Castillo de San Marcos National Monument — Attraction in Saint Augustine

Cool historic site with some major highs and lows — especially with staff.

Castillo de San Marcos is a really interesting and beautiful attraction in St. Augustine. The view from the top of the fort is absolutely gorgeous, and it's fascinating to see the old cannons and structure up close. It’s worth a visit for the history and scenery alone.

A couple of important things to know before you go:

Parking is tough. When you do find a spot, it’s metered, so be prepared to pay.

If you're visiting with someone who has autism or a disability, you qualify for free access through the America the Beautiful—National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Access Pass.

Castillo de San Marcos recently became the first National Park to earn a Certified Autism Center™ designation, which makes it all the more surprising that our first experience with the front gate staff was so negative.

Checking in was tense due to the poor and unprofessional attitudes of Officer John D. and Officer L. Geary. Their communication style felt more appropriate for working security at a rowdy bar than for a Certified Autism Center destination. I also witnessed L. Geary make a subtle but questionable gesture, which didn't sit right. She wiped her mouth and moved her hand quickly when she noticed I had turn suddenly to look back at her. She was in view of a minor with a disability.These may seem like small things, but for a place that prides itself on inclusion, decency and accessibility, this kind of behavior is something management needs to address.

Once we got past their shenanigans, the experience turned around. We were greeted by Tara Babb, who was everything the earlier staff were not—professional, helpful, and courteous. She made us feel welcome and respected.

We were short on time, so we only explored the upstairs level, but it was definitely worth it. The views are fantastic, and the historical elements are very cool to see in person.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

It was extremely hot during our summer visit. Be sure to bring water, sunscreen, and umbrellas if you go in warmer months.

A member of our group used the restroom and reported that it was filthy—which was disappointing.

Overall, Castillo de San Marcos is a great place to visit, but it could really benefit from better front-line staff training and improved facilities maintenance. Hopefully, the National Park Service will take steps to ensure the experience matches the standards of a Certified...

I was sitting at O-Ku, a sushi restaurant in Jax Beach, with a table full of Floridians claiming with confidence bordering on arrogance that St. Augustine was the oldest city in the US. I have spent enough time with Floridians to know that this level of confidence is usually rooted in absolutely nothing. "They're really acting like Jamestown doesn't exist..." I thought to myself.

Before dropping the Jamestown bomb, I whipped out my phone and went straight to google just to double check. Can you imagine the lies people got away with before google???? Just saying anything, standing on completely baseless business. You'd have to go to the library the next day just to fact check someone ahahaha that'd be brutal.

Anyways, you can see where this is going. I was completely wrong. St. Augustine (1565) is high stepping into the endzone with being the oldest city in the US. A full 42 years before Jamestown, VA. That one hurt. I checked like 8 different sources looking for anything to dispute the truth. That's the thing about the truth though, it's always shining through.

We went to St. Augustine the next morning, and Castillo de San Marcos is the city's heartbeat. It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. The Castillo is in the shape of a star and made of a stone called coquina, which is Spanish for "small shells." No excuse just produce.

After paying the $15 dollar entry fee, we walked in and you can immediately feel some sort of energy. At least I can, I'm a nut though. It's almost like a deep reverence for generations past that put their lives on the line in wars and battles so I could be sitting in this coffee shop chillin, with my only stresser being if they put almond milk in my latte instead of oat milk smh.

At every corner of the star, there is a little infographic detailing something that happened in that very spot all those years ago. In essentially every paragraph, they sneak in some variation of "the fort walls were never breached" ahahaha you can't help but respect that, sometimes you just gotta let em know! Closed mouth don't get fed!

All in all, The Castillo is a mus-- WAIT. YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE OLDEST CITY IN THE US?!?!?! Y'ALL STILL GOING TO JAMESTOWN?!?!?! COULDN'T BE ME!!!!!!!!

Thank you, St. Augustine. Thank you, Google.

IG...

• Visited Friday afternoon during winter break holiday in December 2023. Parking is very limited for the number of people who were visiting. Very lucky we got a spot as someone was pulling out. • Paying for parking is in addition to paying to enter the fort. • The park accepts the NPS annual pass. Otherwise, it can be very pricey per person. Also you have to have EVERYONE in your party present to purchase tickets at the ticket booth to enter. But at the same time there were no physical tickets handed to us and no one guarding the entrance/exit asking for proof of purchase or annual pass. I don't know if they were short staffed and had no one to monitor the "gate". • LOTS of information. We only stayed for an hour or so. Could’ve spent 2 hrs. at least to read and see it all. There was a 30 min program we had to miss as well that went over the history of the fort. There were historical interpreters there too. • Walls up top were very low and no railings so people who are afraid of heights beware going up top. I didn’t have too many problems but watching some of the kids up there had me a little nervous as they were running around. • Our 11- and 8-year-old did the Junior Ranger program while we were there. The rangers and volunteer we met were very nice and helpful in completing the junior ranger booklet. Their badge is made of plastic. There is also a Junior ranger Patch option if you do more of the booklet! • The NPS store is on the larger size. They had plenty of merch but also it was the most crowded of all the forts we visited in the area. This is also where you can get your NPS Passport Cancellation Stamp. They also have one just inside the tunnel at the podium/kiosk. There are multiple stamps inside the store though. • We would definitely visit again but traffic was pretty bad over bridge. I think there was a disabled trunk blocking a lot of it. So hopefully it...