Where to Stay in St. Augustine
Prices & schedules checked October 17, 2026
St. Augustine splits into two kinds of stay: the walkable historic downtown, or the beaches across the water. Which suits you depends on whether your trip is about the fort, the old streets and the trolley, or about sand. Below is what each area is like, using the official visitor bureau and Florida State Parks pages, with hotel and vacation-rental searches for each area.
We don’t recommend specific hotels or rentals. We haven’t stayed in them, and prices change daily. Before you book, check the total with taxes and fees, the cancellation policy, and whether parking is included (especially downtown).
At a glance
| Area | Best for | Getting around |
|---|---|---|
| Historic district (downtown) | First visits, Nights of Lights, ghost tours, trolley | Walk, plus the hop-on-hop-off trolleys |
| St. Augustine Beach | Families who want a classic beach town with a pier and a splash park | Drive or ride to downtown |
| Vilano Beach | A quieter, casual beach north of town; surfers; sunsets over downtown | Drive via A1A, or the Dolphin Bay Scenic Shuttle (boat) to the downtown marina |
| Anastasia Island (state park, Butler and Crescent beaches) | Nature, wide quiet beaches, a beach-plus-history mix | Drive |
The historic district
Stay downtown if you want to walk to the Castillo de San Marcos, the old streets and the evening tours. It’s where our one-day itinerary and the Nights of Lights tours happen, and where the trolleys and most ghost tours start. The trade-off is parking: ask any downtown hotel or rental whether parking is included and what it costs.
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Both searches are centered on the Castillo de San Marcos, so the closest listings come first. Check the map: results can extend well beyond downtown.
St. Augustine Beach
The visitor bureau calls St. Augustine Beach “truly one of the best beaches in St. Augustine”, with beachside places to stay and eat and a beachfront park with a fishing pier, pavilion, splash park and sand volleyball. Choose it if the beach is the point of the trip and downtown is the outing.
Vilano Beach
North of St. Augustine, Vilano Beach is, in the visitor bureau’s words, “the beach that locals go to”: casual, quiet, reached on coastal A1A (a designated All-American Road), and popular with surfers and kiteboarders. The Vilano Beach Pier, on the river side, is one of the best places to watch the sunset over downtown. The Dolphin Bay Scenic Shuttle runs daily from the public pier at Vilano Beach to the St. Augustine Municipal Marina downtown, so you can skip downtown traffic.
Vrbo has no separate Vilano Beach area in the lookup Stay22 uses (in our test it opened Jacksonville Beach), so this button opens Vrbo’s St. Augustine search. Zoom the map to Vilano Beach, north of the inlet.
Anastasia Island: the state park, Butler and Crescent beaches
Across the water from downtown, Anastasia Island holds St. Augustine Beach plus quieter stretches. Anastasia State Park has 4 miles of protected beach and more than 1,600 acres of beaches, tidal marshes, maritime hammocks and ancient dunes. It’s open 8 a.m. to sunset every day, entry is $8 per vehicle (Florida State Parks, as of Oct 2026), and its 139 campsites are a short walk from the beach. Farther south, the visitor bureau describes Crescent Beach as “miles of broad white sand” and some of the area’s most unspoiled shoreline. Butler Beach played a significant role in the civil rights movement and has a county park with beach access.
How to choose
- Visiting for Nights of Lights (Nov 21, 2026 – Jan 18, 2027): stay downtown so you can walk the lights after dark. See our Nights of Lights guide.
- Beach week with a downtown day: St. Augustine Beach for amenities, or Vilano for a quieter base.
- Nature first: Anastasia Island, near the state park.
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Sources
- Florida’s Historic Coast (official visitor bureau) — Beaches: St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia State Park, Crescent, Vilano and Butler beaches
- Florida’s Historic Coast — Vilano Beach (A1A All-American Road, Dolphin Bay Scenic Shuttle, Vilano Beach Pier sunsets)
- Florida State Parks — Anastasia State Park (hours, $8 per vehicle, 1,600 acres, 4 miles of beach, 139 campsites)
- Florida’s Historic Coast — Nights of Lights (dates)