Fourth city in Florida by population and second on the west coast after Tampa, Saint Petersburg is not only one of the many places to choose as a base for a vacation between the sea and the wild nature of this state, but it is also a city full of things to see and do. Due to the very favorable climate of the peninsula on which it stands, it is called The Sunshine City, an appellation that perfectly matches one of the main destinations of The Sunshine State.
The name immediately brings to mind the Russian city of the same name, and that’s no accident. It was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams and Peter Demens, the former buying the land and the latter bringing the railroad industry here. Apparently, the two tossed a coin and the winner, Demens, named the new settlement after his hometown, Russia’s St. Petersburg. As a consolation Williams, who was from Detroit, built the city’s first hotel calling it the Detroit Hotel.
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How to get there and when to go
St. Petersburg is located on the tip of a peninsula, which branches from north to south near the coast opposite Tampa. The best way to get around Florida is with your car, in order to move nimbly between cities, beaches, and parks. With a car, you can get to Saint Petersburg from three directions: from the north via Clearwater, from the east thanks to the two bridges (US92 Bridge and Howard Frankland Bridge) that connect it to Tampa, and from the south thanks to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which is the most direct route if you are coming from Sarasota or other southern locations such as Fort Myers or Miami.
If you’re without a car, fear not: Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority buses connect St. Petersburg to Tampa, and Tampa is well served by long-distance connections to other major Florida cities. If you plan to get there by bus or train from other parts of the state, then, read our tips on how to get to Tampa.
Regarding the best time of year to visit this area, we have written an article on Florida weather, where you will find a bit of advice depending on the season. However, in addition to the weather, you may also want to consider the events that take place in the city so you can visit when it is particularly lively. For example, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade, a large parade dedicated to the man we all know, with several additional side events and takes place in January.
In March there is the Firestone Grand Prix: a must for Formula 1 fans. A temporary track, about 1.8 miles long and with 14 bends, hosts 11 different car races while all around there are markets and various entertainments. The Blue Festival is instead an event that animates Vinoy Park in April with blues music and lots of typical Caribbean food. Finally, autumn sees the Holiday events: a long series of initiatives in preparation for Christmas, which start a couple of months before the holiday.
What to see in Saint Petersburg Florida
With more than 260,000 inhabitants, St. Petersburg is Florida’s fifth most populous built up area, in Pinellas County, on the peninsula in Tampa Bay connected to the city of the same name on the Gulf of Mexico by three long bridges over the water. The friendly abbreviation St. Pete is an affectionate name given to the city by the locals who thus distinguish it from the high-sounding Russian metropolis with the same name.
Historic districts
As mentioned, the historic area is the one that branches off from the bay towards the interior along Central Avenue and nearby streets. Here, starting from the coast, we find the Waterfront Art District, so called because it hosts some of the main city art galleries. Moving westward we enter the real Downtown, which is welcoming, always lively, full of stores and things to do.
Further inland we enter the Grand Central District: an area full of stores, which can be considered to be the main shopping district. The Historic Kenwood district opens up all around this area. It is one of the unmissable areas of the city. There are more than two thousand historical buildings, among which the residences in colonial revival and Mediterranean revival styles stand out, but there is much more to see too. Here, in fact, there are many craftsman-style bungalows from the 1920s and 30s, special wooden houses that are included in the list of protected assets.
Among the unmissable areas, there is also the Historic Old Northeast, one of the oldest parts of the city that is located along the coast north of downtown. 4th St. N, which marks its western boundary, is a street filled with restaurants of all kinds. The eastern boundary of the neighborhood, on the other hand, is a long green strip along the coast, which is the sum of different public parks, which we’ll talk about in a moment.
St. Petersburg Pier
St. Petersburg’s pier is a true icon of the city. It has changed its appearance several times over the years, and today’s structure was inaugurated in 2020. Despite having had its current face for only a few years, the long pier has a very long history behind it. The first one was built in 1889, with the purpose of allowing steamboats and merchant ships to dock in the bay without the risk of running aground in the shallow waters near the shore.
From the beginning, a tourist function was added to the commercial one: a bathing establishment was opened in the first part and many people began to come here for tourism. It was the Railroad Pier and was joined in 1896 by the Brantley Pier, north of the previous one, also with a bathing establishment. In 1901 a third pier was added south of the other two: the Fountain of Youth Pier. The latter had a cottage on the end and a well from which water was drawn under the illusion that it was a fountain of youth.
During the twentieth century, there was a continuous alternation of piers that appeared and disappeared from the coast of the city to attract tourists. In 1904, Brantley was demolished and replaced with the Electric Pier, which was illuminated and had an electric trolley that carried passengers from top to bottom, and was also demolished ten years later. Meanwhile, the Municipal Recreational Pier was erected in 1913, the first to be municipally owned and dedicated exclusively to tourism. In 1921, a hurricane destroyed the Fountain of Youth and damaged the others.
Only the municipal one was repaired and in 1926 it was replaced by a cutting-edge project: the Million Dollar Pier. Effectively costing nearly a million dollars (about $15 million today), it was nearly 450 feet long and 100 feet wide. At the far end, it had a Mediterranean revival-style structure that housed an indoor parking lot, a ballroom, an outdoor theater, and a viewing terrace. At the part closest to the shore, however, there was a solarium near the beach and a streetcar stop.
In 1952 the railroad pier, the oldest and last surviving one besides the Million Dollar Pier, was demolished and the public pier remained the only one. A period of neglect began that ended with the demolition of the building in 1967 and the transformation of it into a park with tables and benches at the top of the pier. In ’73 there was a novelty: a new building in the shape of an inverted pyramid that lasted until 2013. Then, in 2015, the demolition of the pier began to create the Pier Park green space.
Finally, in 2020 the pier we see today was completed, which is open daily from dawn until 11 p.m. It can be accessed by car and bike and there are parking spaces for both, but there is also a shuttle bus. There are bars and restaurants, a market, an water play area for children, and, most importantly, the Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center: where interactive exhibits explain the ecosystem of this area.
Tour aboard the “boat-bar” around the pier
Salvador Dali Museum and other museums
The Salvador Dali Museum is the most important museum in the city. Finding it is easy: it’s right in the center, in the street that bears the same name as the painter, Dali Boulevard. As you can see, inside there is a large collection dedicated to the Catalan surrealist painter: the largest outside Europe. Over two thousand works including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and prints are exhibited permanently in the museum’s rooms.
You can also visit temporary exhibitions and thematic exhibitions, which alternate throughout the year. In addition, the garden of the museum itself is adorned with works inspired by the Spanish artist, such as a bench partly rolled up, on which a “liquid” clock is placed, or the giant reproduction of Dali’s mustache.
For art enthusiasts, in addition to the aforementioned Dali museum, a stop at the Museum of Fine Arts, which is Florida’s only encyclopedic art museum, is a must. The collection spans five thousand years of history with over twenty thousand works. Alongside the pictorial masterpieces, you’ll find the largest photographic collection in the southeastern US.
If you’re in the mood to delve into local history, the St. Petersburg Museum of History is the place to go. Its exhibits range from a 3,000-year-old mummy to the world’s largest collection of autographed basketballs.
The Imagine Museum, a collection of glass art from around the world, is very special. Here the glass shows spectacular shapes and colors and knows how to fascinate every visitor. The Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement, on the other hand, offers a wide range of works from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ranging from furniture to ceramics, from lighting to textiles, and also photographs and paintings.
Parks and green areas
Saint Petersburg is also a city rich in parks and gardens, each one different from the others. The city’s overlook on the bay is extremely green, where a long series of interconnected parks. Flora Wylie Park, Elva Rouse Park, Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum, North Shore Park, and Vinoy Park alternate: the names change but the concept is the same: splendid public gardens where you can find relief from the heat in the shade of the trees and where you can stroll around while enjoying a beautiful view of the sea.
The same goes for the area adjacent to the entrance to St. Pete’s Pier, where we find North Straub Park and South Straub Park, respectively north and south of the pier, in addition to Demens Landing Park, which covers the smaller pier nearby.
In the Historic Old Northeast neighborhood, we find the Sunken Gardens, a botanical garden that is home to tropical plants and flowers, streams with waterfalls, ponds with flamingos, and a butterfly garden. There is an entrance fee but it is worth it. Not far away is Crescent Lake Park, surrounding the lake that bears the same name, ideal for outdoor sports and relaxation on a lawn under the shade of palm trees.
Boyd Hill Nature Park is next to another lake, Lake Maggiore, much larger than the previous one and located in the southern part of the city. This is a beautiful nature reserve with a marshy area, trails through wooded areas, and picnic areas. It is easy to see wildlife such as squirrels, turtles, and even alligators.
Halfway between a park and a museum, the Pinellas Pioneer Settlement is a place where an environment similar to that in which pioneers lived in the 19th century has been recreated. Here you can experience some of the craft activities from the time for yourself, to better understand how the people of the time lived. All in a beautiful green setting.
Changing park types, in the area northeast of the city, Weedon Island Preserve is a protected nature reserve that is home to an ecosystem of native plants and animals. It’s the ideal place for birdwatchers thanks to the lookout towers, but also for those who want to take a guided walking tour or discover more about the natural history of the area thanks to the educational center.
If you love being outdoors, consider renting a bike and venturing along the Pinellas Trail. Approximately 50 miles long, this is a bike trail that runs the length of the peninsula, with St. Petersburg being the end of the line.
You’ll pedal around the city area, discovering a new way to visit, but you’ll also venture out of town to green areas and the waterfront. This long bike path is also the first section of a future project of a very long bike path that should connect the two coasts of Florida.
Beaches in St Petersburg Florida
St. Petersburg primarily faces Tampa Bay, where shorelines that you can swim in are scarce, but that doesn’t mean the open sea is far away. On the other side of the peninsula, toward the Gulf of Mexico, we find a long series of “barrier islands”: long, narrow islands that lie close to the coast and follow its entire outline from Clearwater to St. Petersburg. One of these is St. Pete Beach, connected to the city by two bridges, so it can be reached by car.
The town that occupies almost the entire island is very lively and pretty. There are restaurants, nice streets to stroll down, and boat rentals for sea excursions. Corey Avenue is the main street, around which most of the town life takes place, primarily the Sunday market. The best beach is Pass-a-Grille Beach, with its white sand and amenities. It is located in the southernmost part of the island. Here you can also find the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum: a small museum of local history with free admission.
Where to eat where St. Petersburg
There are a number of restaurants where you can taste more or less typical dishes in Saint Petersburg. One of the most refined is Rococo Steak (655 2nd Ave St.), a really chic steak house, not only for its interior style but also for the building it is located in, which looks like a large neoclassical villa. Typical American and Caribbean cuisine is served instead at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille (610 2nd Ave Ne), located right at the beginning of the city pier.
If you want to spend less, Trip’s Diner (2339 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr St N) is perfect. Classic American cuisine at low prices is also suitable for a quick lunch. If you have a sweet tooth for shrimp, head to 4th St. Shrimp Store (1006 4th St. N), where you can enjoy them in all kinds of sauces. In addition to shellfish, there are several other dishes, so don’t worry if only one of you wants to binge on shrimp.
Places to stay in St. Petersburg
As in all big cities, there are many accommodation facilities in Saint Petersburg, for all budgets. Both in the center and in the more peripheral areas it is not difficult to find accommodation suitable for your needs, but we would like to give you some tips to be on the safe side.
- Hampton Inn & Suites. In the heart of downtown, two minutes walk from the waterfront, this excellent three-star hotel offers its guests a swimming pool, a gym and every essential service.
- Hollander Hotel. Another excellent three-star hotel with a pool and spa. You can have massages and spa treatments during your stay, as well as take advantage of the good restaurant and bar, which among other things serves 21 types of craft beer.
- The Birchwood. Moving up a category, this is a four-star hotel, right in the center and a stone’s throw from the waterfront, built in a historic building. Rooms are decorated in 1920s style, and its Birch and Vine restaurant dates from 1922 and has specialized in international cuisine for a century. The Canopy Rooftop Bar and Lounge, on the other hand, is a terraced bar with spectacular views of the bay.
- Don CeSar. Nicknamed The pink palace, this is St. Pete Beach’s premier resort. Perfect for those who want to spend a few days by the sea, it’s famous for having welcomed celebrities from writers to movie stars since 1928.
- Havana Inn. If you want to stay in St. Pete Beach but not spend a lot, this two-star hotel may be for you. It’s a nice, cozy place with a communal barbecue and a short walk to the beach.
