Jacksonville’s Neptune Beach offers a chic, quintessential Florida stay
Sandwiched between Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach on Florida’s northeast coast, Neptune Beach feels like an otherworldly retreat within the larger city of Jacksonville.
Neptune’s heart can be found at walkable Beaches Town Center, which teems with shops and eateries. There’s coffee and breakfast at Southern Grounds, plus a truly great breakfast burger topped with edible flower petals and tucked inside a seeded bakery bun. A classic bookstore, The BookMark, sits right next door; it’s a fun stop to while away part of a morning.
Just around the corner, Palmetto is part Florida beach house interiors and part seasonal gift shop. Find pillows and tabletop goods, jewelry and totes, letterpress cards and stationery, furnishings, and linens, not to mention holiday decor.
KMH Home is equally impressive, with its expertly curated vibe. Offerings include coffee table books and fine kitchen utility pieces, all beautifully displayed. This is the place to find bespoke pens, incense sets, and barware. And look for artist pop-ups here, featuring the likes of local glass artist Stephanie McCune.
Where to Shop and Eat
There’s a lot to peruse in Beaches Town Center, but two other stores are worth seeking out. Bali Cargo Company imports handmade items of all sizes from artisans in Indonesia; follow owner Kim Rogers’s shopping trips to Bali on Instagram. A couple of blocks away, The Candle Garden pours soy wax candles in signature northeast Florida scents. They offer candle-making classes too, which are a lot of fun and yield great mementos to bring home.
When it’s time for lunch, head to Sliders Oyster Bar, a sunny cafe with seating inside, at the oyster bar, and on the covered patio. Sliders is the second restaurant from Safe Harbor Seafood, a family-owned business and seafood market that bills itself proudly as the home of Mayport shrimp (which shares its name with Mayport Village, a fishing village that dates back to the 1830s). This local delicacy is known for its sweetness and luscious texture and is best enjoyed just hours out of the water. The crustacean’s distinctive flavor profile is said to come from a life lived half in the St. Johns River estuary and half in the Atlantic Ocean.
No afternoon in Neptune Beach would be complete without some sun and sand, but also consider walking or biking around the neighborhood. There you’ll see some 70 cottages, constructed from 1920 to the 1940s, concentrated within several blocks. They were originally beach retreats for Jacksonville residents and today are lovingly painted in pastel combinations.
With pastel-painted architecture, plus sun, sand, and stellar shopping, Neptune Beach offers an out-of-this-world getaway.
Two Memorable Neptune Beach Hotels
Just to the south of Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach boasts soft white sand and water the ideal hue of azure. If you’re traveling with kids, especially teens, Margaritaville Jacksonville Beach hotel is an ideal getaway. An 11-foot lime-green flipflop in the lobby makes an adorable photo op and rooms with an ocean view include balconies for enjoying it.
For a couples’ stay, consider the 10-room boutique Hotel Palms. It’s an original 1947 motor court motel fully reimagined, replete with the classic shared center courtyard. The hotel’s coffee shop, Show Pigeon Coffee, a local destination in its own right, makes staying at Hotel Palms that much sweeter.
Key to the Past
Beaches Museum (381 Beach Blvd.) is chock-full of area history and lore. While you’re on the property, don’t miss a chance to see St. Paul’s by the Sea, a historic white clapboard Episcopal chapel dating to 1887.
