Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, and Atlantic Beach run together along a 15-kilometre stretch of Atlantic coast, but Jacksonville Beach is the main one — a straightforward beach town with a pier, a boardwalk strip of bars and restaurants, and good surf. It has the unpretentious feel of a place where actual people live rather than a constructed tourist resort.
The surf is reliable on most days, and there are several surf shops and schools along Beach Boulevard and A1A. The pier stretches 800 feet into the ocean and is good for fishing. In the evenings the strip around the pier fills up with a mix of locals and day-trippers from the city. Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach, both immediately to the north, are quieter and more residential but have their own good restaurants and the Adele Grage Cultural Center.