Bunnell
The county seat sits at the crossroads at the middle of the corridor, an Old Florida town that grew up around the railroad and made its living from agriculture and timber in the early twentieth century. Brick storefronts, county buildings, a grain and produce past you can still read in the architecture. Country diners here serve the kind of lunch the region actually eats.
Flagler Beach
Eight miles east of the county seat, on the ocean side of the Intracoastal, one of the few small beachside towns left on this coast. Low buildings, a wooden fishing pier, surf shops and a beach that locals and visitors share without much friction. The town was incorporated in the early twentieth century and has resisted the high-rise pattern that took the rest of the coast.
Palm Coast
A planned community built out from the 1970s onward, now the population center of the county. The town center sits at the edge of the corridor rather than on it, and provides most of the hotels, chain dining and services travelers need. Its saltwater canal network and preserve trails are worth an afternoon in their own right.
Espanola and the western hamlets
West of the county seat, the settlements thin out to a few buildings at a crossroads. These places were shipping points for potatoes and timber and are now quiet farm communities. There is little to buy and a lot to look at.
Marineland and the northern edge
At the north end of the coastal leg, near the St. Johns County line, sits one of the oldest marine attractions in the country, founded in the 1930s as an underwater film studio. The surrounding stretch of A1A is undeveloped shoreline and dune.