a mostly residential little beach town with a pier, nice homes, small town shopping, and you guessed it, a great beach.
Just before you get to Daytona Beach on your way south you’ll find Ormond Beach, which is a lot more restful and refined than its neighbor to the south. A Rockefeller used to live there and a bit of culture has worn off on the town in a nice way.
Daytona Beach on the other hand is all about fun. Like Bike Week with tens of thousands of bikes. Craziness is the burn pit at Boot Hill Saloon where bikers line up to see how much rubber they can burn off their tires. 
The Daytona Speedway is the big dog when it comes to big time race tracks, and it seems like there is something going on every week on the streets out to the beach. It’s kind of nuts, but it all works, and Daytona can be a whole lot of fun.
If you think it’s cool you can even drive on the beach.
South of Daytona is Ponce Inlet with Florida’s tallest working lighthouse and a nice residential community, and then you come to New Smyrna (“Sa-myrna”) Beach, a wonderful little surf town that’s quiet, easy going, and has everything you’d want for a week at the beach.
Gainesville, Ocala, and funky Cassadega:
If you’re up for heading inland, there’s the huge Ocala National Forest with lazy rivers and lots of trails; Cassadega, a small town full of psychics, palm readers and just about anything odd when it comes to spiritualism; Deland, a nice sleepy little old Florida town that is home to Stetson University, the country’s oldest private university. Ocala is a town set on rolling hills and has actually been certified by the US Agriculture Dept as the “Horse Capital of the World”. Ocala’s 600 thoroughbred farms have produced 45 national champions, 6 Kentucky Derby winners, 20 Breeders’ Cup champions and 6 Horses of the Year.
Then there’s the big college town of Gainesville, home of the University of Florida and their famous Gators.
One of the best parts about this part of Florida is its diversity of the deep forests, isolated beaches, old Victorian towns, to the big beaches and the roaring Daytona Speedway. There’s something for everybody here.
Watercolor by Peter Bailey