We Left St. Augustine Thinking We’d Already Found Our Favorite Stop of the Trip

We had a good feeling about St. Augustine almost immediately. The weather for our first all-day drive had been perfect and the forecast was for more of the same. When we found out our camping spot was on the edge of a beautiful private bass pond, we already knew this was going to be a place we were in no hurry to leave.

Series Note

This article is part of a 30-day, 1,600-mile road trip exploring some of Florida’s most iconic destinations. Along the way, my wife and I lived full-time in a 24-foot, all-electric RV. We knew the trip sounded amazing, but we wondered what effect an electric vehicle might have on our adventure.
Start the series here: Is My Fishing Lifestyle Ready for an All-Electric RV?

Why St. Augustine Made Sense for Our Road Trip

Close up of a woman waking on the beach as her blue water shoes are being covered in waves — St. Augustine offers everything visitors could want—beautiful beaches, diverse fishing opportunities, rich history, fine dining, and natural beauty. | Kurt Mazurek

Having lived in Charleston for over a decade, just four hours drive up the Atlantic Coast from St. Augustine, I had known many friends who had vacationed there. I had only heard good things about their experiences. St. Augustine was known to offer a great mix of interesting historic sites, an eclectic art scene, modern high-end dining, beautiful beaches, scenic nature, and plenty of fishing.

Before I get to deep into the details of St Augustine, here’s a quick video that helps convey the vibes we were feeling. From quiet mornings at the campground and fishing just steps from home base to delicious food, white sand beaches, and strolling historic streets, St. Augustine immediately reminded us that traveling is about way more than covering miles on a map.

Fishing the St. Augustine Area

The author posing with a largemouth bass caught in the campground pond. — St. Augustine offers abundant fresh and saltwater fishing opportunities, but it's tough for this guy to turn down an opportunity to bass fish. | Kurt Mazurek

Fishing opportunities in the St. Augustine area are diverse, but the inshore fishing gets a majority of the attention. Matanzas Bay and the Guana and Tolomato Rivers are key areas for chasing the abundant redfish, speckled trout, flounder and snook.

And for an admitted bass addict like myself, the legendary St. Johns River, where it runs through Palatka, is just 26 miles west of St. Augustine. Palatka is a regular stop for all the highest level bass tournament series. In fact, Bill Lowen won the last Bassmaster Elite held there in February of 2025.

But in my personal case, the bass pond in our KOA campground was a beautiful option. It was right outside our camper door, I was the only one I saw fishing it, and it definitely had bass in it. I wouldn’t call it a trophy pond, but I did have one hooked and fighting at the surface (so, I got a good look before it popped free) that I would estimate at a solid 4-pounds.

Our Home Base Campground

View of the front office of the St. Augustine KOA campground. — The campground we called home was bright and clean and included plenty of big trees to feel connected to nature. | Kurt Mazurek

We stayed at the St. Augustine Beach KOA Holiday—a walkable or bike-able distance from the beach and several shopping and dining options, and a short nine-minute car ride to the Historic District downtown. Overall, the campground was clean, filled with beautiful mature trees, and great for RV camping with lots of pull-through spots. Despite the convenience of all the local development around the campground, you can still find that feeling of connecting to nature here. And the people in the front office were especially friendly and accommodating.

View of the pond from the dock where the peddle boats are docked. — The KOA rents peddle boats for scooting around this beautiful private pond. | Kurt Mazurek

A beautiful, big, mature tree on the edge of a pond, reflecting in the water. — A combination of convenience and natural beauty made the St. Augustine Beach KOA the perfect spot to call home base for our visit. | Kurt Mazurek

Exploring Beyond the Water

While there’s plenty of fishing in the area, St. Augustine is well known for offering lots of other things to do.

Three couples from a walking tour seated around a table raising their wine glasses in a toast. — A walking food tour is great way to meet fellow travelers while sampling the best of the local restaurants and learning about the history of the city. | Judi | The Tasting Tours

My wife and I have realized that one of the best and quickest ways to learn about the culture of a city we’ve never visited before, is through guided, walking, history and food tours. We booked the Corks & Forks Tour through TheTastingTours.com and ended up grouped with two other lovely couples. Our guide, Judi (with an I), showed us a very enjoyable afternoon. We sampled a variety of interesting local dishes while learning so much history of this amazing city as we strolled between restaurants. The food and wine was great at every stop, but The Modern Rose was our favorite for their fresh ingredients, interesting and elegant combinations of flavors, and quirky, artsy, vintage vibe.

Closeup of a beautiful plate of food. — We sampled these beautiful bites at The Modern Rose. | Kurt Mazurek

Pro Tip: We usually try to schedule these tours early in our stay so that if we see something we really like, we’ll have time to visit for a full meal.

Late afternoon view of the exterior of the St Augustine Distillery with our all-electric Grounded RV parked nearby. — It was fairly easy to find adequate parking for our 24-foot RV as we toured sites like the St. Augustine Distillery. | Kurt Mazurek

Outside of the tour, we did make a stop at the St. Augustine Distillery. They offer private guided tours, but we opted for the free, self- guided tour and it was perfect. You get a look behind the scenes and make four stops along the way to sample their spirits in four signature cocktails. The last stop is for their bourbon, where you can elect to sample a few of their more exclusive offerings for a reasonable fee (Yes, I did!). The whole experience is a great way to spend an hour.

View from one of the easy entry points to St Augustine Beach. — St. Augustine Beach is beautiful. | Kurt Mazurek

And although this is titled “Exploring Beyond the Water” I did want to mention how much we enjoyed St. Augustine Beach. It was just a 3/4-mile walk from our campground to this beautiful, wide, white sand beach. It may have been the time of year that we visited, but it wasn’t crowded at all. And the St. Johns County Fishing Pier looked great, but I ran out of time to wet a line. Next time!

Two photo -- the two owners posing in their bakery and a closeup of one of their croissants. — The owners of Une Autre Histoire La French Bakery, Valerie and Alexandre, greet every customer with a warm smile and bright "bon jour!". They are the geniuses behind these amazing, layered, buttery, flaky, croissants—our new favorite croissants in the US. | Kurt Mazurek

And the most pleasant surprise came when we discovered a place called Une Autre Histoire La French Bakery—an easy walk from our campground. My wife and I have long been on a search…a quest, really…for the best croissant in the land. Since we have not yet been able to conduct our search in France, we have been mostly disappointed. I can tell you that a new high bar has been set for croissants that will probably hold at least until we make it to France someday.

Two photos-- one showing Julie with a giant raspberry macron-ish treat and the other a closeup of Le Mervielleux du Chocolat. — We each found an absolute favorite at La French Bakery—Julie recommends this giant raspberry macaron-ish treat and I was blown away by Le Mervielleux du Chocolat. | Kurt Mazurek

Additionally, I declared their Merveilleux du Chocolat to be one of the best bites I’ve taken in years. And my wife tried an oversized, raspberry macaron with fresh whipped cream (we didn’t catch the actual name) that she described as life changing. Perhaps, we’re a bit dramatic, but the quality of ingredients and attention to detail here is truly exceptional. Once we found La French Bakery, we went every remaining morning we were in town. Merci!

One Tool That Made This Stop More Fun

The author standing by the edge of a pond, grabbing a fishing rod from the rod rack on the back of his Aventon electric bike. — This Aventon electric utility bike made hauling gear around the pond super easy, plus it's honestly a blast to zip around on. | Julie Mazurek

Every destination on this trip came with its own unique challenges and opportunities, and at St. Augustine (most specifically the KOA campground), the piece of gear that made the biggest difference was our Aventon electric utility bike. It really wasn’t about the specs or features, outside of the bike's utility aspect. The campground bass pond was relatively long and narrow, of surprisingly good size, and had a path all the way around it. By attaching one of my kayak’s YakAttack storage boxes to the bike, I was able to easily carry four rods and more gear than I needed, while zipping around to whatever spots I wanted to try next. Having this bike available made short windows of fishing time more efficient and rewarding. Plus, it was super handy for picking up bundles of firewood at the front office, convenient for trips to the beach, and it was just plain fun to ride.

How the RV Fit Into This Stop

Sunrise looking at our Grounded RV in our campsite. — We may not have been driving the biggest camper in the campground (honestly, not even close), but we enjoyed the mobility and ease-of-use very much. | Kurt Mazurek

How did our Grounded all-electric RV serve us in St. Augustine? Quite well, really. The all-electric aspect of our RV did influence our decisions on travel days, but once we pulled into town, it just became a nice 24-foot RV that we were camping in. St. Augustine offered more than one charging station and there was no anxiety about running out of power.

We found that this van was surprisingly easy to set up and break down at camp. For grocery and restaurant runs outside of walking or biking range, we just disconnected water and electric, stowed a few pots and pans and miscellaneous items, and used this RV like a regular car. When heading into narrower, busier downtown streets, like for our walking tour, we did elect to Uber, but otherwise this RV was surprisingly convenient.

What This Stop Taught Us

Classic historic architecture in downtown St. Augustine. — Classic, historic, beautiful, downtown St. Augustine. | Kurt Mazurek

St. Augustine proved to be a great way to ease into this fairly ambitious trip. Our feeling that the area’s great fishing, walk-able exploring, and comfortable, reliable home base would make this a great way to spend our first five days, was confirmed. As we transitioned from home life to life on the road, we gained confidence in the rest of our plan.

Looking Ahead

St. Augustine helped us get our bearings. From here, we headed south toward the West Palm Beach area. We expected the busier roads, more dense population, more spread out sites and a different energy might demand a bit of flexibility in the days ahead.

Transparency Note: Although I have not been paid by any of the manufacturers or companies mentioned, some of the gear or places reviewed in this article have been provided to me at no cost for evaluation. The views and assessments presented are entirely my own.