Family Guide to St Petersburg Florida Beach
St Pete’s Beach is one of our favorite beaches in Florida! On our frequent vacations, my family has stayed on both the ocean side of Florida (Atlantic shore) and the gulf side. We love different things about each, but have a special place in our heart for St Petersburg Florida.
St. Pete’s Beach tops our list for a few outstanding and memorable reasons. Here are a few of them, to help you make the most of your next trip.
These are my best tips on things to do, where to eat, where to snack, where to shop, and how to decide where to stay at St. Pete’s Beach, Florida. You’re sure to love this wonderful area.
St Petersburg FL Beaches
Let’s talk about the white, powdery sand at St Petersburg FL beaches! These beaches are legendary and oh, so wonderful. The superior sands on St. Pete Beach is one of my family’s favorite things about staying in this area. We even prefer it over Clearwater Beach, as the crowds feel much lower when you get farther south to St. Pete’s.
The lovely St Petersburg FL Beaches are generally clean, soft, and suitable for a little bit of amatuer level sea shell hunting. We always come back with a handful of our favorite, colorful seashells that we’ve found. Early morning combing of the beach yields the best finds!
I’ve arrived at the point where my strong preference is to try and rent a vrbo or airbnb condo right on the beach. When you’ve got kids, and are also hauling toys and snacks along… having access to walk from your place right out onto the sand is priceless. Combine that with access to a washer and dryer for sandy, wet suits and towels, and I’m pretty hooked on the vrbo vacation.
Even if you do not stay at a location with direct beach access, there are multiple public access walkways for you to stroll in to the St Petersburg FL beaches. You can save some money by going this route, as places right on the beach go for a premium price.
St Petersburg Restaurants
As a land-locked foodie, I’m all about the seafood when we get near the ocean. The St Petersburg Restaurants do not disappoint! We found several family friendly, excellent places that worked for both tasty seafood for me, as well as more common food fare for my picky eater kids.
Snapper’s – Owned by Local Fisherman
Our last Florida trip coincided with our 17th wedding anniversary. The kids stayed in the condo one evening, while we went out for a fancy seafood dinner. I’m so happy we chose Snapper’s Grill in St Petersburg. It was fabulous!
I chose the fresh fish special of the night. I hadn’t had swordfish in a long time, and it was savory and oh so delicious. My husband had the house specialty, wasabi crusted tuna. How gorgeous is this? It wasn’t as spicy as he expected, but it was still very good.
But honestly, the show stealer of the entire meal with this appetizer, blue crab stuffed portobello. This thing had so many fabulous taste sensations going on, it took awhile for my brain to even process it all. One of those things that gets better and better with each bite!
It’s heavy and rich, but we both absolutely loved it. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but to give you an idea…
Smiley’s Snack Shack
This was a good place for a quick bite, with a really cool deck and lots of good outdoor seating options. You can also eat inside. But why would you do that?
We had lunch here on a day when I dying for a refilled multiple-times restaurant Diet Coke on ice. Do you feel me? Well, I didn’t get it. They serve soda in cans. Whaa whaa whaaaaa.
BUT the blackened mahi mahi sandwich was TO DIE FOR. Do not order anything else. Get this. You’re welcome. Here’s the Smiley’s Snack Shack menu, to give you an idea of food and prices. I actually don’t see the mahi mahi on there, so they probably have a separate menu of the fresh fish availalbe for the day. Oh, and we also ordered a skewer of 6 shrimp. Also highly recommended.
Spinner’s Bistro
This one is about the experience, not so much the average tasting food that they serve. So I definitely recommend eating here at lunch when the prices are much cheaper. That being said, it was so cool!
You’ll see this round hotel located right near the water, from pretty much anywhere you are along St. Pete’s Beach. So it was super fun for the kids to get to ride the glass elevator to the top, and eat in this rotating restaurant. It rotated just over 1 full cycle during our 45-50 minute lunch.
My pick: fish tacos, which were pretty good. Good enough that I’d order this same thing next time.
Larry’s Ice Cream and Gelato
If you’re like me, you’ll need to take a moment when you first walk in to Larry’s. There are so many wonderously sweet smells and treats to behold, that it’s almost happiness overload.
Larry’s Ice Cream and Gelato makes over 100 original flavors. We grownups chose gelato in a made-from-scratch waffle bowl, the kids chose ice cream in a waffle bowl. We took the last 4 available waffle bowls. I might have wept a little tear of joy and relief from my right eye.
Holy cow, was this delicious!
A local gal referred us to Larry’s, as it’s a non-chain local place that’s been around for years and is beloved by St Pete residents. It’s easy to find, right on the main drag. They make also make homemade donuts, so maybe you need to come twice per day? Just a thought.
Things to Do in St Petersburg Florida
“What are the top things to do in St Petersburg Florida“, you ask?
Relax. Lay on the beach. Build a sandcastle. Eat. Shop a little. Eat again.
Ha! Seriously… those are the “top things to do in St Petersburg Florida” that I recommend the most! You can’t go wrong with this itinerary.
The sand on the beach is so wonderful. The crowds do not get too crazy or hectic. You can walk along it looking for treasures, enjoying the antics of the funny sea birds, and even stroll down to peek at the famous Don CeSar luxury hotel… or “the pink palace”, as it’s also called.
The only other specific place I’d mention is Freaky Tiki, our favorite surf shop in St Petersburg. Their items are locally made, and you will not find softer tshirts and sweatshirts anywhere… plus they have reasonable prices. Definitely worth stopping by, for any St Petersburg Florida souvenir needs you may have!
Oh, and last but certainly not least… on the gulf side of Florida, you get to watch those mind blowing sunets over the ocean.
Orlando to St Petersburg
For any who’ve visited my site, you know about my Disney World obsession. So our best Florida trips include both Orlando Disney World time, and some beach time!
The drive from Orlando to St Petersburg is not bad at all, and takes a little less than 2 hours. Our favorite combination is to fly into MCO (Orlando International Airport), rent a car and head from Orlando to St Petersburg on our first day. We enjoy a few days at the beach, and adjust to the time difference (it’s 2 hours earlier in Florida, for us Colorado Kids).
Then we head back to Orlando for the action packed, exciting Disney World poriton of our trip… hopefully sans jet lag! The drive is short enough that we have plenty of time to make it back from St Petersburg to Orlando, return our car, and ride the Magical Express to our Disney Resort by noon. Then we get a spend a fairly full day at the Disney Parks.
Those are our favorite things to do we discovered on our latest trip to St Petersburg Florida. It’s hard to not have a wonderful vacation here.
Have you been here before, and do you have any tips to share?
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