Jax Beach: the city's most active strand of sand by noidiotsplease
The most populous stretch of Jacksonville's coast, Jacksonville Beach boasts a rapidly growing skyline of highrise condos and hotels. At its active center is the new Seawalk Pavillion, an oceanfront ampitheatre, and Latham Plaza, a manicured greenspace located across the street. Together they provide a recreational focal point surrounded by numerous restaurants, nightspots and hotels. Throughout the year both venues host popular festivals that celebrate foods, cultures and music including George's Music Springing in the Blues Festival, Florida's largest outdoor free blues concert.
In terms of its natural attraction, Jax Beach, like its neighboring communities, boasts a beautiful wide strand of soft, white sand fronted by sea oats and sand dunes. On the other side of the island, Adventure Landing is a popular water park and amusement complex located near the Intracoastal.
Before undergoing a rennaissance over the past decade, Jax Beach had fallen into blight and become notorious for attracting a rowdy crowd. Thankfully, today's Jax Beach is known as a family-friendly hot spot for upscale development. The community now has a whole new image as several new boutiques, fine dining establishments, luxury condos and even the large J. Johnson Gallery now call Jax Beach home. New hotels continue to be built here as well, and a new fishing pier just opened that provides pedestrians with remarkable views of the coast and oceanfront skyline from as far as a quarter mile offshore!
While Jax Beach has become more sophisticated over the years, it's still a laid back, swimsuit and flip flops kind of place. Even though some of those flip-flops may carry the Prada label, the town is just too laid back to be pretentious.