Lightner Museum

Over three levels, the museum showcases the collection of publisher Otto Lightner—objects of curiosity include Tiffany stained glass and lamps, Victorian-era automated musical instruments, an Egyptian mummy, and a lion that once belonged to Winston Churchill. Explore the museum on a self-guided tour or reserve ahead for a guided tour. The Lightner Museum is included in many downtown sightseeing tours, including hop-on hop-off trolley tours, historical walking tours, and golf cart tours.

• The museum is ideal for art, architecture, design, and history fans.

• Children aged 11 and under enjoy free admission.

• The museum is wheelchair accessible, and a limited number of wheelchairs are available to hire.

• You can visit the café and museum store without paying an entrance fee.

The Lightner Museum is on King Street in downtown St. Augustine, near I-95 and US-1. There’s no parking at the museum, though there are public metered parking lots behind and across from the museum, with free metered parking on Sundays and holidays. You can also take the blue line bus (Flagler Auditorium), red line bus (ML King & Post Office), and trolley (stop 10).

The museum is open seven days a week year-round, except for major holidays (Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day), with more limited hours for Café Alcazar. Special events are held frequently, especially in the evenings. The museum is a great place to escape the rain or the midday heat.

Built in 1887 by railroad magnate Henry Flagler, the Alcazar Hotel was a storied Gilded Age resort hotel in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style. Designed by Carrère and Hastings (who also designed the New York Public Library), it once housed the world’s largest indoor swimming pool, along with Turkish and Russian baths, a gymnasium, and tennis courts. Today, it also houses the St Augustine City Hall, along with the Lightner Museum, which first opened in 1948.