While Jacksonville isn't your typical Florida vacation destination – and it may not be your first choice when planning your trip to the Sunshine State – the city just might surprise you. Many travelers visit this expansive city to attend major sporting events, concerts and other live performances or hop on a cruise to the Bahamas. But Jacksonville does have the makings of a great getaway. There are more than 1,100 miles of navigable waterways in Jacksonville, which is more shoreline than any other U.S. city, and there are 22 miles of beaches. Just outside the city, in Jacksonville's Northside, there are also beautiful unspoiled barrier islands with white-sand beaches, such as Boneyard Beach, Little Talbot Island, Blackrock Beach, Huguenot Park, and the most popular carrying the city's name Jacksonville Beach.
Jacksonville was ranked as one of the major "Boomtowns" during the COVID-19 pandemic (based on a study by LendingTree) and it's among the top 20 best places to live. The biggest boost of all to the River City is the proposed $2 billion downtown revitalization project, one of the largest urban core revitalizations in the U.S., which will bring interconnected, walkable neighborhoods and many new public spaces. Today, Jacksonville continues to flourish as a business center, though it doesn't draw the crowds of the state's other tourism hot spots – just yet. Now's the time to experience downtown's Tudor, Victorian and Jacobethan Revival mansions, cool neighborhoods and unique Old Florida charm without paying the overwhelming rates associated with better-known tourism destinations.