Travel: Ponte Vedra Inn & Club

As you battle the snarling site visitors alongside the Interstate 95 hall from Jacksonville, it’s inconceivable to think about that only a few miles on the east coast sits a slice of heaven often called Ponte Vedra.

With each mile you drive, you’re feeling you’re cruising again in time to a extra swish, genteel Florida. A spot for the refined traveler. It’s a spot the place the women are donned in Lilly Pulitzer and the gents are sporting plaid madras shorts and golf shirts. With every mile, your every day issues appear to slide away.

You recognize you’ve arrived when you’ve made it to Ponte Vedra Boulevard, a stately street lined with palm timber. The grand fountain marks the doorway to Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership, a historic resort that first opened in 1928.

Regardless of being round for 95 years, the visitor rooms at Ponte Vedra are impeccably up to date, all sharing a basic resort really feel. There are a couple of totally different kinds of rooms, together with oceanfront, suites and historic rooms in the principle constructing, which dates again to 1937.

Our oceanfront suite was completely updated with all of the facilities, crown molding, massive entryways and tasteful, basic décor. However the star of the present was the gorgeous view of the Atlantic Ocean, which was on full show from each room within the suite. With a view like that, who desires to go away the balcony?

The resort has been known as just a little slice of outdated Florida, and the outline is well-deserved. The very first thing one notices is the standard of the seashore at Ponte Vedra. There are various seashores alongside the Atlantic the place one has to dodge vehicles driving on the seashore, or the place air pollution has sadly left a seemingly everlasting mark. Not Ponte Vedra, the place the sand is white, the seashore is lengthy and constantly maintained, the water clear as aquamarine.

The Oceanview suite options spectacular views and facilities. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF PONTE VEDRA INN & CLUB)

For those who resolve to go away your room, there are a lot of choices from tennis courts, golf greens, spas, effective eating, swimming pools, and that’s simply what they provide on the Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership. Conveniently situated between downtown Jacksonville and historic St. Augustine, visitors are surrounded by wealthy historical past and a vibrant nightlife.

If golf is your cup of “tee,” Ponte Vedra’s golf and tennis courts are famous as among the finest within the nation. Many visitors spend a lot of their time enjoying both or each of their favourite sports activities and respect the lengthy days and tropical local weather.

And should you develop bored with swimming within the Atlantic, the resort has 4 swimming pools, together with a kids’s pool with slides and heated swimming pools for when the temperatures take that slight dip within the winter.

Spectacular Superb Eating

Our first eating expertise was on the Seahorse Grille and speak about beginning out on a excessive notice. As you enter the restaurant, there’s a 24-foot vertical chandelier of glass bubbles, seahorses and blowfish that greets you as you ascend a spiral staircase to the host station. Ground-to-ceiling ocean views set the scene for an off-the-cuff menu that locations heavy emphasis on regionally caught seafood.

We suggest beginning with the lobster bisque, which was out of this world. Dropped at the desk and partially ready table-side, there was a wholesome portion of lobster with a touch of tarragon that was delicate and wealthy unexpectedly. Our entrée was the 12-ounce Chateau, flawlessly ready with herb butter, haricot verts, native mushrooms and child potatoes. We splurged on the important thing lime pie for dessert. As somebody who takes delight in being a key lime pie aficionado, I used to be greater than happy with the genuine texture and the effective stability of savory and candy.

There are a number of different eating choices at Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership, together with The Connoisseur Store which is open all through the day providing your Starbucks espresso repair, fresh-baked pastries, deli sandwiches or selfmade ice cream. Poolside visitors can order sizzling canine and salad from the Excessive Tides Bar.

Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership gives unparalleled views of the Atlantic Ocean. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF PONTE VEDRA INN & CLUB)

Different eating choices:

• The Inn Eating Room, the place breakfast is served every day in a sublime room decked out in white linens with contemporary flowers and crystal.
• The Golf Membership Restaurant and the Surf Membership Patio, the place you may order sandwiches and salads noon, climate allowing.
• On Friday and Saturday evenings, the Seafoam Room caters to a extra refined crowd. Dinner jackets are required for gents, and reservations are really helpful.
• On Friday and Saturday evenings, the Golf Membership Restaurant welcomes visitors for dinner. The prime rib buffet on Friday evenings is to not be missed.

The Spa: A Haven for Rest and Reflection

As a substitute of sleeping in, we spent our first morning at The Spa at Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership. It was greater than well worth the lack of an hour’s sleep. Because the therapeutic massage therapist labored her magic, all stress melted away.

As you step into the spa foyer, you’re met by the soothing sounds of waterfalls and water sculptures. The comfortable lounge is one-part trendy Florida sunroom, one-part Mediterranean magic.

The 30,000-square-foot facility gives a large menu of providers, together with seaweed physique wraps, deep-tissue massages and opulent facials. Like Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership, the spa combines fashionable facilities with basic sophistication, permitting you to bask in age-old therapies whereas experiencing the most recent advances in well being and sweetness analysis.

This gorgeous, serene ambiance welcomes anybody looking for a spa escape throughout their keep on the Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership. The Spa’s in depth menu of over 100 magnificence and physique therapies gives a complete mixture of the acquainted and the unique, together with therapeutic massages, rejuvenating facials, invigorating scrubs, purifying wraps, sizzling paraffin manicures, pedicures, hair styling and way more.

We’re not the one one singing their praises. The spa has acquired many opinions from visitors and nationwide recognition from InStyle, Vogue, Oprah, and plenty of famous spa authorities.

One by no means enjoys leaving luxurious, consolation and the 24 hours a day sounds of the Atlantic Ocean. However we’re counting down the times and searching ahead to returning to the Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership for extra lobster bisque, a therapeutic massage and a much-needed escape to the sounds of the water. 

Ponte Vedra Inn & Membership gives Golf, Tennis, and So A lot Extra. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF PONTE VEDRA INN & CLUB)

Limitless Facilities: The seashore is only the start

• Full-service luxurious spa providing over 100 providers
• 36 unbelievable holes of golf
• 15 Har-Tru clay tennis courts
• 10 excellent eating institutions
• A Chef’s Desk is offered on the Seahorse Grille. Reservations are required • State-of-the-art oceanfront health heart
• 4 heated swimming swimming pools
  
• Kids’s playground and nursery
• Miles of lovely Atlantic Ocean seashores to discover • Seashore leases with kayaks, paddle-boards, seashore bicycle cruisers
•  An array of boutiques and retailers

Different High Outside & Journey Spots

Chicken Island Park
904.469.7275

Dolphin and Wildlife Journey of St. Augustine
904.466.4626

Airboat Journey in St. Augustine
(Guided Excursions) 904.495.4200

Florida Backroads E-Bike Tour
800.272.4141

Guana Tolomato Matanzas Nationwide Estuarine Analysis Reserve
904.380.8600

Fantasy Farms
203.417.2996