Top attractions near downtown Jacksonville, Florida: Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Riverwalk, and JAFL Arboretum

 

Southbank Riverwalk, Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville Florida is one of those places that is easily overlooked, situated between the ever more popular Orlando to the south, and Savannah to the north.  Being near the ubiquitous I-95, one of the most traveled interstate highways in the United States spanning over 1900 miles, the city is right there, en route from points both north and south.  

We must’ve passed by this city on at least 4 different occasions when we were driving down to Orlando (3 times) and once more when we were driving way down to the Florida Keys.  Every time we’d pass by the city, with its glistening buildings, various impressive-looking bridges and its modern cityscapes, we always wondered when we might actually stop there to properly explore the city.

That day finally came for us in December of 2023, during our second major road trip since our early retirement in 2020.  That second road trip would span 8 weeks during the winter of 2023-2024, with us exploring some major and several lesser-known destinations throughout the south.  We made sure we would finally add Jacksonville to our list!

Our first proper exploration of the city began on December 27, 2023.  We had just explored the beautiful Jekyll Island and the incomparable Driftwood Beach, and we were heading further south towards the city, via I-95.  

We knew we couldn’t check into the hotel until at least 3 p.m., so we decided to grab lunch first.  We arrived near the suburbs of Jacksonville and headed for Carrabba’s Italian Grill.  We had a very filling meal of warm-from-the-oven focaccia bread with olive oil/Italian spices, chicken parmigiana sandwich, and shrimp scampi pasta.  They were delicious!

After our first introduction to the city’s restaurant scene, we spent the next 3 days finally seeing the city up close & personal!  Here are some of our favorite places to visit near downtown Jacksonville:

• Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens 

Located along the St. Johns River on the Jacksonville waterfront, the museum is one of the most popular attractions in the city.  It was founded in 1958 by Ninah Cummer, when an avid art collector, garden enthusiast, and civic leader bequeathed her art collection and her home to create this museum.

When this place came up on various search engines as one of the top tourist destinations in the city, we had to check it out!

We left our hotel around 10 o’clock in the morning, heading towards our first stop for lunch: Sara’s of San Marco.  Sara’s was highly recommended as a great place for light eats in a very casual environment.  Located in a small strip mall, we walked inside the small unassuming restaurant on a rainy morning hoping the reviews were right.  

Sara’s of San Marco

We liked the wall decorations!

As is our usual modus operandi, we wanted to do a takeout then eat at the attraction’s parking lot.  We got a chicken sandwich on a pita bread (me) and a spicy chicken salad (my wife).  While waiting for our food, we got to smell the grill going inside the restaurant.  It was rather smoky due to bad ventilation, but that wouldn’t bother us as long as the food is good.

We made our way over to the museum which took under 10 minutes.  We found the parking lot at the museum easily enough, then parked our car to bite into our still hot and very aromatic lunch.  

The rain, which had started on a whimper, really started pouring down as soon as we parked.  We enjoyed the pattering of the car’s windshield as the rain came pouring down from the skies above while biting into our delicious foods.  The chicken was done just right with perfect seasoning, and the best part was we didn’t smell the chicken, which is a good thing.  We hate restaurants where meats smell, especially chicken.  Sara’s is highly recommended indeed!

After our meal, we walked into the museum and paid $20 admissions fee per person.  The museum isn’t humongous like some of the ones we’ve visited elsewhere like the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art or Philadelphia Museum of Art, but it certainly had plenty of things to entertain us for couple of hours.

We perused various art pieces, taking our time reading the descriptions of many of them.  Museum had a very nice collection of artifacts and artworks from the antiquities, all the way up to the 20th century.  

What we really liked about the museum is quite possibly the gardens outside with awesome views of St Johns River.  We first checked out the cute courtyard right in the middle of the museum though.

Cute courtyard 

We headed outside and by then, the rain had stopped.  Even on a cloudy day, we still loved the gardens, and the views outside.  

We walked around the nicely manicured gardens, stopping to get a closer look at the river and the city’s skyline across the river.  We loved seeing many mature trees with their impossibly large tree trunks and tall-as-apartments heights.

View of the river and buildings from the waterfront 

Loved trees like these found at the gardens 

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is something you do not want to miss when visiting Jacksonville.  With a nice collection of artworks & artifacts and that magnificent garden with views of downtown Jacksonville, the museum is no wonder a top attraction.  We really enjoyed it!

• Southbank Riverwalk

When I was researching places to explore in downtown Jacksonville, one of the most popular places to explore that came up time and again, was the Riverwalk.  We decided to walk the Southbank Riverwalk, and not the other one just across the river, Riverwalk Brooklyn.  

We knew we didn’t have time to see everything, so we settled on a better reviewed riverwalk on the Southbank, with possibly better parking options nearby.  I found a Reddit thread that recommended parking at the Baptist Hospital for free, as street parking can be challenging any time of the day.

We followed suit, and set our Google Maps to head for the “P3 Baptist Hospital Parking”.  We found it easy enough, then parked on the second story of the parking garage.

Getting out to the riverwalk was no easy task on our first visit there.  We headed out of the parking garage, set about walking down the same ramp we had used to drive into the parking garage.  At the bottom of the ramp, we headed inside the hospital to use the restroom and to ask for directions.

We did get the right answer from one of the employees at the hospital, but we chose to ignore it, as we thought incorrectly at the time, that the direction was wrong.  Our mistake.

Instead, we headed back out to the parking garage ramp we had used twice already to walk down to street level, to get our bearings from there.  Long story short, we eventually found the sign for the Riverwalk, but we easily could’ve just listened to the employee’s direction to go straight outside from the 2nd floor lobby area!  How stubborn are we!?!

When we eventually found the actual Southbank Riverwalk, we were glad we made it after a 15 minute detour.  The riverwalk was beautiful, well maintained, with fantastic views of downtown.  We decided to walk about half a mile to get a feel for the area.  Awesome views!

View from the Southbank Riverwalk 

View of the Saint Johns River, Jacksonville FL

To make our way back to the parking garage, we did take the advice from that hospital employee to walk up to the lobby from the riverwalk for a shortcut.  We made it back in no time, saving at least 15 minutes in the process.  Sometimes, we should listen better and more carefully!

Southbank Riverwalk is a great little attraction in downtown Jacksonville.  With nice views and a very walkable promenade facing the river, it’s no wonder the place is popular with locals and visitors alike.

• Jacksonville Arboretum & Botanical Gardens 

Although Jacksonville Arboretum & Botanical Gardens isn’t really in downtown area of Jacksonville, but rather about 9 miles from the Riverwalk, I chose to add this attraction to my list of downtown attractions anyway.  My reason for this?  It’s only a short driving distance to get there from downtown.

We visited the arboretum on a nice sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s for a late December.  We certainly didn’t complain about the weather, as right about then in places like New York, the temperature would’ve been just barely above freezing!

We arrived at the large parking lot facing the arboretum’s entrance, paid the $3 admission fee per person, then walked inside.  Being that it was right after Christmas, there were still holiday decorations scattered everywhere.  We are suckers for Christmas, so we got to enjoy seeing them even if temperatures were no where near what we’re used to growing up in the Northeast.

Christmas decorations!

Entrance to the Arboretum 

We liked the nicely paved walkways at the arboretum, and slowly made our way deeper into the place.  There were still colorful flowers here and there, which was awesome to see.  Walking through the fragrant and very refreshing garden is one of the best things about living, and we got to take in the surroundings.

The main focal point of the arboretum is the centrally located pond, which is impossible to miss, as all roads pretty much lead to it.  We found a bench overlooking the pond, so we took a moment to check it out.

After a moment of reflection, we got up to walk at least bit of the arboretum’s famed nature trails (there are 7 of them).   We took off, following the sign for one of those trails, and noticed the trail was decorated with yet more of the Christmas decorations and lights.  At night, we imagined how beautiful the trail would be, with sparkling and blinking lights providing ambiance to the place.

In front of the pond

Nicely paved walkway!

We walked other shorter trails on top of the pond, seeing yet more of the Christmas lights and decorations.  It was absolutely festive even if we were quite possibly two out of maybe 20 visitors at that time of the day.  

One of the shorter side trails above the pond

View of the pond area

We could’ve spent few hours there, but we were visiting the Southbank Riverwalk the same day, so we decided to cut our visit short.  Despite the short visit, we still got a good idea of the place, full of neat little nature trails, nice pond, and well maintained trails/gardens. 

In conclusion:

Jacksonville was one of those cities that we had overlooked as we were passing through on several occasions, to and fro southern/central Florida.  No more!

We really got to visit several of the city’s top attractions (both downtown and in the suburbs) on our 3 nights stay.  It was a busy 3 nights/4 days trip, but the city really should not be missed for its many awesome experiences.

We highly recommend visiting Jacksonville and spend at least few nights there to see at least some of the attractions in the city.  City without a doubt, is still one of the more inexpensive cities you can visit these days, with lower than normal prices for hotels, foods, and attractions.

The city boasts the largest urban park system in the nation with more than 80,000 acres of park, 2 National Park sites, and others.  Add to that, the proximity of famous beaches just a short drive away, Jacksonville should be on anyone’s bucket list of destinations to visit.  We think you’ll like it!

Thank you for reading and happy trails!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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