Local Guide

Golf Cart Rules at Jacksonville's Beaches

Twelve miles of coast, four jurisdictions, and four different opinions about golf carts. The way through it is to know which vehicle you are actually in. A registered low-speed vehicle follows one statewide rule everywhere it goes. An unregistered golf cart follows whichever city or county it happens to be standing in.

Start with the vehicle, not the city

Florida draws a hard line between two things that look the same in a driveway. A golf cart is built for a golf course, cannot exceed 20 mph, is not registered, and can only be driven where a local government has designated golf cart use. That is why the rules at the beaches appear to change every couple of miles: they are four separate local decisions.

A low-speed vehicle tops out above 20 and no more than 25 mph, is titled, registered and insured, and carries a license plate along with headlamps, brake lights, turn signals, tail lamps, reflectors, mirrors, a parking brake, a windshield, seat belts and a VIN. State law lets it use any public road posted at 35 mph or less, and no city has to vote on that.

The six-seat carts at Amenio partner homes are registered low-speed vehicles. In practice that means one rule you can actually hold in your head from Atlantic Beach to Ponte Vedra: 35 mph or less, licensed driver, everyone belted.

The rules that actually affect your week

The plate is what travels

A registered low-speed vehicle carries one statewide rule with it: roads posted at 35 mph or less, anywhere in Florida. That is why it works across four jurisdictions in twelve miles of coast when an unregistered cart does not. Amenio's carts are registered low-speed vehicles.

Licensed driver, 21 or older

Florida requires a valid driver's license in immediate possession to operate a low-speed vehicle. Amenio requires the driver to be 21 or older, and it has to be the driver whose license and insurance are on file.

Read the posted limit on the block you are on

Third Street carries A1A through the beaches and its posted limit is not the same everywhere along it. Check the sign rather than assuming the whole road is one number, and keep to the residential grid where you can.

The highways are out, entirely

Butler Boulevard, Atlantic Boulevard and Beach Boulevard west of the beaches are posted far above 35 mph. A cart cannot travel on them. It may cross a faster road at an intersection, but that is all.

Seat belts for everyone in a seat

A low-speed vehicle has a belt for every seat, and beaches police departments here do enforce seat belt and capacity rules. Six seats means six people.

The county line is a real line

South of Jacksonville Beach you leave Duval County for St. Johns County and Ponte Vedra Beach. St. Johns County has adopted its own golf cart ordinance conforming to state law, and designates particular roads for golf cart use. A registered low-speed vehicle is unaffected by that designation; an unregistered cart is not.

Where a cart goes at the beaches

The Jacksonville Beach grid

First Street and the numbered avenues

The most useful cart territory on the First Coast. First Street runs a block behind the ocean and the numbered avenues run down to it, all of it low speed and all of it within a few minutes of the pier and the beach accesses.

Worth knowing: The city marks a few spaces specifically for licensed carts and low-speed vehicles at oceanfront locations. They fill early on a good day.

Beaches Town Center

The Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach line

Where Atlantic Boulevard ends at the ocean, two cities meet at a compact walkable block of restaurants and shops. A good cart destination precisely because you park once and walk.

Worth knowing: Getting there by cart means the residential streets, not Atlantic Boulevard itself.

Atlantic Beach's residential streets

Oak canopy, quiet blocks, low posted limits, and the calmest driving of the three Duval beach towns. It is also where the roads bend and narrow, so it rewards going slowly.

Worth knowing: Sherry Drive and the streets around it carry a lot of cyclists and walkers. Give them the room.

Ponte Vedra Boulevard

St. Johns County

The oceanfront road south of the county line, lined with oaks and the best-looking drive at this end of the coast. Check the posted limit on the stretch you are on before you commit a cart to it.

Worth knowing: You are in a different county here with its own ordinance. The 35 mph rule for a registered low-speed vehicle still applies.

Mayport and the north end

North of Atlantic Beach the road runs toward Mayport village and the ferry. Interesting by car, less so by cart: the routes north involve roads posted well above the limit.

Worth knowing: The St. Johns River ferry and Hanna Park are car trips from the beaches, not cart trips.

Parking, and the small number of cart spaces

Jacksonville Beach marks a handful of spaces specifically for licensed golf carts and low-speed vehicles at oceanfront locations, including near the pier and at several numbered-avenue ends. The city publishes the current list, and it is short. Treat a cart space as a lucky find rather than a plan.

Everywhere else, a low-speed vehicle uses a regular marked space and pays what a car pays.
Beach access parking near the pier fills first and stays full. The avenues a few blocks north and south do not.
Do not park on a dune crossover, a sidewalk, a swale or a residential driveway apron. All four are ticketed here.
Lights on after dusk. The beach towns have a lot of foot and bike traffic in the evening and a cart sits low.
The cart belongs back at the house at the end of the day. It is registered to the home you are staying at.

How the cart at your house unlocks

At an Amenio partner home the cart is at the house when you arrive. Before it unlocks:

The driver uploads a valid driver's license, and must be 21 or older.
The driver uploads current auto insurance.
The driver signs the low-speed vehicle walkthrough: controls, seat belts, charging or fuel, and which roads the cart may use.

Carts are gas or electric depending on the home, and seat six either way.

Common questions

Can you drive a golf cart in Jacksonville Beach?

A registered low-speed vehicle may be driven on roads posted at 35 mph or less, which covers the numbered avenues, the residential grid and most of the streets you would actually use. An unregistered golf-course cart is a different vehicle under Florida law and may only be used where the local government has designated, which varies between Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and St. Johns County.

Where can you park a golf cart in Jacksonville Beach?

The city marks a small number of spaces for licensed golf carts and low-speed vehicles at oceanfront locations, including near the pier and at several numbered-avenue ends. There are only a handful of them and they go early. Otherwise a low-speed vehicle parks in a regular space and pays what a car pays.

Can you drive a cart from Jacksonville Beach to Ponte Vedra?

Only if every road on your route is posted at 35 mph or less, and that depends on the specific streets you choose rather than the trip as a whole. You also cross from Duval County into St. Johns County, which has its own ordinance for golf carts. A registered low-speed vehicle carries the state's 35 mph rule with it; an unregistered cart does not.

Is a golf cart allowed on the beach in Jacksonville Beach?

No. Carts stay on pavement. The sand and the dune crossovers are for people on foot, and driving on the dune line damages the vegetation that holds it together.

Who is allowed to drive the cart at our rental house?

At an Amenio partner home, a driver who is 21 or older and has uploaded a valid driver's license and current auto insurance, and signed the low-speed vehicle walkthrough. Florida separately requires any low-speed vehicle operator to have a license in their immediate possession.

Staying at an Amenio partner home?

The bikes, cart, and beach gear are already part of your stay. They are at the house when you walk in, so there is nothing to pick up and nothing to carry home. Amenio works only with partner vacation homes on Florida's Emerald Coast, Suncoast, and First Coast, so if your house is one of ours, the gear is already there.

Want to see what is at the house? See the carts, or find your reservation. Questions about equipment at your home? Call or text 850-231-8000.

Already booked a partner home?

Open your stay to see the bikes, cart and beach gear waiting at the house.