I've never stayed in St. Augustine, but used to travel to Jacksonville on biz regularly, and I visited Amelia Island State Park (north of Jax) several times, it is a beautiful place, and the town is very arty and charming. Some good restaurants in downtown Jacksonville, but it's been quite a while now, I don't have any specifics to recommend, but the downtown always felt safe, well lit and populated. Further south you have the space coast and Daytona, neither of which I can recommend, Daytona is seedy and the Cape Canaveral area holds nothing for me, of course YMMV. I don't golf but I've heard that the Jacksonville/Pontre Vedra area has great golfing, with many course options, some of which are ocean side.

I agree with Lakeaffect. We love Amelia Island, and it's close enough to St. Augustine to visit. There will be more restaurants in Jacksonville area. Personally, while I love the historical area of St. Augustine, it seems the surrounding city area has declined. I would stay in a nicer area outside of St. Augustine and do day trips into the city. I think three days is plenty (maybe more than enough) to see St. Augustine, but as mentioned, there are nice areas nearby.

Appreciate the input. We are accept that it is touristy, but having never been there, I am particularly intrigued with the history and look forward to seeing the Spanish historical sites as well as Flagler U and museums. I had suspected that 2 to 3 days would be sufficient so this is good confirmation.

We have been to Kennedy Space Center ( quite a few years ago when our kids were kids lol) and I think we don't need to return.

As I mentioned, we will also be staying with our friends in their new house in the Tampa St Pete area so will have beach pool relaxation time aplenty. We all had mentioned that we were interested in St Augustine so figured we would combine it.

Guess I am asking if there are any sites - hotels-restaurants- locations-that people HIGHLY recommend in or very close to St A.

I can’t HIGHLY recommend any place because I don’t recall enough details but I can casually recommend the restaurant called Columbia. And a place I believe is called A1A Alehouse, on the corner, on the 2nd floor, by the Bridge of Lions, if the weather is nice you can enjoy the balcony. Also, there was a little Spanish bakery (possibly called The Spanish Bakery?) on a side street downtown, and they had great picadillo and bread, for an inexpensive take out meal. From years back, so I’m not sure it’s still there, my local family enjoyed the restaurant Gypsy Cab.

At least those are a starting point in your search for a meal. Have fun.

While I have not stayed at the Collector, my friends recommend it:

The Collector Inn

Also, if you are interested, a visit to San Sebastian Winery or St. Augstie Distillery might be fun. Enjoy!

St. Augustine Distillery

San Sebastian Winery

I can casually recommend the restaurant called Columbia.

If salonva is staying in Tampa/St. Pete she can go to the original in Ybor City--lots of history there and much more interesting than the St Augustine one, although the food is pretty much the same at both. (ETA On reflection I might hit both for the 1905 salad and the bean soup.)

St Augustine is known for its B&B inns. Several years ago I stayed at the St Francis, which is one of the higher-profile ones, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it. They do feed you pretty much constantly--any time you come in they seem to be serving snacks or desserts if you care about that, but I stayed in their "haunted" room, which was haunted by something much scarier than the famous Lily--the ghost of very bad old wiring.

Just to update, thank you for all the replies. We will spend some time in Tampa/st pete area with our friends and then spend 2 nights in Saint Augustine. We found a really love Airbnb where both couples can stay comfortably ( a house with 3BR-one has king size bed and one has queen size bed, and 2 full baths).

I understand it might not be a major draw, but all of us have always wanted to get there so now it is a plan.

I know a lot of people who just love St. Augustine. Enjoy!

Circling back to update here. We just came back and the air bnb was really better than expected. It was about a mile from the downtown center but easy drive. We did spend 2 nights there, (arriving late afternoon one day, had a full day and left around noon the third day. I think we covered most of what we wanted, but I could see spending another day or two there. Did the trolley tour for a good overview, and then from that did a bunch of the attractions. We did sit out at the Spanish Bakery (had empenadas) and would highly recommend the Floridian for a great meal. All in all, very much enjoyed and am very gad we finally got there. Also as an aside, was very impressed with St Pete as well,

We had one cold day in St A but we were happy we dodged 2 snows back north while we were away .