Anyone visited St Petes beach?

[eyoreaud]

Hi All,

We're staying at Holiday Inn St Petes beach on 10th April till 15th April after doin our Disney Cruise and obligatory stint in Orlando.

We've never visited St Petes before and don't know anyone else who has we just saw it in the brochure and thought it looked nice

Any info would be appreciated, we are intending to visit Busch Gardens while we are there but as we only have 5 days there we don't want to be wasting our last days wandering aimlessly I suppose we could just chill out on the beach but i like to see some of the sites when we go somewhere new.

Luv Audrey,
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[GerryH]

Why not take in a Major League Baseball game while you're there. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays play at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg which is only a short 15/20 minute drive from St Petes Beach. The stadium is right beside the interstate so it's easy to find.

Normally the games are poorly attended but they'll be playing 4 games against the New York Yankees while you're there so there should be a reasonable crowd and a bit of atmosphere.

You can book tickets via Ticketmaster on the internet and pick them up at the stadium on gameday.

 

[Leech esq]

You've chosen a really good Hotel. We passed through St Pete's at Christmas. The road going into St Pete's is picturesque, it just seems to dissappear into the sky. It's one massive humped back suspension bridge.We stayed at the Dolphin Beach a couple of years ago, it was so out of date, but in a lovely position, on the beach. We went into the Holiday inn to meet the rep, it was a massive improvement on ours. Apparently large crowds gather on the pier to watch the beautiful sunset each night.

 

[Claire L]

Audrey,
We went to St Pete in 2001 for a week of our honeymoon after two in WDW etc. I had been there in 1993 for four days and wanted to go back and explore further with DH. We found it so relaxing as it was a slower pace of life. You must drive over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge it is so long and has good views. Soon after the end of the bridge is Bradenton and Ellenton Factory outlet. We found it to be much cheaper than in Orlando and a good size. Going up the coast is a reglaur mall called Tyrone Square which is lovely to just look around and browse in the shops. If you get there go in Ruby Tuesdays for lunch it is lovely and the salad bar is only a few dollars extra ($1.99 in 2001). We also took to the seas and had a fabulous catamaran trip to a nearby island, saw dolphins in the sea on the way and huge tortoises on an island we stopped off at. A bit of a let down but a good experience was a half day deep sea fishing trip from John Pass (sp?) near Clearwater. It was good but too many people trying to fish of one boat meant you only got a few little fish, nothing decent for dinner!!!
HTH. By the way we liked it so much we are going back next year after our two weeks in Orlando, to chill out and shop.
Claire

 

[vernon]

If you have an interest in art there is a magnificent gallery in St Pete's. It is decicated to the work of Salvadore Dali and is one of only a few galleries in the world that just show one artist's work (although there is an interesting room with young local artists from neighbourhood schools). I found it very interesting to see the different stages of his career and how he matured as an artist. They also do free tours that you can follow one oftheir curators round the museum and they will explain some of the hidden meanings and messages behind Dali or the history of particular pieces. There is a charge to get into the museum ( I think $12 per adult) but IMHO well worth the charge. The gallery is also a short distance away from St Pete's pier which is worth a wander along, there are a number of restaurants at the end ofthe pier and we had a wonderful meal in the Cuban/Spanish restaurant on the top floor with great views over the bay.

 

[nattyk]

Hi

You will love St Pete's beach, the beach is just perfect white sand, very big, not busy - perfect for relaxing. Next door to the Hilton is a great steak restuarant called Durangos, last time dh and I were there (a good few years now) I think we ate there most nights. Also I am sure the hilton is the round hotel ?? if so there is a bar at the top and it moves, takes a whole hour to turn round and you get a great view.

Just relax and enjoy - so jealous!!

Nat

 

[eyoreaud]

Thanx all

Well Gerry,
DH is the sport enthusiast(sp) so if he gets fed up with dd and i shopping i'm sure he will find your tip very useful indeed.

Leech, are you on commission for drumming up trade for St Petes?
I hope you are because it sounds absolutely blissful and i can't wait to go exploring.

Claire, you're a woman after me own heart, i just looooooove to shop!,and eat and anything else that involves shopping and eating

Vernon, thank you for the info on the art galleries and $12 doesn't seem too steep to me either and i'm sure DD (12) would appreciate it also.

Natty, Holiday Inn is a round hotel with a revolving top floor restaurant, i hope that it is the one we'll be staying in (large white round hotel on the beach?)

Thanx Again,
luv Audreyxxxxxxx

 

[vernon]

Audrey, my DD was 12 when we took her and she had an enjoyable time in the gallery, she said that she particularly liked getting the explanations of the hidden meanings behind the various images. It's an approach she hadn't had at school and gave her a deeper appreciation and understanding of art in general.

 

[cjc]

Hi

We stayed at the Holiday Inn (round hotel) when we visited st Petes. The revolving restaurant is brilliant - watching the sun go down, the seagulls flying right by your face, spectacular views, good food and reasonable priced.
The only negative was the small swimming pool, but then again your are directly on the lovely beach. If you have any kids they will love collecting the 1000's of shells.
Word of warning - there were loads of jellyfish in the sea, so look out and dont get stung!!!!
We visited Busch gardens whilst there - which is about 1hr away if I recall
Have a great time
We are going back to Florida in 3 1/2 weeks, but this time staying in WDW/Universal hotels for the entire 14 days!

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

5 days in St Pete's won't be enough time to even start doing everything!!

Would highly recommend one of the dolphin cruises, especially one on the yacht Destiny. It's half a day sailing, watching the dolphins and then you land on a little key where you go shelling and have picnic lunch for a couple of hours. Marvellous. The company also have a motor launch which takes you on a different dolphin experience where you end up on Egmont Key and go snorkelling. We;ve done both and they were so good for both DH me and DD (7 and 8 at the times).

Busch Gardens also has a sister water park - Adventure Island, if you didn't want to do another theme park. We prefer it to BB and TL.

A trip to Tampa is always worthwhile. If the weather is a little off, a visit to the Florida Aquarium is good. "Duck Tours" go off from St Petersberg Pier (well worth a trip too!) and Tampa. It's one of those amphibious vehicles which takes you on a tour of the area showing all the local landmarks and historical things, very good, and then it goes into the water for a trip around the bay. Excellent value for money this was.

Like I say, 5 days ain't gonna be enough!!

If you're into nosying around, travel up from St Pete's to Clearwater beach along the little keys (Treasure Island, Madeira beach), some nice little spots along there and there's Suncoast Bird Sanctuary to stop in at (if you're into birds!). Clearwater is ok, we much prefer St Pete's.

Eating around St Pete's is a doddle. One place we would recommend is Johnny Leverocks seafood and steaks and also Silas Dents. Just sitting and reading all about St Pete's famous hermit is fascinating, the food great and the servings huge. It's on the water so try and get a water view talbe (same in Leverocks).

A trip over the Sunshine Skyway to Sarasota is a great trip, only 45 mins up the bay. Shelling is the national gulf coast pasttime in Florida - you'll get hooked and you'll be out there with everyone else walking up and down the beach. Go just was the tide has turned and you'll find some amazing shells.

The Holiday Inn is where we've stayed twice while in St Petes, one of our trips was purely there for two weeks, no Orlando We had a great, relaxing time. The hotel is great - all rooms have a water view and IMHO the inland waterway is far more interesting than the gulf views (for which you pay a premium). You get many dolphins in the inland waterway and the views are gorgeous . . . some of the houses there

If you want any info about the hotel, shout, or about anywhere else around there.

 

[eyoreaud]

Thanx to Vernon, cjc and Mrs Dazzle for your helpful replies and i think we'll seriously consider doin the dolphin cruise and the galleries for dd and myself, thanx for the tip about the Jellies cjc!

Bye for now,
Luv Audrey,
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[Scotfan]

Dad enjoyed the Dali museum (he went on his own and did a tour - he's like that) We went to Ellenton shopping.
We loved Johns Pass, small shops and restaurants, lovely atmosphere.
A bit furthur north of Clearwater are honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island. You get a boat to Caladesi Island and can explore, the beach is gorgeous and very quiet, we had dolphins swam south in the morning and back up in the afternoon, not far off shore.
Unfortunately we had frost and torrential rain when we were there so only had 3 good days out of the week (Feb 2002)

 

[eyoreaud]

thanx for that Scotfan,

I'm thinking we may need another trip to St Petes after this as i didn't realise there was quite so much to do there, i had imagined it to be just a beach with the normal beach side activities and a few souvineir shops!

Thanx for all the info, it's been very helpful,
Luv Audrey,
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