Beat poet Jack Kerouac, who lived and died in St. Petersburg, Fla., in the 1960s, famously quipped that the city was for the “newlywed and nearly dead.” But “The Sunshine City” has spread its wings a lot since then, turning into an unexpected home for a thriving arts community and a bubbling food scene, all while maintaining its history as a resort town where moneyed Americans came to bake under the sunny skies of the Pinellas Peninsula for the improvement of their health.

 

Art

For a mid-sized city, St. Pete punches well above its weight in the art department. It’s the surprising home of the Dalí Museum, where you’ll find the biggest collection of Dalí’s work outside of Spain. His paintings ended up in St. Pete in 1982 when a pair of wealthy art patrons were determined to keep their entire collection together and St. Pete stepped up to the plate and said, “Um, we’ll take them?” The Dalí features paintings and sculptures from throughout his long career. Guess what? Surrealism is just the beginning of the fun here; there are some playful interactive experiences too. Did I need to ask AI-generated Dalí for career advice on a replica of his famous lobster phone? Why, yes, I did. If you’re looking for an extra trippy experience, check out Dalí Alive 360, a 40-minute-long projection and surround-sound experience that happens in the Dalí Dome (an immersive bubble outside the main building) that will take you through Dalí’s life and work.

TThe Museum of Fine Arts has a collection that spans an impressive 5,000 years of human creativity and hosts excellent touring exhibitions, such as the current one on Caravaggio. But it is the fantastic Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement that surprises. Housed in a stunning building that I only stumbled upon because I was wondering what the hell the enormous egg-shaped structural element that juts out from the building’s exterior was, it’s the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to the American Arts and Crafts movement. Inside, a massive, light-filled space with a dramatic spiral staircase is home to an impressive collection of pottery, tiles, metalwork, lighting, leaded glass, furniture, paintings, woodblock prints and photographs, all crafted between 1890 and 1930. Pieces from titans of the movement abound (including Tiffany lamps, Mission-style furniture from Gustav Stickley and leaded glass skylights and iconic high-back chairs by Frank Lloyd Wright), but the best part was the multiple rooms that were saved from historic homes and reconstructed in their entirety inside the museum.

St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District is packed with the studios of working artists, and while it’s a bit out of the way for the casual observer, if you happen to be in town for the monthly Second Saturday ArtWalk, take advantage of the free trolley that stops at a few dozen art galleries and studios downtown and beyond. Hop off at the Factory St. Pete for spoken-word performances and more art displays, and check out Duncan McClellan’s studio nearby where you can see groovy glass creations and watch demonstrations. There’s also an impressive number of murals all over town, especially in the Central Arts District (Central Ave between 3rd & 7th), the EDGE District and along MLK North, with hundreds more scattered across other areas like the Warehouse Arts District and Waterfront Museum District, and even extending down 4th Street North, thanks to the annual SHINE Mural Festival (download the PixelStix app to follow the SHINE outdoor “galleries”).

 

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Eat

This baseball-and-beach city is fast turning into a foodie city. The Michelin Guide finally came to town in 2025, and three restaurants – IL Ritorno, Fortu and Sushi Sho Rexley – nabbed Michelin “recognition” (but not stars…yet!). Will 2026 see the first actual Michelin stars awarded in St. Pete? If it does, Michelin’s super-secret inspectors will certainly be sniffing around Elliot Aster, the swanky, art-deco steakhouse and seafood restaurant at The Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, where I ate what was possibly the best octopus I’ve ever had.

On the other end of the memorable spectrum, I pulled up to the counter at the very cool, impossibly small Bin6South. With only 12 seats – six of which look right into the minuscule kitchen as Executive Chef Joe Nelson and his sous whip up super creative plates – and the other six are at a communal table – it feels less like a restaurant and more like pulling up for dinner at your weird chef friend’s studio apartment. The menu changes seasonally, and Nelson’s palate pulls from Japanese, Italian, French and Latin American ingredients and techniques. Think fresh pappardelle stuffed with ricotta cheese, maitake mushroom powder and shallots, and finished with black garlic cream sauce, shaved caviar and shiso oil. Bin6South is also a bottle shop (the whole joint started because the owners wanted somewhere to share their obsession with wine), so the snappy wine list rotates depending on the menu and focuses on rare finds and small-production vintages.

A plethora of more casual dining spots can be found all along Central Ave., especially between 9th and 30th streets, including the delicious-looking Pulpo Kitchen + Lounge (Latin-inspired plates and craft cocktails) and Bavaro’s (perfectly charred Neopolitana pizza).

 

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Explore

I’m an architecture buff, and was eager to see St. Pete’s collection of Craftsmen-style bungalows, mid-century modern ranch homes, Birdcage houses and Mediterranean Revival homes, but I was not at all interested in driving myself around to do so. The St. Pete City Tour with Star Trolley was the perfect way to take in parts of the city you wouldn’t always get to as a tourist, all while gliding through the residential streets on an adorable, vintage, open-air trolley for perfect 360 views.

If you’re a history nerd, stop by the no-frills but informative St. Petersburg Museum of History on the St. Pete Pier for stories on how the weather, baseball and an alleged fountain of youth helped turn St. Pete into a resort town. The museum has the world’s largest collection of autographed baseballs, plus exhibits on the women who helped build St. Pete and a collection of works from The Florida Highwaymen – 26 Black artists from the 1950s to the 1970s who were unable to exhibit their art in Florida galleries because of Jim Crow laws, so instead they famously sold their art from the trunks of their cars along US Highway 1 instead.

 

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Nature

I didn’t make it to the famous St. Pete Beach (a separate beach city nearby) but the beauty of mainland St. Pete is that it has both urban vibes and myriad nature-focused, water-based activities in equal measure. I’m not a super outdoorsy sort, but I did sign up for a scenic, clear-bottom-kayak trip through the mangroves at Shell Key Preserve with Get Up and Go Kayaking, and I’m glad I did. Two dolphins sped so close to our boat I was sure they were about to leap over it, and I saw mini-islands packed with seabirds. I have a bum shoulder so I couldn’t even paddle myself, but my hearty guide managed to steer the boat and take videos and photos that she sent me immediately after the tour, all while reeling off endless facts about the local animals and flora and fauna. She even clambered into the shallow water to retrieve an enormous, live conch to show me, which is actually probably the most terrifying thing you could ever show to a city girl – I may never recover.

 

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Stay

The Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, a famously pink landmark that has sat right on the water’s edge of downtown since 1925, is a deliciously historic hotel – the sort where turn-down service includes a pretty wax-sealed envelope filled with vintage postcards with pictures from its storied past. After falling into less-glamorous uses during the Second World War (military housing) and sliding into dereliction by the ’70s and ’80s, the Grande Dame of St. Pete started her comeback tour in the ’90s, and an extensive renovation in 2023 by the Autograph Collection by Marriott has put it solidly back on top. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places, and you can even tour the resort with a docent, or just peruse the gallery on the mezzanine, where you can see artifacts from the hotel’s golden era of the 1920s and ’30s, from original room keys to plateware and menus.

The lobby still showcases the original stenciled pecky cypress beams, floor tiles and soaring arched ceilings, and original (or at least, original-looking) features can be spotted throughout, including art deco-style elevator floor dials. The rooms are plush but modern, with luxury touches like Nespresso coffee makers, Ortigia Sicilia toiletries and handsome navy millwork and marble in the bathrooms. There’s a charming resort pool, a spa, tennis courts and an expansive fitness centre. Seven different dining venues and restaurants, including a grill at the nearby golf club and Lottie, an adorable patisserie in the lobby that also has a tiny groceteria. Parking is valet only, and a cute vintage Mold-A-Matic machine (basically a 3D printer but make it 1960s) in the lobby will whip up a mini sculpture of the hotel for $5. Did I mention the whole place smells divine and when I came home my clothes still carried a whiff of the scent? Yeah, I hated it here.

If you’re looking for a more affordable option, try the quirky Hollander Hotel, a boutique property that’s within walking distance of the pier and close to all the shops on Central Ave. You can park for free and take their complimentary shuttle van every evening between 2 and 10pm to go anywhere within a 10-block radius.