aweprow.pages.dev

St petersburg gay beach

Home / travel tourism / St petersburg gay beach

St Petersburg is comprised of a range of diverse and inclusive neighbourhoods, and whilst there is no specific gay district, travelers will find an assortment of gay focused venues throughout the city. This cheerful and affordable iteration of Hilton has an excellent location on Central.

Where to eat

Black Crow(2157 1st Ave.

S., St. Petersburg). Brightly lit, easy-peasy, pool tables, darts and karaoke. This Edge District eatery dedicated to Latin street food is perfectly located for an afternoon pick-me-up, like a Cuban sandwich, roast chicken lunch or mojito, while browsing Central. 

3 Daughters Brewing (222 22nd St. S., St. Petersburg). The city scores a perfect 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipality Equality Index, which rates a locations equality, protections and quality of life for its LGBT+ individuals.

St Petersburg is affectionately known as Gay St Petes, and the city is increasingly becoming a gay capital of Florida.

They’ve got a rooftop pool and bar with views that are worth dropping by for a cocktail.

The Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, Autograph Collection (501 5th Ave. N.E., St. Petersburg). The beautiful white sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico coast are a key reason to visit St. Pete; the region is also great for boating, sailing and other watersports.

The day I wore a brightly coloured shirt, four strangers complimented me on it. The city’s rainbow/trans flag crossing is at Central and 25th Street. To describe this hidden spot as a dive bar is to do a disservice to its friendly bartenders and regulars, as well as the fun tchotchkes and sassy signage all over the place.

It’s about a 20-minute drive between the two waterfronts, but if you’d rather not rent a car, the express SunRunner bus can get you from downtown to the beach  in about 35 minutes. The support for the LGBTQ+ community was clear through and through no matter where you explored in St. Pete.

Let’s get into Gay St Pete…

Where is the Gay Area of St.

Pete?

Arguably you could say here, there and everywhere.

However, at its core the main gay area of St. Pete is considered to be the Grand Central District area along Central Avenue.

This is the where you will find the most popular gay bars, and pride flags flown from the majority of businesses, whether they are LGBTQ+ owned businesses or not – a very welcome sight to see.

Gay Hotels in St.

Pete

With the LGBTQ+ community being such a core part of St. Pete I would not hesitate about booking any hotel (as long as they had good reviews!).

However, when there is a gay hotel available, that is absolutely going to be my first choice. 1) This is St. Pete. The two LGBTQ hubs on Central are the Grand Central District
(31st Street to 16th Street) and the Edge District (16th Street to MLK/9th Street).

Gulfport
Head southwest of St.

Pete to the nearby charming and quirky town of Gulfport. Guests need a reservation and a password (maybe find it on social media?) to enter.

Enigma (1110 Central Ave., St. Petersburg). The most difficult thing you will have to do will be to choose what to have, everything is very aesthetic!

  • 2D Café (was LGBTQ+ owned, LGBTQ+ staff at its core and the 2D art is created by a local gay artist) – the 2D Café is visually pleasing cafe (pictured above).

    (There are no TVs.) They produce roughly 40 products, including ciders, sangrias and canned cocktails, as well as beer. With super friendly staff and a good selection of drinks and snacks, this is a great option to grab some breakfast from.

  • Stella’s (LGBTQ+ owned) – Stella’s is in the adjoining gay friendly town of Gulfport and is a very cute spot for lunch.

    Iconic.

    TradeWinds Resort.For something right on the beach, the two sibling LGBTQ2S+-friendly properties, Island Grand at TradeWinds (5500 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach) and Rumfish Beach at TradeWinds (6000 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach), share a beautiful stretch of sand. So St. Pete shopping is a unique experience—you can tell that many of the boutiques are passion projects.

    If you take yourself too seriously, this may not be for you!

    My favourite aspect about the Mari Jean was that for any gay traveller, this was a great one stop shop option as the property houses COCKtail bar (the most popular gay bar in St. Pete), The Wet Spot pool area and pool bar (which does a drag brunch once a month), a gay shop called The Back Door and also a second bar called The Saint.

    On a weekly basis, the ladies gather for Wine Down Wednesdays, beach yoga, and Friday shuffleboard.

    This article appears in May 25-31, 2023.

    Related

    • This beach even has a lesbian-owned boutique hotel.

    st petersburg gay beach

    The crowd here was quite a mixed crowd vs COCKtail bar which I would say leant more to a gay male crowd.

    Lucky Star

    Lucky Star leans towards more of dive style bar centred around people sitting at the bar chatting, less about shows or partying. Tampa Bay’s first all-vegan restaurant is conveniently located in the gaybourhood. Considering the drag queens that feature in some of St.

    Pete’s best street art—the annual Shine Mural Festival is a great source of civic pride—it’s hard to imagine possible restrictions on drag being enforced here. This well-designed 26-acre linear park, which points out into Tampa Bay, is the city’s favourite playground.