Framed by massive sand dunes, ancient oaks, and palms, Amelia Island Plantation offers groups of up to 1,000 a Florida island setting as sophisticated as it is naturally pristine.

The resort’s full complement of meeting space totals more than 49,000 square feet, distributed among the Amelia Inn and Executive Conference Centers, the Racquet Park Conference Center, the Sandcastles villa complex, the Grand Pavilion, and the great outdoors.

The conference centers, easily reached via covered walkway from the main lobby, claim most of the indoor space for events. Their generous prefunction areas, patios, and terraces encourage groups to mingle freely.

The centers’ ballrooms and breakout rooms handle the most demanding of meeting needs, thanks to wireless Internet access, advanced lighting, and built-in audiovisual support systems. While the centers’ own chefs keep delegates happy with expert catering, a full-service business center and conference services office tackle moment-to-moment requirements.

Planners wishing to keep active types happy often book the Racquet Park Conference Center. Here, groups of up to 100 enjoy a self-contained world that allows them to step out of meetings and directly onto the tennis courts.

Outdoor venues include a white-sand beach and the 10,000- square-foot Grand Pavilion, which specializes in exquisitely staged theme parties.

Every bit as diverse as the meeting facilities, the 610 accommodations range from standard hotel rooms to luxury villas. Recent enhancements to the guest quarters boost the comfort factor with 330- thread count Egyptian cotton linens, pillow-top mattresses, flat-screen HD-TVs, high-speed Internet access, and iHome iPod clock radios.

While nature lovers spend their downtime delighting in the island’s wildlife and natural habitat, recreation lovers dip into the 23 swimming pools or launch into ocean sports like kayaking, sailing, and fishing.

Still others opt for the nature-centered pampering found at the spa, where 25 individual treatment rooms focus on sweeping views of lagoons and moss-draped oaks. Watsu, the signature treatment, takes place in a special pool on a private island connected by walkway to the main spa.

But for many, championship golf provides the No. 1 attraction. The resort’s four 18-hole courses— designed by Tom Fazio, Tom Jackson, Bobby Weed, and Pete Dye—play out in pristine marshes and along the ocean, where gentle breezes, tall dunes, and forests of oaks converge.

Hidden away on Florida’s northernmost island, the resort also lies just 29 miles northeast of Jacksonville International Airport. This gives the destination an uncommon distinction as an exotic island getaway conveniently close to home.