Coming to St Pete for the first time, you probably would like to find a decent hotel. Internet is full of good booking-sites for accommodations – there is no need for us to list different places for lodging. But we would like to give some advice, depending what you are looking for.
Finding your way around…
Looking at a map over the area of Pinellas, you will see it is a peninsula with water both to the east and to the west. To the east, you have Tampa Bay and St Pete City. To the far west you have St Pete Beach and The Gulf of Mexico. And the distance between these locations is not more than 9 miles! So wherever you are in this area, you are never more than 4,5 miles from the water. But there is a big difference between these places.
On the east side, you have down-town St Pete, the real city-core with an awesome beach-walk with stunning restaurants, shops and a park overlooking the Bay towards the city of Tampa. You even have a beach, right at the center of the city – how about that! But this is the urbanized part of the area. You don´t live here as a tourist, if beach-going is your thing.
St Pete Beach is of course a later development than St Pete the city. And it is the real vacation- and leisure area. And it looks as most similar places around Florida. Hundreds of hotels and restaurants of different standards. And a commercial life, geared for the tourist trade. Nothing wrong with that, but let us try to define it this way:
– You don´t go to St Pete Beach for the the impressive architectural buildings, but for the beaches. Mile after mile with fine-grain white-yellow sand and crystal clear water. Year after year, the beaches of St Pete Beach are voted as some of the best beaches in the US. And on top of that, this kind of laid-back Caribbean lifestyle. So our suggestion is: stay in Down-Town St Pete, live on the beaches of St Pete Beach… (it only takes you 10 minutes between)