12 Free Things to Do in Jacksonville, From a 250-Year-Old Oak to a French Fort and Free Museum Saturdays

Jacksonville has more free things to do than most people realize, starting with two national park sites that don't charge a dime: Fort Caroline National Memorial and Kingsley Plantation.

Add a 250-year-old oak tree downtown, a riverfront fountain that once was the tallest in the world, free admission every Saturday at the city's contemporary art museum and miles of free beaches, and you can fill a month of weekends without opening your wallet.

Here are 12 free things to do in Jacksonville, counted down, with hours and the details you need before you go.

12. Walk downtown's "Great Fire" buildings

Downtown Jacksonville · Free, any time

On May 3, 1901, a fire that started in a pile of drying Spanish moss burned 146 blocks of Jacksonville in eight hours. Much of downtown was rebuilt in the decade that followed, and you can still see it on a self-guided walk.

Start at City Hall, the former St. James Building, dedicated in 1912 and designed by Henry John Klutho, the architect who moved to Jacksonville after reading about the fire in The New York Times. Look up at its Prairie School details and the 75-foot glass dome, then walk the nearby Laura and Forsyth street corridors, where several buildings from the rebuilding years still stand.

Tip: Read our story on the Great Fire of 1901 before you go.

11. Free days at the Jacksonville Fair

Jacksonville Fairgrounds · Nov. 5–15, 2026

The Jacksonville Fair isn't free most days (adult admission is $15), but it has free days for some visitors:

• Seniors 65 and older: free on Nov. 6 and Nov. 13
• Military members and veterans: free on Veterans Day, Nov. 11

See our full Jacksonville Fair guide for gate times and concerts.

10. The Veterans Day Parade

Downtown Jacksonville · Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, at 11:01 a.m.

Jacksonville's Veterans Day Parade, the largest in Florida, steps off at 11:01 a.m. downtown. It's free to watch, and you can find the route, the best viewing spots and road closures in our parade guide.

9. Free admission for college students at the Cummer

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, 829 Riverside Ave. · Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday)

The Cummer, with its art collection and riverfront gardens in Riverside, normally charges $20 for adults. But it's free for college students Tuesday through Friday and free for visitors with an EBT, SNAP or WIC card, with a valid ID. Children 5 and under are always free.

Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

8. Cedar Point

Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, Northside · Sunrise to sunset · Free

Cedar Point is one of the quieter corners of the Timucuan Preserve, a National Park Service area that protects the marshes, waterways and history of Jacksonville's Northside. It's open from sunrise to sunset and doesn't charge admission. Bring water and bug spray; it's a nature stop, not a developed park.

7. The Theodore Roosevelt Area

Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, Arlington · Sunrise to sunset · Free

The Theodore Roosevelt Area is the preserve's main spot for hiking, with trails through maritime forest and along the marsh, a short drive from Fort Caroline. It's open sunrise to sunset; the restrooms are open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Make a day of it: Pair it with Fort Caroline (No. 3), so you get a hike and a history lesson in the same afternoon.

6. Southbank Riverwalk

Southbank, along the St. Johns River · Free, any time

The Southbank Riverwalk runs along the St. Johns River across from downtown, with views of the skyline and the bridges, plenty of benches and easy access to Friendship Fountain (No. 4). It's one of the best free spots in the city to watch the sunset over downtown, or to count bridges: our story on Jacksonville's bridges explains which one is which.

5. The Treaty Oak

Jessie Ball duPont Park, Southbank · Free

The Treaty Oak is about 250 years old, likely older than the city of Jacksonville itself, and may be the oldest living thing in town. It stands 70 feet tall, its trunk measures more than 25 feet around, and its crown spreads about 145 feet, with branches that sweep down toward the ground and curve back up.

Despite the name, no treaty was ever signed here. In the 1930s, Florida Times-Union reporter Pat Moran wrote a story claiming that Native Americans and Europeans had signed a peace agreement under the tree, to help save it from developers. Before that, locals called it the Giant Oak.

The 7-acre park around it was once home to Dixieland Amusement Park. The land was donated to the city in 1964 at the request of Jessie Ball duPont, on the condition that it stay a public park preserving "the ancient oak."

4. Friendship Fountain

1015 Museum Circle, Southbank · Runs 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily · Free

When Friendship Fountain opened in March 1965, it was the largest and tallest fountain in the world. Its basin is 200 feet across and holds 500,000 gallons of water, and its center jets can shoot water up to 120 feet high in normal wind.

After a major renovation, the fountain reopened on Feb. 15, 2024, and it's become one of the most popular free stops in the city. It flows from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, and it's especially worth seeing after dark.

3. Fort Caroline National Memorial

12713 Fort Caroline Road · Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. · Free

Long before St. Augustine, French Huguenots tried to build a colony here on the St. Johns River in 1564, led by René de Laudonnière, following an earlier expedition by Jean Ribault. A year later, in 1565, Spanish forces under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés attacked and ended the French colony.

Fort Caroline National Memorial tells that story, with a visitor center, a replica of the fort, walking trails and the Ribault Monument overlooking the river. Admission is free.

2. Kingsley Plantation

Fort George Island · Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. · Free

Kingsley Plantation, also part of the Timucuan Preserve, tells a harder story: the lives of the enslaved people who worked this cotton plantation, and of the family who owned it. You can walk the grounds, see the plantation house and the remains of the tabby cabins where enslaved families lived, and learn about Zephaniah Kingsley and Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, a West African woman who was enslaved by Kingsley, later freed and became his wife and a plantation owner herself.

It's one of the most important historic sites in Northeast Florida, and it's free.

1. Free Saturdays at MOCA Jacksonville

333 N. Laura St. · Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. · Free

The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, run by the University of North Florida, is free for everyone every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., through VyStar Free Saturdays. Normal admission is $10 for adults.

There are other free ways in, too:

• First and third Wednesdays: free during extended Museum Nights hours, 5 to 9 p.m.
• College students: free Tuesday through Friday, 1:30 to 5 p.m.
• Library card holders: free on the last Friday of each month with a Jacksonville Public Library card
• November: kids get in free during Kids Free November
• Children 5 and under: always free

MOCA is closed Mondays and open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. It's right on James Weldon Johnson Park, steps from City Hall, so you can pair it with the Great Fire walk (No. 12).

Bonus: the beaches

Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach · Free

Duval County's Atlantic beaches are free to walk, swim and play on, and they're the region's best-known free attraction. Parking rules and costs vary by town and by lot, so check before you go. (Hanna Park and the state parks on the Talbot islands charge an entrance fee.)

Quick answers

Is Fort Caroline free?
Yes. Fort Caroline National Memorial and Kingsley Plantation, both part of the Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, have no entrance fee. Both are open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

What museums in Jacksonville are free?
MOCA Jacksonville is free for everyone on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on the first and third Wednesdays from 5 to 9 p.m. The Cummer Museum is free for college students Tuesday through Friday and for visitors with an EBT, SNAP or WIC card.

When does Friendship Fountain run?
Every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Where is the Treaty Oak?
In Jessie Ball duPont Park on the Southbank, across the river from downtown, a short walk from Friendship Fountain.

What's free to do in Jacksonville with kids?
Friendship Fountain, the Treaty Oak, the beaches, the Theodore Roosevelt Area trails and Fort Caroline's replica fort are all free and kid-friendly. MOCA is free for kids 5 and under every day and for all kids during Kids Free November.

Plan a free weekend

Remember: Fort Caroline and Kingsley Plantation are closed Monday and Tuesday, and all Timucuan Preserve sites close on Thanksgiving, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. MOCA is closed Mondays.

What's your favorite free thing to do in Jacksonville? Tell us in the comments, and we'll add the best ideas to our next list.