Indoor Activities in Jacksonville

Want activities to do on a weekend but the weather isn’t cooperating with you? Here’s a list of the best indoor activities that you can do in Jacksonville. Who says you can’t enjoy your weekend or your time away while you’re on vacation or want to explore new places in town?

Learn through museums and the library

Jacksonville has a few indoor museums to enjoy if it’s raining outside. All you have to do is get in your car and drive there. Here’s a list of places you can visit; some of them are already included in our Things to do in Jacksonville post, but we just decided to do separate posts in case you need more information.

If the weather is bad, why not spend some time learning new things by visiting the museums we’ve outlined below? You can also use this time to pick up a book from the Jacksonville public library (if you’re a resident), or just hang out there with your little one during weekend story time.

Museum of Science and History (MOSH)

Address: 1025 Museum Cir, Jacksonville, FL 32207
Hours: 10AM – 5PM Mondays to Thursdays, 10AM – 8PM on Fridays, 10AM – 6PM on Saturdays, 12PM – 5PM Sundays
Price: $
Website: https://themosh.org/

MOSH, as it’s known by locals, is a very cool, family-friendly place to learn about astronomy, science, and Jacksonville area history. Some of the main exhibits are: energy conservation, history of Northeast Florida, personal health, and space exploration. A particular awesome thing to do is the Planetarium, which has multiple shows per day that explore stars and planets in an amazing way.

Bonus Tip: If you are a BOA cardholder, you can visit MOSH for free as part of their Museums On Us program!

Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA)

Address: 333 N Laura St, Jacksonville, FL 32202
Hours: 11AM – 5PM Tuesday to Saturday, 12PM – 5PM Sundays
Price: $8 for Adults
Website: https://mocajacksonville.unf.edu/

Located directly in the heart of downtown Jacksonville, MOCA is a three-story museum that is filled with contemporary artwork, exhibitions, and installations from local, national, and international artists. The exhibits always change, and they are, more often than not, thought provoking. The ground floor is usually reserved for installations and there have been quite a few memorable ones, the last one being giant passports that hung from the ceiling!

There is also a cafe downstairs in case you’re hungry, but the prices run a little high compared to the other cafes/delis in downtown, at least from our experience.

Bonus Tip: Make sure to visit during the monthly Art Walk event (held on the first Wednesday of each month), this is the time when the museum is packed with people and great energy.

Cummer Museum

Address: 829 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32204
Hours: 11AM – 9PM Tuesday and Friday, 11AM – 4PM Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, 12PM – 4PM on Sundays
Price: $10 for Adults
Website: https://www.cummermuseum.org/

If you’re not a fan of post-modern/contemporary art, and want something classical and traditional, then a great place to visit is the Cummer Museum, located in the hip Riverside district.

The Cummer specializes in art works spanning the millennium, with the majority focused on European masterpieces from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Landscapes, tapestries, portraits, still-lives (you know, those realistic bowls of fruit that were all the craze in the Renaissance), it’s all there.

However, even if you aren’t a big fan of the art, the Cummer has a beautiful garden section in the back that looks out over the St. John’s River and gives you a nice view of downtown. Made in the Italian and English styles, the Gardens are small, but a must-see.

Jacksonville Main Library

While we only featured the main library in this post, you are more than welcome to visit any of the other branches in Jacksonville, some of which are pretty cool in their own right. Our closest and favorite location is the Southeast, but we’ve also been to the Beaches location and really liked it (it doesn’t hurt that it’s just steps away from the beach!).

The reason why we wanted to talk about the Main Library, located in downtown next to MOCA, is obvious when you see it up close. It’s a recently built (2005) building in the classical style, and it is massive and absolutely gorgeous. When you step inside, you are met with a tremendous amount of natural light, and millions of books. In addition to that, there is a large children’s area, as well as an event space that is regularly used for weddings and book signings (such as the one we attended, for Lauren Groff).

In terms of parking, you can try to find street parking (free on weekends!) and there is also a big parking garage right next to the library, so there should be no worries there.

Shop local, chain stores, or the like

In our Shopping in Jacksonville post, we got into detail about the local stores we usually go to around town. We even have a separate section for bookstores in Jacksonville – where one can pick up books at home if there’s terrible weather ahead, be it rain or heat, which forces you to stay indoors.

One can opt to browse around the stores in the relative shade, or buy things that you need. You can also end up shopping for more exotic ingredients and preparing your own food at home.

Food Trip Around The World

This is one of our favorite things to do if the weather is bad: go to small, specialty markets and prepare food that we love (and miss) at home.

Asian food is my go-to comfort food, while Eastern European food is my husband’s go-to comfort food. We do cover the Asian and European markets in more detail in separate posts on the blog.

If you’re not local and your hotel or accommodation does not have any kitchen for you to cook in, why not visit one of the many diverse restaurants the city has to offer? We’ll cover more of these restaurants in a separate post called Dining in Jacksonville. We’re going to recommend some of our favorites including the best value ones.

Indoor Activities in Jacksonville with Kids

If you are traveling with a child, here are some of our top picks for indoor activities in Jacksonville for the little ones.

Hands On Children’s Museum

This is a really small museum located in the Beach Blvd area of Jacksonville. As the name says, your children are free to touch the exhibits in the museum. The building looks a bit beat up from the front, and is a bit out of the way from most tourist sites in Jacksonville, so plan your trip accordingly if you wish to visit.

Pump It Up

Like the name suggests, this indoor venue has lots of inflatables available for your children to jump in. Adults are free to jump as well with every paying child, so you can join in on the fun. This is located in a small strip plaza in Beach Blvd, so can be done while on the way to the beach.

Bravoz Entertainment Center

Located in the south side of Jacksonville, Bravoz is near the border to St John’s County, so a bit out of the way if staying downtown or in north Jacksonville. It is a pretty big space with arcades, mini bowling, jump arenas, rock climbing walls, and even laser tag.

There’s also a food court, and plenty of other things to keep the little ones busy and entertained for a few hours.

Sweet Pete’s

If you want to satisfy a sweet tooth, Jacksonville has one of the coolest and largest candy stores in the entire country. Sweet Pete’s is a proud local institution and has been part of the downtown area for over 30 years. There are three floors of tons of different candies, chocolates, lollipops, gummy bears, and even a play area for kids. There is also fresh ice-cream, in case the candy isn’t enough.

Beyond that, however, walking through Sweet Pete’s is like walking through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It’s an incredible place that makes you feel magical as soon as you enter through its doors. Even if you don’t like candy, it’s worth visiting this place and feeling like a kid again.

Any Other Indoor Activities You Can Recommend?

Do you know of any other indoor activities that we may have missed? Please feel free to recommend a place for us to visit in the comments below or contact us. We’re more than open to new suggestions and ideas, especially if it relates to activities within Florida.