Last Updated on September 29, 2026
Although often coupled with the nearby Gulf beach-resort town of Clearwater, Florida’s St. Petersburg delivers an entirely different experience. Surprisingly, some of St. Petersburg’s hard-won vitality comes from its rise from dim times in the 1970s and 80s to its current golden age.
It also has an enviable location on the edge of Tampa Bay. That prime Florida real estate provides swathes of colorful horizons, beautiful sunsets, and seven miles of Gulf-front shoreline with wide sugar-sand beaches. It all adds to its élan, which attracts both outdoorsy types as well as museumgoers.
St. Petersburg also has numerous other attributes, including an incredible 361 days of sunshine. And it’s only a 30-minute ride from Tampa International Airport. Most notably, it offers a rich range of accommodations.
A total surprise to me was St. Petersburg’s old-world vibe, with beautifully preserved winding parks, golf courses, and a sophisticated cultural life. It’s free of the urban cacophony, blight, and stress that often characterize cities. Here, locals and visitors run carefree along the bay day and night, and a plethora of museums are within walking distance of each other.
Pedestrian-Friendly With Great Museums
St. Petersburg is truly a delightful, pedestrian-friendly city. Alternative modes of transportation wind through town, stopping at no fewer than nine museums. One of them, the Downtown Looper, is a completely free, wheelchair-accessible trolley transportation service that loops around major destinations, museums, restaurants, and hotels in downtown St. Petersburg.
Among the most well-known St. Petersburg museums are the Chihuly Collection, the Salvador Dali Museum, the St. Petersburg Museum of History, and the Museum of Fine Arts, to name a few.
To encourage St. Petersburg visitors to enjoy a museum visit or two, all museums are free to enter on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Additionally, there is the “FunShine Savings Passport,” a mobile discount program. Downloaded from the city’s website, it offers a long list of discounts and deals at museums, restaurants, and attractions.
If you get “museum legs,” consider booking a cruise with Kokomo Charters for a swing around the bay and a chance to (hopefully) spot a few playful porpoises. Kokomo also offers onboard menus starting at $25 per person.
St. Petersburg’s Renaissance
St. Petersburg was not always as ideal as it is today. Back in the 1970s and 80s, like many other cities, it found itself in an economic slump. Local real estate interests rented empty storefronts to artists for a song, breathing life back into Main Street.
Even the “pink lady,” the historic Vinoy Hotel, one of St. Pete’s outstanding properties, was close to becoming a memory. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, it fell into utter disrepair until a painstaking restoration rescued it from the wrecking ball.
Several attractions have contributed to St. Petersburg’s renaissance, molding it into the distinctly cultural and visually beautiful city it is now.
Salvador Dalí Museum
At the forefront of the transformation was the Salvador Dalí Museum. In fact, some say Dalí put the Sunshine City on the cultural map.
The Salvador Dalí Museum opened in 1982 in a former marine warehouse. It traces its beginnings to a love affair that started in the 1940s, when a couple—Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse—first fell in love with Dalí’s work. They subsequently went on the prowl to find a place to showcase their incredible collection.
Local leaders and citizens recognized the cultural and economic potential in this motherlode and worked hard to bring it to St. Petersburg.
Garnering support from the city and state, the warehouse in downtown St. Petersburg was selected, then renovated and transformed into a breathtaking expression of new thinking. Today, the Dali has entered another ambitious expansion phase that will offer broader access to this three-star Michelin attraction.
The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art
Another unexpected St. Petersburg cultural pleasure is The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art. The collection depicts the peoples, wildlife, landscapes, and history of the American West. Its 400-premier works of art include sculpture, paintings, and jewelry.
Founded in 2018, The James grew out of Tom and Mary James’s passion for supporting living artists. The artists’ portrayals of the American West and American Indians resulted in them amassing a collection that reflects history through storytelling.
Florida Holocaust Museum
St. Petersburg is also home to one of the largest holocaust museums in the country. The Florida Holocaust Museum is the result of St. Petersburg businessman and philanthropist Walter P. Loebenberg’s personal journey as he escaped Germany in 1939.
Six years after it opened in 1992, it moved to larger quarters in downtown St. Petersburg and has now undergone another renovation. One of its newest artifacts is Thor, the Danish Rescue Boat that takes center stage on the first floor. A 10-ton Danish fishing boat, it was used in the 1943 rescue of more than 7,200 Jews and 500 family members who were not Jewish, often hidden below deck or beneath fish.
A Plethora of Free Pleasures
Sometimes the best things are free. One of the city’s free pleasures is St. Pete Pier, a landmark that extends into Tampa Bay from downtown. Historically, it has been the city’s heart through all its transformations. The current 26-acre area, opened in 2020, includes five restaurants, a playground, an environmental education center, and artwork.
Beyond museums, galleries dot the Warehouse Arts District. You’ll find glass art at the Duncan McClellan Gallery andhandcrafts at Florida CraftArt on Central Avenue. You can toss clay into a showpiece at the Charlie Parker Pottery and the Clay Center of St. Petersburg.
Throughout St. Pete, you’ll also find hundreds of amazing murals decorating buildings and streets. You can see these created every October as the SHINE mural festival brings local and national muralists together to create new works.
Special Deals in St. Pete-Clearwater
The FunShine Savings Passport gives travelers access to nearly 100 deals and discounts, from museum admissions to hotels, restaurants, attractions, tours, shops,, and excursions throughout St. Pete and Clearwater.
It covers admission to The Dalí Museum, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Imagine Museum, Great Explorations Children’s Museum, FloridaRAMA, the Museum of Fine Arts, and more attractions, including discounted tickets for tours and excursions.
You can browse through the deals, filter by activity type, and even sort by what’s nearby. Check the details of each deal—some can be redeemed online, while others will be redeemed at the local business. Deals are valid once per pass holder.
No app download is needed – once you sign up, you’ll get a text and an email. Save the pass to your home screen, and you’re good to go.
If You Go:
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater
(727) 464-7200
https://www.visitstpeteclearwater.com/
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