St. Petersburg is the fourth largest city in the state of Florida and is the second largest city in the the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, which is composed of roughly 2.6 million residents, making it the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, and the third largest in the southeast.

The city is located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is connected to the mainland to the north, connected with the city of Tampa, Florida to the east by causeways and bridges across Tampa Bay, and to Bradenton, Florida in the south by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which transverses the mouth of the bay.

With a purported average of some 360 days of sunshine each year, it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City." For that reason, the city is a popular tourist and retirement destination, especially for those in the United States from colder Northern climates.

Well, you can have it either way: a stylish elegant city as you know them in Florida combined with a green garden city with boulevards, white beaches and a dark blue sea only at a ten minutes’ distance. As you might expect, St Petersburg attracts quite a hub of travellers who feel like relaxing at the seaside after a visit to Florida’s Disneyland or its capital Miami.

Snorkelling, swimming, surfing….think of whatever sorts of water sports and you’ll definitely be able to exercise it here (or learn it?). Besides that, you can always watcha game of baseball in the famous St. Petersburg Thunderdome, future home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Exploring the shopping malls and the boulevard with exclusive shops (and great views) will guarantee a perfect outfit for one of the many restaurants, bars or discos. For those who want to see a bit more green, the Fort DeSoto Park might be an option. Rent a canoe, do some bird watching or go fishing. The nearby Boyd Hill Nature Park has a variety of hiking, biking and nature trails.

St. Petersburg has a branch of the state university, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, as well as St. Petersburg College, Eckerd College, and Stetson University College of Law. The Poynter Institute, a school for journalists, future journalists and teachers of journalism, is also located in St. Petersburg.

The city has a Museum of Fine Arts, a History Museum, a Holocaust Museum and the Salvador Dalí Museum, which houses the largest collection of Dalí's work outside of Europe, including a number of famous and large-scale paintings such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.

The St. Petersburg Pier contains a small aquarium open to the public. Retail shopping, adventure activities, and dining- most notably the historic Columbia Restuarant, are also located at the Pier. Dolphin sight-seeing boats depart from The Pier to tour Tampa Bay. You can also rent boats to charter or captian yourself. Frequently docked at The Pier is the replica of the HMS Bounty used in the 1962 MGM movie starring Marlon Brando. The Bounty charges a fee for tours, but will return in November '05, fresh from filming the sequel to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.

And of course, no big cities without famous (art) collections. The Museum of Fine Arts has an interesting collection and the Dali Museum claims to have the largest collection of works of the surrealist painter. The fourth largest museum of the US dedicated to the Holocaust and its devastating impact is also located in St. Petersburg.

Downtown is the location of the Florida International Museum, which features traveling exhibitions of various themes. Also downtown is the Baywalk shopping complex, home to a Muvico 20 screen movie theater. North of downtown is the Sunken Gardens site, home to the gardens themselves, the local child-oriented science museum Great Explorations, and a Carraba's restaurant.