Is St. Augustine family-friendly?

St. Augustine works well for families, with summer humidity as the main drag. The Alligator Farm on Anastasia Boulevard has been open since 1893 and holds the attention of kids aged 3 and up for a solid 2 hours. All 24 species of crocodilian on earth live here. That's the kind of fact a 7-year-old will repeat to anyone who listens for the next 3 months. Castillo de San Marcos, the coquina fort on the bayfront built in 1672, charges $15 per adult, and everyone under 15 enters free. Kids aged 4 and up tend to love the watchtower climb and the cannon demonstrations that NPS rangers run on weekends. The walls feel cool under your hands even when the air outside sits at 30°C. Fort Matanzas, about 15 miles south on A1A, is free and reachable by a small ferry that runs roughly every 30 minutes. The ride across the inlet takes about 5 minutes and has enough boat-adventure feel to keep a 5-year-old interested.

Strollers work on most of downtown St. Augustine's sidewalks. St. George Street, the pedestrian corridor running north from the City Gate, is flat brick and wide enough for a double stroller. The bayfront walkway along Avenida Menendez is smooth concrete. Inside the Castillo, the floors are uneven packed earth with narrow doorways that won't fit a standard stroller, so plan to carry or leave it at the entrance. The Alligator Farm's pathways are mostly paved, though some boardwalk sections over the marsh have small gaps between planks that catch front wheels. Restrooms with changing tables exist at the Visitor Information Center on Castillo Drive and inside the Lightner Museum lobby, but you won't find them in most of the smaller historic houses along St. George Street. St. Augustine Beach, about a 15-minute drive east on SR-312, has public restrooms with changing stations at the pier pavilion. The packed sand near the waterline holds a jogger stroller well enough for about 2 miles of shoreline.

Most restaurants along St. George Street have a children's menu, which is not always a given in Florida's smaller historic towns. The Columbia Restaurant, a branch of the 1905 Tampa original, lists plain yellow rice and chicken on its kids' menu for around $8. Their 1905 Salad gets made tableside, which buys you about 5 minutes of entertainment before the food arrives. The Hyppo, a local ice pop shop on St. George Street, sells flavors like mango-chili and strawberry-lemonade for $4 to $5 each. They're the size of a fist and can carry a cranky 4-year-old through a 45-minute walk. For breakfast, the Floridian on Spanish Street makes solid pancakes and has a shaded back patio where a spilled orange juice won't cause a scene. If your kids eat only chicken fingers and fries, Cap's on the Water at Vilano Beach has both, plus a waterfront deck where the smell of salt air and the sound of pelicans diving tends to distract from any remaining mealtime negotiations.

From June through September, air temperatures in St. Augustine sit between 30°C and 34°C with humidity above 80%, which puts the real feel near 38°C by noon. The workable schedule is morning at the Castillo or Alligator Farm (both open at 9 AM), lunch by 11:30, then retreat to the hotel pool or an air-conditioned museum for the afternoon. The Lightner Museum, housed inside Henry Flagler's 1888 Alcazar Hotel building, stays cool and holds a 6-year-old's attention for about 45 minutes with its stained glass, mechanical musical instruments, and Victorian oddities. Mind you, several of St. Augustine's most-photographed sites don't suit kids under 6. The St. Augustine Lighthouse requires climbing 219 steps with no elevator, and children under 44 inches tall cannot reach the observation deck. Ghost tours that run after 8 PM along St. George Street typically set a minimum age of 6, and the content can rattle sensitive kids up to age 10.