St Petersburg, FL – A Beautiful, Vibrant & Art-filled City

We knew we wanted to make St Petersburg a stop on our America’s Great Loop adventure. What a beautiful city! St Petersburg has so much to see and do. The vibe is vibrant and upbeat with art museums and sculptures throughout the city. We love coming here and have been several times by car but this is our first time coming by boat. And the city did not disappoint. From the clean city harbor located right in downtown and wonderful restaurants and shops, to the St Pete Pier and walking/riding trails throughout, St Petersburg is definitely a wonderful place to visit by boat or land. This post is my summary of our time at this beautiful, vibrant and art-filled town along with some of our favorite highlights.

Boat Projects and the Municipal Marina

We chose to dock at the Municipal Marina, partly due to the reasonable fees but mostly because the location is right in downtown, next to the St Pete Pier and walking distance to almost everything. Besides being convenient, the marina is well managed and Frank, the dock master, is superb! Not only was he waiting at the dock to catch our lines when we arrived, but he was available for any questions we had during our time at the marina. It was a very nice experience!

While we were in St Petersburg, we took the opportunity to work on several boat projects…it’s always something on a boat. Following are some of the projects we checked off our list: Installed a reconditioned motor for the bow thruster; purchased and installed a new house battery; had the boat professionally cleaned, compounded and polished; had an exhaust leak fixed on our port engine; and continued to do some cleaning and organizing inside. Yeah, it’s not all fun and games on a boat. There are always things to fix, maintain and clean. But we always have a waterfront view and get to see so many new and interesting places…like St Pete.

Dining & Downtown in December

Downtown St Petersburg is such a colorful place, made even more colorful and lovely during Christmas time. There are many restaurants and shops all within walking distance from the marina, which is great. The hardest part is choosing which of the many good restaurants you want to visit – French, Italian, American, Steak house, Japanese, Thai….. so many choices! For our one date night out, we chose Italian, mostly because we don’t do much Italian cooking at home and cheesy pasta and meat just sounded good. We went to Bellabrava Restaurant and had a wonderful meal of raviolis, veal and a very nice bottle of Super Tuscan red. The service was good and the food… bravissimo! Definitely recommend checking this one out when you visit St Pete.

On another afternoon, we met a friend at the French Bistro and wine bar, Baccus. Another good one to enjoy. It is not an elegant restaurant, but a really good place to have a glass of wine from their extensive list, an appetizer (especially during happy hour from 3-6) and good conversation.

Although we only visited these two restaurants, I’m sure when you visit you will find even more delicious places to enjoy.

Art, Museums and City Sculptures Throughout St Petersburg

In between all the boat work, and regular work, we did take some time to enjoy downtown St Petersburg. Visiting the Salvador Dali museum is an absolute must when you visit – very cool museum! It was a private collection of about 46 art pieces solely of Dali’s work. Whether you are a fan of his work or not, it is definitely worth a visit to the museum. The building alone is amazing. And it’s within walking distance from the marina.

As you walk through the downtown, you will find more art, beautiful sculptures, and galleries to enjoy. So for the art enthusiast, St Petersburg is amazing!

St Petersburg is a walking and bike friendly town

As mentioned before, St Pete is a very walk friendly town. There are sidewalks, trails and waterside parks to enjoy all over town. And you will see plenty of people walking everywhere. But there are also bike paths and trails along the parks and water as well. We spent one afternoon on a bike ride along the waterside as well as biking through some old neighborhoods and enjoyed checking out some of the classic 1940’s Craftsman houses. Many of the streets are still paved in cobblestone/brick and the tree-lined streets are quiet and make for a peaceful, safe ride.

Once we got back to downtown, we made a pitstop for Gelato and Espresso at Paciugo Gelato Caffe’. Both were excellent and very worthy of a stop after a long bike ride. Moose liked it too!

St Pete Pier

No visit to St Petersburg would be complete without going to St Pete Pier… and best of all, the marina is right next door. There is always activity at the pier: markets with vendors selling handcrafted and various gifts and food; people walking, running, biking and skateboarding; dogs and their masters playing on the lawns; musicians playing while visitors pass by and the seafood restaurant and Tiki Bar at the top of the two story structure inviting people to stop and enjoy a meal and have the best view of the bay and downtown.

Leaving St Petersburg For A Short Break from the Loop

St Petersburg is such a fabulous town, so beautiful, vibrant, rich and full of art and dining. It’s a must stop if you come by boat while on the Great Loop, or by land on a road trip. Don’t miss it!

After leaving St Petersburg, we anchored a night at the St Pete Beach anchorage again, just off the ICW north. Still love it there! We then headed to Clearwater Harbor Marina to leave the boat for a week and flew out to Pittsburgh to spend Christmas with family. It was great to be with them, but the very cold weather below zero was not as fun. Brrrrr….. But at least we got to see the grandkids and all the great food and family.

After a week’s absence, we are back on the boat and starting our trip south. Stay tuned for more posts and articles of our further adventures and places we visit along the Great Loop.

If you missed any of our other stops, check out our other posts in Our Boat Adventure.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year full of family and love and hope you continue to enjoy following our trip.

Till next time…. thanks for reading and commenting.

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