I loved learning about the history of this place as the old Alcazar Hotel, sister to the Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College, do the tour) across the street. The excellent restaurant is at the bottom of the old swimming pool, and my favorite thing was actually reading most of a Hotel history pamphlet over my wonderful lunch. Ask your waitress for it: the restaurant has a copy and she said it's for sale in the gift shop. Also, there are a few pictures of the old Hotel throughout the Museum, and some areas (like parts of the spa) look like they used to. The Gilded-Age objects will interest you if collections of old objects in museums usually do; they didn't much interest me. I do wish they'd concentrate on restoring the Hotel (showing what it was like when St. Augustine was briefly the Newport of the South) instead of using the Lightner as a museum of Gilded-Age objects. Hint: the lot behind the Museum is a good place to park when visiting downtown.

Although the staff was helpful and informative, this museum was not interesting to me nor the rest of my group. The most interesting thing we saw was the very large swimming pool area that is now a restaurant. Definitely not a place to take small children, no touching allowed. Seemed long and boring. Pricing was average though.

All museums are just collections of artistic endeavors. This museum is one man's vision of what is beautiful in our world. I think anyone who takes the time to visit will be pleasantly surprised by Mr. Lightner's eye. There are spectacular collections of crystal, Tiffany glass and furniture. Do not miss the demonstration of the musical instruments, it is truly a treat.