Florida A1A road

[Adenauer]

Has anyone driven this route?

We're doing a small roadtrip in January, one leg is from West Palm Beach up to St. Augustine via a stop at Cocoa Beach and I've recently spotted this ocean road.

Is it a good drive or a pain in the arse that's not worth using?

TIA

[Adenauer]

Some Gump said:

Pain in the arse but the area is nice, esp st. Augustine.

Little fun driving to be had in the states, they just love traffic lights too much!

That's my point really, I'm guessing the proper Freeway (US-1) will be just that, a motorway. But the A1A looks like it could be a much more scenic drive, it's just that I don't know if it would be worth the extra seat time to do it or not?

[Adenauer]

garyhun said:

St Augustine is a lovely part of Florida, enjoy!

So we've heard. I had originally booked for two nights there but a little thing called an AtlasV rocket launch in January has got in the way of that. I've now booked us in for a night at Cocoa Beach on the off chance that the lift off will be around the time we're there. If it isn't then I'll go back to skipping Cocoa Beach and doing two nights in St. Augustine.

But I REALLY want to see a rocket launch.

[Adenauer]

garyhun said:

Seeing a launch would be awesome so I understand your decision.

I loved St Augustine, loads of history and lovely B&Bs, but a rocket launch would take precedence for me too

Yep, if we're lucky enough to see one that would make the trip!

Here's the planned tour so far, into and out of Tampa airport. Anything on there strike you as a 'don't bother?'

We have been a few times but never really up the Atlantic coast apart from a day trip to Daytona, which I thought was a bit of a dump.

https://www.google.de/maps/dir/Tampa,+Florida,+USA...

[Adenauer]

Oh and, any recomendations for a nice B&B in St. Augustine?

[Adenauer]

Ahh, sorry I should have made it a bit clearer.

Tampa is just the arrival/departure airport. I've limited it to maximum 300 miles per day which I think is very easy. The places we'll be staying for a day or two each time are Naples, South Beach (not Miami itself), Key West, Key Largo, West Palm Beach, Cocoa Beach, St. Augustine, and lastly St. Petersburg.

Actually, maybe I'll miss Naples and go straight from Tampa to South Beach

[Adenauer]

The Leaper said:

Many years ago we had a holiday at Daytona Beach. We knew there was a launch of a Saturn 5 that weekend so we sent to spectate it in the area. We were on a bridge in Titusville along with some locals including cops. We were all tuned in to the NASA countdown. Beautiful sunny early morning and WOW what a launch and what a noise even though the launch was about 10 miles away. Saw the side tanks jettison etc. Unforgettable.

R.

Perfect, if I can manage anything close to that it would be amazing!

[Adenauer]

Saleen836 said:

Except for not going up further than Cocoa Beach your route is almost identical to mine from a few years ago (in and out or Miami though) watching a launch is a must but most are cancelled and rarely launch on the scheduled date/time.
South Beach was a nice area when I stayed there back in 2001 on my first trip to Florida, no idea what it is like now, Naples is really nice and so are the Keys, 300miles a day is easy to do but very boring.

Cheers Saleen, we'll be breaking the 300 miles up a lot, we'll be leaving by around nine each morning and not aiming to get to our destination until around five in the afternoon, so there will be lots of eating/drinking/looking at stuff breaks along the way.

I'm aware of how rare those things take off 'on schedule' but have a few days flexibility either way just in case. The real pisser would be if the launch is the week after we were there. We'll just have to wait and see, it's scheduled for January but no date yet so it's in the lap of the Gods anyway.

[Adenauer]

Saleen836 said:

Where are you staying on the Keys?

I stayed here... https://www.hawkscay.com/ and did a day trip down to Key West, the further south towards Key West the more expensive accommodation gets!

http://keywesthospitalityinns.com/wicker-guesthouse/

I know what you mean about the prices, this was the most reasonable half decent looking place in Key West and it's on Duval street.

[Adenauer]

Matt Harper said:

US-1 is NOT a 'Freeway', nor is it anything like a motorway. Get that thought right out of your head. For Freeway-like driving on the Atlantic coast take Interstate 95 or The Florida Turnpike.

A1-A hugs the coast and barrier islands - it is slow going, but quite pleasant in places. It is less busy that US-1 because it doesn't pass trough commercial districts of the coastal towns and cities, as does US-1. US-1 is murderous in comparison - endless strip malls, traffic lights every other intersection and passing trough many featureless and uninviting places along the way. If time is not pressing on you and you like the beach, take A1-A. If you need to get a move-on, it's easy to jump onto I-95.

I would also suggest deviating from I-75 between Naples and Miami and opting for US 41 (Tamiami Trail) a little further south - much nicer Everglades experience - plenty of interesting stops en-route.

As for accommodations in St Augustine FL, push the boat out and stay at Casa Monica Resort/Spa - it's not crazy expensive, but is truly fantastic - and perfectly situated in the heart of town, directly opposite the wonderful buildings of Flagler College.

Thanks for that, Matt. All things considered I think we'll try the A1A, sounds like the US-1 would actually be worse anyway.

Is the Tamiami Trail now free of roadworks? The last time we used that to drive to Miami it was one massive building site and took forever! If it's okay now then we'll definitely go that way, I can remember the I-75 being very boring.

Casa Monica, hmm, looks all a bit too poncy for us, to be perfectly honest.

ETA: And thanks for the launch pics, if the date lines up with our trip I shall pester you like Herpes for tips

Edited by Adenauer on Wednesday 15th August 07:28

[Adenauer]

[Adenauer]

Cheers, Timiami trail it is then.

And yes, Matt, I am.

[Adenauer]

We're there from January 4th - 14th, and the January rocket launch date has just been published.

31st

[Adenauer]

Changed the trip slightly because of non-rocket launch.

Still going up the A1A from West Palm Beach to St. Augustine but I have now added a few nights in a great looking waterfront hotel in Cedar Key.

Anyone ever been to Cedar Key? Looks nice

https://www.google.de/maps/dir/Tampa+International...

[Adenauer]

irocfan said:

Adenauer said:

Changed the trip slightly because of non-rocket launch.

Still going up the A1A from West Palm Beach to St. Augustine but I have now added a few nights in a great looking waterfront hotel in Cedar Key.

Anyone ever been to Cedar Key? Looks nice

https://www.google.de/maps/dir/Tampa+International...

IMO Cedar Key is lovely - that said it is quite a ways from anywhere (which is why we liked it!). The chowder there is amazing (can't remember the restaurant but you'll see loads of signs for it on the way in).

Brilliant, just what I wanted to hear, 2 nights spent there unwinding at the end of the trip should be perfect.

Look what I found there, I'm booking the Sea Pearl suite, cheap as chips and hopefully will live up to the description

http://cedarkeyharbourmaster.com/SeaPearl.php

It should also be very easy for us to bimble down to Tampa from there for our evening flight back to the Fatherland

Edited by Adenauer on Wednesday 22 August 14:54

Edited by Adenauer on Wednesday 22 August 14:55

[Adenauer]

irocfan said:

We stayed in one of the harbour master suits and really liked it. You park under the house and up some stairs to get to the flat/apartment so be warned if someone has mobility issues - that being said I believe that there are some apartments in the main building too.

Good to hear, we've got the entire top floor of the main building with a balcony that goes half way around the house just for us, and that for 150€ per night, bargain!!

We're both fine walking the 3 flights up to it

I'm sooo tempted to hire a Corvette for the trip but the Scottish person in me can't justify why it's 1,000 dollars more for the 10 days than a Mustang or Camaro.