There are two daily tours, 10am and 2:00pm, starting from the historic Henry Flagler Hotel, now part of the Flagler College. There is a large statue of Henry Flagler on King Street, in front of the college if you want a good reference.

We purchased our tickets in the foyer where the tour begins. We found out later we could have used a coupon out of one of the tourist guides for a dollar off.

The tour is quite entertaining done by gifted Flagler College students. References to both the college and hotel are interwoven into an interesting story. It is hard to imagine that people paid $4,000 dollars–in 1890’s monies that would equate to $100,000 today—to stay from January through April.

The tour begins in the beautiful rotunda filled with magnificent detail. We were lead outside to explore the unique architecture of the courtyard and fountain.

The main part of the tour, though, is a short walk to the student cafeteria to view the famous Tiffany glass collection. It is not hard to imagine why people enjoyed being at this hotel and college.

The last part of the tour is to a large meeting room filled with paintings and artifacts.

The highlight was meeting Dr. Leslee F. Keys who wrote “Hotel Ponce de Leon.” She was there with a professional photographer who was taking pictures for “insurance” purposes. I understand that Dr. Keys is a professor on staff.

The tour lasts about an hour. Having visited St. Augustine many times, I would rate this tour in the top five activities to do while in this historic city. Other activities would to visit the fort (over 500,000 people do yearly), walking in the historic city, visiting the Lightner Museum and climbing up the Lighthouse. Other activities if you have time is taking the scenic cruise on Victory III and visiting the Distillery.