Our Visit to Amelia Island: An Enchanted Beach Vacay

A few weeks ago we took a family vacation to Amelia Island! If you haven’t heard of Amelia Island before, it’s located just off the coast of Northeast Florida. Its about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Atlanta and is located about 45 minutes from Jacksonville.

Amelia Island is a quaint little Barrier Island with 13 miles of beautiful beaches, abundant native wildlife, and pristine waters. We stayed at the Seaside Amelia Inn, which is one of only four beachside hotels located on the island.

Besides being located directly on the water, the Seaside Amelia Inn also offers a complimentary breakfast. Their “Hot & Tasty” southern homestyle breakfast which was super convenient for our little family of four.

The Seaside Inn is located in a great spot, because everything is close by. While we were there, we discovered an awesome playground within walking distance, ate at beachside restaurant with amazing roof side views and we were just a short drive from downtown Fernandina. Our hotel was also pet friendly and the staff was AMAZING. This hotel had more of a Bed and Breakfast type of feel that was very welcoming. We loved it so much that we are already planning our next family trip back! They truly made traveling with little ones so easy!

Where to Eat

Timoti’s Seafood Shak

Timoti’s Seafood Shak is located in downtown Fernandina, and is basically a walk-up window where you order some of the most delicious seafood I have had in a very long time. They serve fresh and local seafood caught right on the island itself and it is a favorite amongst the locals.

Our kids LOVED this restaurant! It is all outdoors and has a pirate ship playground that we could barely pry them off of. If you are a parent looking for a family-friendly, outdoor restaurant with delicious seafood and drinks, definitely check out Timoti’s! The kids can play on the playground after dinner and then you can walk around the corner to Fantastic Fudge and grab some ice cream for dessert!

Salt Life Seafood

We loved this restaurant so much, that we actually went there twice on our trip. Salt Life Food Shack is within a short walking distance of the Seaside Inn, so it was super convenient. They have plenty of outdoor seating (including a rooftop deck that overlooks the ocean) and live music every night! There is also a public playground across the street where we took the kids to play after we were done eating!

What to Do

Since our kids are young (2 and 5) we had to find things to do that were age-appropriate for them on the island. Lucky for us, this was very easy to do! One of the places we found happened to be right around the corner from our hotel. The Pirate’s Playground, is a cool little playground that our kids wanted to go to every day while we were there. The playground is located in a breezy, shaded area amongst the trees and integrates exercise, art, nature, music, imagination, and local history for children of all physical and mental abilities.

We also took to the kids to Gregor MacGregor’s Mini Links and Drinks which was the CUTEST little place for families (or an adorable date spot for couples!) Tom and I were able to order drinks and play mini golf with Bennett! It was so fun! (Sydney just basically ran around the course throwing my golf ball around, LOL)

Other than eating and going to the playground, we really just wanted some beach time, so we spent most of our time on the beach playing in the sand! The hotel has beach chair and umbrella rentals which made it super convenient for us. There was also a beachside restaurant that we could literally grab lunch at in our swimsuits, so that also made things really easy for us!

We really loved Amelia Island and will DEFINITELY be back! My husband and I loved it so much, that on our drive back home we even talked about possibly moving there one day! Amelia Island is such a quaint, charming little island and I highly recommend you check it out! If you want to see more from our trip, head to my Instagram account and click on my Travel highlights! Thanks for stopping by!

*Looking for some other fabulous travel destinations for you and the fam? Head to my Travel archives and see where we’ve been!