Focus on your tan or become active; take surfing or surfing lessons, let kayaks and paddleboards, fish at the dock or combine a fishing charter vessel outing. Stay at ocean front hotels and awaken every morning to amazing sunrises over the Atlantic Ocean. Over three miles from the beaches, you will come across the Intracoastal Waterway, 6 4 km of peaceful canals and natural inlets where visitors could take an airboat ride and see local wild life, including dolphins, manatees and hundreds of bird species. In the heart of downtown, the St. Johns River takes the spotlight: Love a brunch river refuge, walk the 4.8-kilometer river-walk and visit the Riverside Arts Market, while enjoying magnificent views of the river front and downtown skyline.
Only minutes away from downtown, the town’s wild side flourishes at the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve. This 18,615-acre preserve is good for people seeking an all natural thrill. Swim, boat, hike, fish and revel in historical sites like Fort Caroline National Memorial, categorised as Florida’s”Atlantis,” along with Kingsley Plantation with its former servant quarters, barn, plantation and kitchen houses and garden that are now part of an environmental preserve. Explore the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, with over 3,000 exotic and rare animal and plant species. Venture into Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary along with hand-feed lions, tigers and other large cats. You may even let adventure and romance merge because you ride horses on white-sand beaches with Kelly Seahorse Ranch on Amelia Island.
One of the last remaining dinner theaters in the country, The Alhambra, still works along side one of their oldest continuously operating community theaters, Theatre Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jazz Festival brings an impressive line up of actors and more than 130,000 jazz lovers to downtown Jacksonville each Memorial Day weekend. All year long, from January to December, there’s something exciting to do and explore in Jacksonville.