Favorite Downtown St Petersburg Activities

We have frequent outings to downtown St Petersburg in Florida. It feels like a hip little part of the city. Restaurants with sidewalk seating, often with performers adding to the atmosphere, makes for a fun day out. It is relaxing to stroll in the pretty parks by the water, and there are often events that add to the already long list of attractions. One of our favorite things to do is to browse the Saturday Morning Market that run October to May. There's live music, food vendors, all sorts of things to explore. The only challenge is finding a parking space on the weekends, especially on Saturdays during the market months.

Straub Park decked out for the winter holidays

Restaurants

We'll start with the food, of course. One of our favorite places is Ceviche, a tapas restaurant. They have a good variety of tapas, with a nice patio. They used to do a superb cava sangria, but while it's still pretty good, it's somehow not as yummy.

Another place we go to often is Bento. The bowls and boba are delicious, but somehow this location is not as nice as the ones in Gainesville or Orlando. Mainly because they don't have the Szechuan noodle soup.

We have also tried Hawkers Asian Street Fare, but being from Singapore, my hawker food expectation is very high. It's still a nice spot with outdoor seating, so we may go again.

There are lots of other places to try, but as creatures of habit, we seem to always gravitate to the usual. However, I don't think we have ever missed going to Paciugo for gelato on any trip. Who can resist the visual feast of colors? The kids enjoy odd flavors like violet, but the adults go with affogatos (Hubby likes the dark chocolate flavors and I never miss the Bacio).

Affogato - espresso & gelato

Attractions

The crown jewel of downtown St Pete is probably the Dali Museum. Just the sight of the building itself is impressive. It's not a large place, but usually has interesting temporary exhibits on top of the permanent one.

Inside the Dali

The Museum of Fine Arts is also very fine :o), with small collections of art from around the world. There is a beautiful, large kapok tree next to it that children (and adults) like to climb.

The James Museum is minimalistic and serene. The entry hall itself calls you to contemplation.

The Morean Arts Center with the Chihuly Collection is a trip into the surreal.

Inside the Chihuly

There are quite a few other museums to check out for our future trips.