Spring break road trip (part III): northern Florida
Driving across northern Florida, we visited Jacksonville, Santa Rosa Beach and Pensacola. Learn more about what you can do there!
Following up on the spring break road trip series, here’s the third episode featuring several destinations in northern Florida. Thankfully, we could finally enjoy sunny weather after the heavy rains in both Charleston and Savannah.
Our itinerary throughout northern Florida
During our drive, we did three stops in the sunshine state of Florida: Jacksonville, Santa Rosa Beach and Pensacola.
For ease of reference, I’ve included a table with the distances and time it takes to drive from one to another.
| TIME & DISTANCES (USING THE FASTEST ROUTE) |
|---|
| Savannah (GA) to Jacksonville (FL): 2h, 139 miles (224 km) |
| Jacksonville (FL) to Santa Rosa Beach (FL): 4h30, 307 miles (492 km) |
| Santa Rosa Beach (FL) to Pensacola (FL): 1h35, 65 miles (105 km) |
| Pensacola (FL) to New Orleans (LA): 3h, 203 miles (326 km) |
Jacksonville (Neptune Beach)
It took us two hours to drive from Savannah to Jacksonville, our first stop in northern Florida. We actually went to Neptune beach straight away in order to catch the sunset. After sleeping in Jacksonville, we headed to our next destination: Santa Rosa Beach.
Neptune Beach in Jacksonville 
We arrived to Neptune Beach just in time for sunset
Santa Rosa Beach
We changed time zones (going from Eastern Time to Central Time), during the trip from Jacksonville to Santa Rosa Beach, which was pretty cool.
Although we had planned to sunbathe at some beach along the way, we couldn’t because it was very windy and chilly. Nevertheless, we stopped at a local beach bar (Local Catch) for a quick lunch. I tasted the shrimp taco local specialty, which was yummy!. We also strolled the beach before continuing to our last destination in northern Florida: Pensacola.
Pensacola
Founded in 1559 and located almost on the border between Florida and Alabama, Pensacola is nicknamed “The City of Five Flags” given it’s been ruled by the British, the Spanish, the French, the Confederacy and the United States. This city is known for its beaches featuring white sands and gorgeous waters. It is also famous for being home to the National Naval Aviation Museum.
The truth is Pensacola was quite soulless when we arrived in the evening. However, we made the most of our quick visit and walked around the city for a couple of hours.
Finally, we spent the night in Pensacola already excited by what was to come the next day: New Orleans!
In case you’d like to read all the road trip posts in this adventure, here’s the full list:
Stay tuned and feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading!
