Imagine waking up in an opulent Gilded Age luxury hotel room, but it’s actually your dormitory room in college. You walk down an ornately carved wooden staircase under a gold-leafed rotunda with goddess frescoes. Then you cross a lush courtyard with a sundial fountain to go have breakfast in the school’s dining hall, enveloped in Tiffany glass windows. This is the former Ponce de Leon hotel from 1888 turned Flagler College since 1968 in St. Augustine, Florida.

St. Augustine, Florida was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and is recognized as the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. It predates other major settlements like Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth (1620) by decades! It’s a charming walkable city full of history, great architecture, scenic views, art, and souvenirs.

Who knew?! Disney and The Villages aren’t the only destinations in Central Florida. This area is a hidden backcountry gem full of sprawling horse ranches, beautiful trees swathed in Spanish moss, and miles and miles of pristine natural spring water-fed rivers for manatees to hibernate in over the winter.