Things to Do in Saint Petersburg, United States: Walking Guide

Looking for things to do in Saint Petersburg, Florida? The city brings together historic Central Avenue buildings, major museums, libraries, cultural institutions, and places connected to baseball and local history. Neywo has a free audio guide for Saint Petersburg with 24 narrated places, helping you discover the city as you walk.

What to See in Saint Petersburg

Snell Arcade

Central Avenue is one of the best places to begin exploring Saint Petersburg’s history. The Snell Arcade, also known as the Rutland Building, is a preserved piece of 1920s architecture at 405 Central Avenue. Its elegant commercial design reflects the style that shaped the city’s early development.

The building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on November 4, 1982. Its covered arcade makes it a particularly distinctive stop along downtown’s historic main street.

Green-Richman Arcade

The Green-Richman Arcade is another historic Central Avenue landmark. It is also known as the Parsley and Stone Arcade, a name connected with its early history. The building’s covered walkway and storefronts offer a close look at early twentieth-century commercial design.

Its historic significance was recognized when it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on January 30, 1998. Together with the Snell Arcade, it shows how arcades once shaped everyday commercial life in downtown Saint Petersburg.

Alexander Hotel

At 535 Central Avenue stands the Alexander Hotel, a buff-colored brick building constructed in 1919. Architect Neel Reid designed the four-story hotel in the Classical Revival style, giving it an elegant early twentieth-century façade.

The building was later converted into offices, but its exterior remains part of the Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1984.

S. H. Kress and Co. Building

The S. H. Kress and Co. Building stands at Central Avenue and 5th Street South. It opened in 1927 as a Kress five-and-dime store, part of a variety-store chain that operated on main streets across the United States.

Its classical Commercial style includes Beaux-Arts influences. The store operated for more than fifty years before closing around 1981, making the building a reminder of an earlier era of downtown retail.

United States Post Office

The United States Post Office, also called the Open Air Post Office, is one of Saint Petersburg’s most unusual historic structures. Located on First Avenue North, it was designed without traditional enclosed walls, allowing air to pass through the building.

The open-air design makes it unlike most post offices, while its inclusion on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1975, underlines its historical importance.

Salvador Dalí Museum

The Salvador Dalí Museum sits on the downtown waterfront and is dedicated entirely to the work of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. Its collection provides an opportunity to explore the dreamlike paintings and distinctive artistic world of one of the twentieth century’s best-known surrealists.

The building is also a notable part of the visit. It was designed by the architecture firm HOK, with Yann Weymouth playing a key role in its creation, and was built by the Beck Group.

Morean Arts Center

The Morean Arts Center presents work by local, national, and international artists. Its exhibitions change over time, and past artists shown there include Jasper Johns, Peter Max, and Jun Kaneko. The center also offers art classes, so visitors can engage with the creative process as well as view exhibitions.

The main building is at 719 Central Avenue. The Morean experience also includes the Chihuly Collection at 720 Central Avenue and the Morean Center for Clay at 420 22nd Street South, which focuses on ceramic arts.

The James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art

The James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art opened in 2018. Founded by businessman Thomas James, it displays thousands of works from the James collection, including both contemporary and traditional pieces.

The building’s exterior is designed to evoke American Southwestern canyons. Veined sandstone, carvings reminiscent of Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, and weathered copper and turquoise panels create a strong architectural setting for the art inside.

Florida Holocaust Museum

The Florida Holocaust Museum was founded in 1992 by Walter and Edith Lobenberg, a German Jewish couple who escaped persecution in Nazi Germany and immigrated to the United States. Their experiences as refugees shaped the museum’s mission to educate the public about the Holocaust.

The museum moved to its current location in 1998 and adopted its present name the following year. One of its central artifacts is a deportation train car brought from Poland, the type of railcar used to transport Jews to the camps. The museum is one of only three Holocaust museums in the United States accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Mirror Lake Library

The Mirror Lake Community Library was built in 1915 in the Beaux-Arts style. It received a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, making it one of only ten libraries in Florida to receive such funding.

It was the first permanent home of Saint Petersburg’s public library system. The building represents an important stage in the city’s transformation from a pioneer village into a community with established cultural institutions.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum

The Woodson African American Museum of Florida is an important cultural institution for the local community. Its grounds include the Legacy Garden, whose paths were built with bricks bearing the names of donors who helped make the site possible.

Great Explorations Children’s Museum

Great Explorations Children’s Museum is a hands-on museum centered on interactive learning. It was founded in 1986 by The Junior League of St. Petersburg and Hands-On, Inc.

The museum’s earlier location included themed rooms devoted to senses such as sight, sound, and touch. One memorable exhibit was the Touch Tunnel, a 90-foot-long passage navigated in complete darkness using only the sense of touch. The museum later moved to its current location next to Sunken Gardens.

Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center

The Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center is a nature museum focused on the local environment and the wildlife of Tampa Bay. It offers a way to explore the area’s natural world alongside the city’s historic and artistic attractions.

Huggins-Stengel Field

Huggins-Stengel Field is a historic baseball diamond in Crescent Lake Park. Built in 1925 as a spring-training practice field for the New York Yankees, it was also connected with the Yankees’ spring-training home games in Saint Petersburg until the team moved to Al Lang Stadium in 1947.

The field later welcomed teams including the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles. It continues to host high school and collegiate baseball games.

Cathedral of Saint Jude the Apostle

The Cathedral of Saint Jude the Apostle is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Saint Petersburg. It adds a religious landmark to the city’s varied collection of museums, civic buildings, and historic architecture.

Explore Saint Petersburg with a Free Audio Guide

Neywo’s Saint Petersburg audio guide includes 24 narrated places and four ways to explore the city:

• 2 walking tours, including a 1.94 km walk lasting 87 minutes with 10 stops, and a 3.73 km walk lasting 101 minutes with 9 stops.
• 1 bus route, covering 1.4 km in 6 minutes with 5 stops.
• 1 bike route, covering 2.7 km in 14 minutes with 5 stops.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages. Download Neywo and explore Saint Petersburg independently, from Central Avenue’s historic arcades to the city’s museums and waterfront landmarks.

Saint Petersburg is one of the many destinations to discover in Florida and the United States.