We spent the week after Christmas in St. Augustine, FL and it was such an amazing week! We used points for almost the entire trip and paid for the flights, hotel, and rental car all with points (we saved almost $6k!).
St. Augustine is the “oldest city in the US” and was originally settled in the 1500s. The town has incredible European architecture with a colonial feel and walking through it feels like walking through a small town in Europe! They are famous for the millions of Christmas lights they put up in November/December called the Night of Lights and the whole city is absolutely beautiful at night.
Here are a few details from our trip!
How We Got There: We used some flight credits to buy two tickets from KC to Jacksonville. Both my husband and I have Companion Passes now so our kids fly with us free! Once we got to Jacksonville, we got a rental car I’d reserved using 24k Ultimate Reward points in the Chase travel portal. From there, it was about a 50 minute drive south to St. Augustine/Vilano Beach and our hotel.
Where We Stayed: We stayed about 5 minutes outside downtown St. Augustine in the Hyatt Place St. Augustine/Vilano Beach and it was the perfect home base to explore the city. The hotel just opened a few months ago and was very clean and spacious (and like all Hyatt Place hotels has free breakfast). The breakfast buffet was average/below average but it was easy and free so we didn’t mind!
We booked a two queen room with a queen sleeper bed for 12k points/night (48k total). The hotel was across the street from a Publix grocery store and a five minute walk to the beach! It was a little chilly for beach play when we were there but would be a perfect spot for some beach time in a warmer season. My kids loved walking down to the beach to run around and build sand castles. It was a beautiful spot in the late afternoons and we even got to watch some dolphins playing in the waves!
What We Did: Since we didn’t pay cash for the hotel, flights, or car, we were able to spend a bit more on our activities for the trip. A few of our favorites…
– The St. Augustine Alligator Farm: This zoo was amazing and a highlight of the trip! The property is beautiful and such a unique experience compared to a normal zoo. My kids weren’t old enough but they also have a fun option to zipline over the top of the park.
– Vilano Beach: There are a ton of beautiful beaches up and down the coach and we walked to the beach three minutes from our hotel each afternoon at sunset. It wasn’t crowded and even with the chilly temperatures it was beautiful with amazing views of the waves, birds, and even some dolphins!
– Night of Lights Boat Tour: We did a tour through Florida Boat Tours that took us past all the Christmas lights and gave us a pretty view from the water. It was beautiful!
– Castillo de San Marcos: This was so cool and even my 5 and 7 year old boys were fascinated. We toured the grounds, took in the amazing water views, and watched some cool rifle and cannon demonstrations.
– Anastasia Mini Golf: This was right down the street from the lighthouse and was a cute little spot to get wiggles out and have some family fun.
– St. Augustine Lighthouse: This is located on Anastasia Island and is on a beautiful property with a small maritime museum. The climb (217 steps!) actually wasn’t terrible and my boys loved it (even though I stood with my back against the wall taking deep breaths and trying not to look down the entire time).
Our Review: I really can’t say enough what a fun family trip this was. The hotel was great, the city was beautiful, and there were so many fun things to do! We could easily have spent another day or two there, especially if the weather was warmer and beach time was more of an option.
If you’re looking for a fun family trip from KC with a mix of beach time, beautiful spots to walk around and explore, and fun history, St. Augustine should definitely be on your list!
And knowing we saved thousands of dollars on the trip and our only expenses were food and activities made it so much easier to enjoy ourselves and not do the mental math of how much we were spending with each purchase. This was one of our first big points family trips and it was so much fun!
