Amelia Island runs thirteen miles north to south with the Atlantic on the east and salt marsh on the west. Fernandina Beach occupies the northern third, its historic downtown sitting on the river rather than the ocean; unincorporated resort communities fill the south.
Amelia Island is thirteen miles long and about two miles across at its widest, and it is not homogenous. Understanding its geography is most of what you need to plan well.
The Atlantic is on the east side, and the beach runs almost the whole length of it. The Amelia River and several thousand acres of salt marsh are on the west side. A1A — called First Coast Highway on the south end and 8th Street in town — runs north to south. Fletcher Avenue runs along the ocean side.
The island's only city is Fernandina Beach, which occupies the northern third, and whose downtown historic district sits on the river, not the ocean. That single fact catches out more visitors than anything else about the place.
The southern two-thirds is unincorporated Nassau County: resort communities, golf, and progressively emptier beach the further south you go, ending in the undeveloped state park at the tip.
Old Town Fernandina — the original Spanish plat of 1811, north of downtown, with Fort Clinch State Park beyond it at the island's northern point.
Downtown Fernandina Beach — the fifty-block historic district on the river; dining, shopping, history and the marina.
Fernandina Beach oceanside — the residential and hotel strip along Fletcher Avenue, with Main Beach Park and the numbered beach accesses. Five minutes from downtown, on the sand.
Summer Beach — oceanfront condominium and resort development, including the Ritz-Carlton.
Amelia Island Plantation — the large planned community on the south end, now largely branded as the Omni resort, with golf, villas and marsh-side trails.
American Beach — the historic community founded in 1935, between the resort areas.
The south end — everything below Sadler Road broadly, running down to Amelia Island State Park and the Nassau Sound bridge.
Yulee and the mainland — across the bridges: the chain retail, the supermarkets, the airport route, and where a good deal of the island's workforce lives.
Distances are small but real. It is roughly fifteen minutes from the state park at the southern tip to Fort Clinch at the northern one, without traffic. There is no public transport to speak of, and the island is too long to walk end to end — but each individual district is walkable, and the Amelia Island Trail gives cyclists a paved route along part of A1A.
The 50-block downtown historic district on Amelia Island's river side, centred on Centre Street between 8th Street and the Fernandina Harbor Marina. Victorian storefronts, the island's densest concentration of restaurants and bars, and the Amelia Island Museum of History.
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The Atlantic side of the city of Fernandina Beach: Fletcher Avenue, Main Beach Park, Seaside Park, the numbered beach accesses, and the mid-size hotels and rentals behind the dune. Five minutes from downtown and directly on the sand.
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A small oceanfront community on Amelia Island's south end, founded in 1935 by the Afro-American Life Insurance Company as a beach where Black Floridians could swim during segregation. Home to NaNa, the tallest dune in Florida, and the A.L. Lewis Museum.
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The resort half of Amelia Island: gated communities, golf, the Omni and Ritz-Carlton properties, and the quietest stretches of beach. Roughly everything south of Sadler Road down to Amelia Island State Park and the Nassau Sound bridge.
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The original town site north of modern downtown, laid out on a Spanish plat of 1811 — one of the last towns platted under Spanish rule in the New World. A quiet residential grid around the Plaza San Carlos, with Fort Clinch State Park beyond it.
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The large planned resort community occupying much of Amelia Island's south end, now largely operated as the Omni Amelia Island Resort. Golf, villas, marsh-side trails, a nature centre and oceanfront behind the dune, inside a gated development.
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An oceanfront condominium and resort district on Amelia Island's south end, between the Fernandina city limits and the Amelia Island Plantation area, containing the Ritz-Carlton and a cluster of rental condominium buildings behind the dune.
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The Nassau County mainland immediately west of Amelia Island, across the Shave Bridge: the island's supermarkets, chain retail, big-box stores and the I-95 interchange, plus the route to Jacksonville airport and the Cumberland Island ferry.
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