Saint Petersburg Travel Forum

There are 2 bridges to go from St Petersburg to Tampa : Howard Frankland and Gandy Bridge(+ the Courtney Campbell Causeway from Clearwater).

Which is the one with the best scenic view ?
I am not sure to have the time to pass by both.

Thanks for your answers.

I am planning a vacation in Saint Petersburg (Florida) for December 2009 and I cannot decide what is the best place to stay according to our criteria.
I must say we will have a rented car and we wish to stay in a hotel or a motel (up to 150$).
First of all, we want to stay on a island, not in downtown but I have to match the following criteria :
- the accomodation must be directly on the beach
- I see some islands have a narrow beach and we prefer to enjoy a larger strip of sand.
- the area must have restaurants and some shops because we like to stroll after the dinner
- with an easy and quick access (by car) to Saint Petersburg because we wish to visit some attractions of the city (and may be) of Tampa. Especially, we plan to visit the Dali Museum.

Thanks for your answers

I want to rent a car for 2 months in st petersburg area. Any suggestions as to best rates possible, which company etc?

Can anyone suggest a reputable charter company or captain for fishing ( not deep sea) in St Petersburg, fl? Any info would be appreciated.

I'm going to St Petersburg FL in Feb. The apartment I'm renting has no wi-fi internet connection.I want to use my laptop to access the internet without having to go to a wi-fi center like Starbucks.Is there some new tech now that I can attach to my laptop to access the internet. I'd appreciate any info about this.

I am going to a conference at the Renaissance Vinoy in October and wish to stay elsewhere.I will be there for six days which gives me some pure vacation time before and after the conference.I am not sure whether to stay on the Gulf side and drive over or to stay nearby the hotel.I would like to be able to rent a jet-ski once and to sail a laser or hobie in the sea.
Is there any special place to snorkel ?
Are there any beaches which have sailboats on the sand to rent ?
How long does the drive across take to St. Pete's beach from the tampa bay side?
Are there any nice beaches on the Tampa bay side?
Thanks for any advice.

Ok..I've been on here for hours... My husband's son plays for Toronto and we are coming to St Pete July 30 thru Aug 3..(Mon/Fri)We are looking to stay out on the beach and driving in for the games instead of staying by the field as we normally do...We were out there a few years ago with my sons high school team and the team stayed in Redington Beach and we stayed in Treasure Island. We had a nice visit there..I believe we stayed very reasonable at a Ramada Inn on the beach in Treasure Island but I haven't been able to locate it online..was kind of across the street from a "Gators" nightspot...The boys stayed at a Sea Oats Condo??? We would like to find something fairly reasonable, possibly under 100 a night...but I'm not having much luck... We want to enjoy the beach during the day but don't actually have to be ON the beach though it would be nice..but if we can have easy access that would be fine. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there! My husband and I will be heading to St. Petersburg for 5 days, 1st week of March. We've never been down there before. We are staying in the city at a lovely bed and breakfast, so I am thinking we may need to rent a car if we want to hit all the different beaches up and down the coast.

Do you think having a car rental is a necessity in St. Petersburg? I have no real sense of how big the city is or how far apart everything is, or even if there is public transportation. Thanks for any advice you can send me!

Is there any place in St. Petes to rent a bike for a day?

I'll be staying at Don Cesar, could you, please, let me know about what's in the area around the Hotel. With that I mean at a walking distance only (say a radius of maximun 10 bloks), since I know St. Pete myself already. Are there any recommended restaurant, dinners, etc. in the area? Are there shops, etc. around this area?

Thanks in advance!

Brandonmarlo

is there a morning paper in tampa/st pete area that i can have delivered to my door?

I am coming over to St Petes in a weeks time on vacation, and am very excited. However there has been reports on the news here in the UK about a fuel crisis in the US and they said people are having to queue at gas stations due to a shortage.

Is this affecting st Petes or is this just new hype?

Also I beleive St Petes was mostly unaffaected by Katrina, is this correct?

Has anyone been here? How is it? My stepsister is getting married here this Oct. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

which are the best in treasure island/st pete beach?

Does anybody knows if fireworks will take place at st. pete beach (or near) for the new year's evening?

Hi all; New here and am hoping that I have found the right place to get some questions answered. Have rented a condo in Indian Shores for the above dates and a car as well. We are from Ontario and the purpose of our trip is to research spots for future visits. We are looking to be the proverbial snobird couple and so are looking for long term affordable rentals for the winter months in the central west coast area but not necessarily on the water. Am thinking that the best bet is park models in rv resorts??? My internet research is not too profitable so any ideas on how to go about all this would be appreciated. As well, with all the storms you guys are having, and the media reports that we are getting up here in Ontario, am wondering if there is going to be a problem for us to get gas and food and water??? Sorry for the length of this...............I have sooooo many ?????'s...thanks for any help

Thai

Hi guys,
This might be a strange question for some, whatever...

I'd been recently visiting St. Pete and the whole Tampa area, just for a few days.

Something that surprised me, for example in St. Pete (but the whole thing is aplicable to Tampa Bay) is how desolated (meaning how few people you see around) are the shops and streets.

Of course the area is gigantic and there are not that many inhabitants to make it dense as probably are other cities, nevertheless, just take it as a comment with no conclusion from my side, just an observation for having lived in some European cities, New York, etc. I actually would like to know what others think about this and if they agree or not and if YOU have reached any conclusion.

I was very surprised about how empty were all the shops (big and small), wondered if things are very hard there (making a living) or not really, or I just can't see were the bussiness is at...(don't know to well how to put it in my limited English).

Basically
I was driving up and down (but not only) Central Av.

The East area (Downtown) looked quite fine though EMPTY too. On the other side, the "west stripe" (TREASURE ISLAND, ETC) was nice too.

The rest I've seen seemed "old" and rundown in many areas, but, hey, that place is gigantic and I'm sure there are a lot of wonderful areas I missed (could you tell me which ones, I have lots of detailed maps, etc).

I'm trying to figure the area more from the point of view of someone living there NOT FROM A TOURIST POINT OF VIEW, since I'm evaluating moving there.

By no way I want you to think is a critic, otherwise I would not even consider your city as an option to live.

Besides this I found the seaside in St. Pete (Treasure Island, the only one I was lucky to visit but I'm sure the rest is similar) awesome. I never seen a seaside like this (so nice) in my life (and I know many).

Thank you in advance for your answers.

Brandonmarlo

I am traveling to Clearwater/St. Pete area with my friend and 12 year old daughter in July.

While in California, we had lunch and drinks at a beachfront restaurant, while my daughter swam in the ocean. Is there anything like this in the Clearwater/St. Pete area?

Any other recommendations on fun things to do?

Any recommendations for where we can have a secluded beachfront stay? We'll only be in town for 2 days, so we can't do a condo...

Would really appreciate comments on how do you find living in St. Pete and Tampa bay area in general, I'm considering for relocating with my family.

I'm evaluating the different towns/suburbs in the Tampa Bay region also and any information
about the life there is really invaluable (I've already read all the post about the area, ex: St. Pete, Tampa, Brandon). ANY INFORMATION IS INVALUABLE.

I'm especially interested in issues like SAFETY in St. Pete (which are the bad areas, which are the good ones) and about cultural aspects which
means not to go at the Dali museum (not that that is not culture, on the contrary) but if there are constatly concerts (classical, jazz, etc), theater, etc., or in the case of painting, exhibitions by local artists, in other words: LOCAL art scene.

Also advantages and disadvantages comparing it with other areas in the US.

Thanks!

Brandon Marlo

Hi, I am looking for a 1 BDR apartment in St. Pete Beach from 06/27/04 till 10/05/04, price max. 550/month for me and my friend. We both are students and members of Council exchanges program. Can you help me ?

Does anyone have the time during the day that the Dali Museum is open? thank for any help

Looking for some suggestions for my british family for celebrating the New Year at St Pete's...

The adults are 38yrs and the kids are 15yrs & 9yrs. Its our first visit to St Pete's (we are spending a week in Orlando first).

We are setting off on 20th December, so ive only got this week to find something!!!

Hi fellow VT'ers

I have to go to Saint Pete, Florida on short notice for my work.

I'm leaving in three days (15/11) and will most likely spend a weekend (22 and 23/11) there also because my return-flight is at this moment scheduled on Thursday 27/11.

I shall start searching the VT-base to see what things to do and see in the Saint Pete area. Does anyone have any suggestions about places to visit or see in the weekend? Or is it better to go to Orlando, Miami or Key West for the weekend?

Or does anyone wants to meet up in Saint Pete so that we can have a VT-meeting on 23/11?

Cheers,

Alain

Hi
My husband and I are looking for a nice beach/motel for a little vacation in January. We do want to be fairly close to Tampa. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Would it be a better idea to be on the bay rather than the gulf this time of year? Is the water swimmable?
We've never been to florida so any help you can offer would be terrific!
btw: no kids with us! :)
Thanks, Meenie

Hi!
Who can that Wispers in Treasure Island ,please we will in November to Treasure Island and i ca`n this Motel.
Thanks
Harry

Is it a good location for vacation?