Castillo de San Marcos

1 S Castillo Dr, St Augustine, FL 32084, USA

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Steve Markos

I am a travel writer for National Park Planner and I visited Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in July, 2013. A visit to the fort is a self-guided experience. Unlike many National Park facilities, there is no separate Visitor Center. All of the park’s attractions and activities are located inside the fort and Rangers are on-hand to answer questions. There is a charge to enter the fort and a pay booth sits near the fort’s entrance. In addition to paying your entrance fee at the booth, you can ask questions about your visit and get a park brochure. While attendance is highest in the summer, and even higher on summer weekends, there is no reason to fear a crowd (unless you just don’t like crowds), as there are no tours that can fill up or other activities that require waiting in line due to a crowd. Castillo de San Marcos consists of the fort, the grounds around the fort, a museum, and a park book/souvenir shop that are housed in the many storerooms on the fort’s lower level. There are no picnic facilities, nor is camping allowed in the park. There is a parking lot for the fort, but it fills up during busy times. If you can’t find a spot, there is a city run lot about a ten minute walk from the fort. It is located at 10 West Castillo Drive. Look for the brown St. Augustine Visitor Center and Parking sign. Allow two-and-a-half hours for a thorough tour of Castillo de San Marcos during the week, and another half hour on the weekends if you want to catch a weapons firing demonstration. For complete information and plenty of photos about the park, please visit my web site (npplan).

Christopher Atkinson

So I came here with my girlfriends family one weekend, and it just happened to be the weekend that the fort was open to the public for free! So it was really crowded. They parking garage was full, so we had to park in some playground nearby. The fort was absolutely beautiful. The top of the fort gives you a great view of the river and the downtown St. Augustine area. There are also a ton of cannons and mortars that you can check out. And cannons are pretty simple things, so after all this time, they still work. Every hour or so, the employees do a big cannon show where they load up a blank just like they used to do in the olden days, and then they fire the cannon! It was so kool. Downstairs, there are different rooms along the fort that have all sorts of signage and replicas of stuff and pieces of real stuff, too. Theres a very clear order of the rooms you go through, and youll learn about the history of the fort, how its changed hands six different times, how the soldiers used to live, the weaponry they had there, and more about the history of St. Augustine as a whole. Overall, this was one of the best forts I have ever been to, and Ive been to a few of them, coming from Pensacola. It was well maintained, there was an element of crawling around to get to hidden rooms, and the whole thing was just beautiful and breath-taking. I recommend.

Caleb Payne

Im a history buff from the Shenandoah Valley (full of history and sites to see) and the Castillo sits at or very near the top of my list of favorite historical sites to visit. The site is very well preserved and there was an abundance of park staff stationed throughout in order to answer any questions you might have. Almost all of the site was accessible (they do close the gun deck in event of thunder/lightning, so keep that in mind) with lots of informational signs (that managed to not get in the way of what you were looking at). My wife and kids (ages 13 and 14) all seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves as well, which was great. The views from the gun deck are spectacular (all the way around). If you plan on stopping and seeing everything and taking in the informational video that they present I would plan on spending about two hours there. We did it in about an hour without the "movie." Also worth noting that kids 16 and under get in for free and the tickets that I bought for my wife and me were $10 (each) and allowed us to get in for 7 days (in case we wanted to come back for the cannon firing exhibit or any of the myriad other special events they have throughout the week). Highly, HIGHLY recommend visiting!

Chad D

This fort is just like the ones built in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. So very historical & beautiful. As a history fan, I really enjoyed my visit, especially the history lesson we got when we stayed after the cannon firing demonstration. As the narrator of the demonstration mentioned, other than himself, the period-reenactors are all volunteers, meaning they must really be into history to give of their free time for the education of the visitors. It turns out, the reenactor who spoke with us after the cannon firing is also an adjunct history professor at the college in St. Augustine, Flagler, so he really knows what hes talking about. My 7 & 5 year-old daughters were hanging on his every word as he talked about the history of the fort, which makes sense because he teaches history & knows how to keep his audience engaged. He let us take pictures with him in his reenactment uniform, which the girls loved. You can bet I will be back again to learn more from this learned enthusiast of history. If you manage to meet this same gentleman, it is well worth your while to stay after the cannon demonstration for a little history lesson, from one man who definitely knows a lot about it.

ChampagneWayne Reviews

Really what cant you say about the Castillo De San Marcos? 500 years of history, one of the more mandatory places to find yourself at EVERY visit to St Augustine. Ive personally never been inside so thats more than enough reason to come back and visit again, Im sure a lot of interesting things lie within those 4 walls Ive never penetrated. Outside lies a story of its own, riddled with cannons and a view of the St Augustine beach, youre able to witness at certain times of the day, a rendition of battles off the coast of the beach with 2 ships shooting canons at each other, complete with visuals and sounds, definitely great entertainment for families, the ship does come near the CDSM at the end of the show for any photographers out there, definitely a great preservation of the oldest civilization in Florida, with it being so close to my hometown of Jacksonville, this is always a getaway at least once a month. Surrounded by plenty of venues to keep yourself busy such as gift shops and wine tasting, youll always find yourself immersed in some form of entertainment, take a couple hours out of your day and come visit! 5/5

Arizona Inventor

I hunt down forts and coastal defenses of all kinds all across the US, and this is one of the best I have seen. Considering the the age and subtropical location of this massive structure, it is in remarkable shape. This may be due to the reinforced construction, and the careful preservation by the NPS. We arrived the morning the day after July 4th and found light crowds and ample parking ($1/hour). After a short walk, the staff at the ticket/info center was collecting $10/head. I opted to spend $10 for a lifetime pass for seniors, which allowed my entire party of three in for free. This pass is good for free entry anywhere in the US. Not being sure how long we would be able to stay, we headed to the top of the walls to at least take in the views. It turns out we had enough time left to go back down and explore the many rooms, each having photos and descriptions of their purpose. If, like me, you dont have time to take the tour offered by the park ranger, you can still learn a great deal of history and information in a self-guided fashion.