Explore The Oldest City In America – 5 Days
A Fort, A Fountain & Lots of Fun!
Program Summary
You’ll visit St. Augustine, founded in September 1565. St. Augustine is the oldest continually inhabited European- founded city in the United States – more commonly called the “Nation’s Oldest City.” Your visit to St. Augustine will have you dive into more than four centuries of history that owes much to the Spanish, English, Greeks, Native Americans, and African Americans.
Program Highlights & Inclusions
- Professional ETA Tour Manager throughout the trip
- Transportation throughout your trip
- Admission to the Colonial Quarter
- Admission to the Florida Heritage Museum
- Guided Tour of St. Augustine’s Old Jail
- Guided ghost tour of St. Augustine
- Admission to the Fountain of Youth Archeological Park
- Admission to the Pirate and Treasure Museum
- Visit Castillo de San Marcos
- Free time for shopping on St. George Street
- Admission to the Spanish Military Hospital
- Visit to St. Augustine Beach
Daily Itinerary
If traveling by bus overnight, you’ll depart this evening for your trip to St. Augustine.
You’ll arrive in St. Augustine and meet your Tour Manager who will be with you throughout your trip.
You’ll begin your day with a visit to the new Colonial Quarter of St. Augustine, which opened in the spring of 2013. Immerse yourself in four different eras of St. Augustine’s history: the 16th-century First City, the 17th-century Spanish Fortified Town, the 18th-century British 14th Colony and the 18th-century Spanish Garrison Town.
After lunch, you’ll take a historical narrated trolley ride through the city.
Next you’ll visit the Florida Heritage Museum. You’ll enjoy learning about Florida’s rich and exciting history during your visit to the museum that celebrates Florida.
You’ll then take a guided tour of St. Augustine’s Old Jail where you’ll have a close look at the cell blocks, gallows and sheriff’s quarters. Your guide will entertain you with tales of justice and punishment during your tour.
After dinner, you’ll take a guided ghost tour with A Ghostly Experience. A guide in period dress will light your way through the city with their lantern as they relate the ancient, strange, and eerie tales of centuries past!
This morning you’ll take a guided tour of Castillo de San Marcos Fort located on the shore of Matanzas Bay. The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.
Next, you’ll take a tour of the Fountain of Youth Archeological Park. The park is a 15 acre, waterfront historical site where Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez de Aviles established the first and oldest continuous European settlement in the United States of America in 1565.
You’ll enjoy The Pirate Museum’s unique collection of authentic artifacts along with interactive technology that takes students on an historic adventure through the Golden Age of Piracy and the lives of the era’s most infamous pirates.
After some free time shopping on St. George Street, you’ll head up to the World Golf Hall of Fame for an insightful IMAX Film.
This morning, you’ll travel back in time to the Spanish Military Hospital Museum to learn about the amazing history of Spanish Colonial Medicine. Find out why the Spanish were 400 years ahead of their time with fully guided presentation featuring both surgical and apothecary demonstrations.
This afternoon you’ll have free time at the beach!
Your St. Augustine adventure comes to a close as you board the bus for your overnight trip home (if applicable).
You will arrive home today by taking an overnight bus.
