The trip to the sky costs one dollar. If you want to get to St. Petersburg from the south, i.e. from Miami or Fort Lauderdale via Fort Myers and Naples, you have to take it: The Sunshine Skyway Bridge that spans the bay of Tampa like a gigantic rainbow. The seven kilometre long and 56 metres high toll bridge offers a breathtaking view on two cities that could not be more different, Tampa and St. Petersburg. About 1.5 million people live in the region in which the Indian tribes of the Timucuan and Tocobaga once settled. Almost nothing has remained of their existence.

While St. Petersburg, called St. Pete for short, is mainly known for its beaches, the skyscrapers of Tampa bear witness to a busy metropolis with museums, theatres and the Florida Aquarium. Not really unusual would be the Ybor City district, once considered the center of cigar manufacturing, where thousands of Cuban immigrants have left their mark. Many restaurants, bars and hotels have now settled in the old brick buildings and numerous colonial-style houses, creating a colorful, lively neighborhood. It gets really busy on weekends. The gay community has the strongest impact in that respect.

“GaYBOR District Coalition” is the name of the initiative of the two entrepreneurs Carrie and Mark, who run their small shop MC Film at the corner of 15th Street and Eighth Avenue. It looks like a kitsch heaven in there. Whether rainbow souvenirs, books, DVDs or clothes – you can find all kinds of possible and impossible camp things. Some knickknacks here, a little nostalgia there. The shop also provides information on the gay history of Ybor City and gay maps. Mark in particular loves to tell anecdotes about transsexual mafia bosses, ghost houses and the days and nights when Cuban factory workers shared a bed. During an evening walk with the two, Mark is more than happy to tell all those stories.

It is thanks to the enthusiasm of Mark and Carrie that the area around Seventh Avenue is today a “Gay Village” that you don’t find very often in the US. In the historical buildings there are more than two dozen bars, restaurants, clubs and shops, as well as the Ybor Resort & Spa, which is gay sauna and hotel at the same time. Whether Honey Pot, G-Bar, the stylish Liquid Ultra Lounge stripper bar or Tabu Ultra Lounge occupying three floors: the gay venues are all door to door in a pretty narrow space. Those who look for a gay place in the region will surely end up in Ybor City.

Celebrate in Tampa, relax in St. Pete – this is the perfect mix for gay holidaymakers. And even those who come to Central Florida mainly for the amusement parks of Orlando are in good hands here. The best time to visit Disney World and Co. is from Tuesday to Thursday, from Friday on those parks are overcrowded. So why not spend the weekend on the beaches of St. Petersburg, only a 90-minute drive away?

From Mullet Key in the south to Clearwater in the north, the white, partly extremely wide sandy beaches stretch almost 50 kilometres along the Gulf of Mexico. The gay beach, “Sunset Beach”, is located at the southern end of the municipality Treasure Island. The West Gulf Boulevard ends here at a parking lot, from which you have to walk over a small dune to the beach. It gets busy here especially on weekends. On Sundays in the late afternoon Flamingo Resort is the place to be as it has become a sort of centre of St. Pete’s gay scene in the past years. The hotel opened as the first Holiday Inn in Florida in 1961 and is one of the biggest gay resorts of the country in these days. offering 120 rooms.

A T-Dance takes place on Sundays around the large pool. The Flamingo also houses leather bar Code, a sports bar and a large club with a stage for show acts. The Bay Walk in the centre of St. Pete is a little quieter. Here, chic restaurants like the Cassis line up next to museums like the Chihuly Collection. There is an entertainment district with numerous bars, restaurants and clubs for students and tourists between Second and Fourth Avenue. The landmark of the city, apart from the pink Don CeSar Beach Resort from the 1920s on the beach, is the pier. It protrudes into the bay from Bay Walk and finishes in a building in the shape of an inverted pyramid.

Since early 2011 this remarkable architectural monument has faced considerable competition. The new building of the Dalí Museum, even more spectacular inside and designed to provide the largest collection of the painter’s works outside Spain with natural light. Many American art museums have rather little to offer to Europeans (apart from famous collections on the West and East Coasts). This museum certainly is an exception that can be compared to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Whether oil paintings in large format, drawings, sculptures, photographs or film – the museum gives a comprehensive overview of the oeuvre of the great eccentric.

The small community of Gulf Port does not look surrealistic at all, but time seems to have stood still. No fast food chains, no Starbucks or supermarket spoil the image. Sleepy around midday, this town provides wonderful motives at every corner including a view on the bay of Tampa. If you have enough time, you should go sailing. You can hire boats in St. Pete without having a licence – but it is more relaxed to rely on a skipper. This frees you to wacht the countless seabirds, dolphins and with a little luck also a manatee. You should make sure to watch the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from a boat at least once. It is unique and simply beautiful.

INFO

www.visitstpeteclearwater.com
www.visittampabay.com
Official homepage of the tourism board providing plenty of information and an event calendar.

www.gaybor.com
Al information on a guide to Tampa’s gay scene in Ybor City district.

HOW TO GET THERE

The international airport of Orlando is the gateway to St. Petersburg and Tampa. It is served by Air France from 10 German cities via Paris, Lufthansa serves Orlando from Frankfurt nonstop daily. Tampa is served directly by JetBlue from Boston or New York. Special offers for a return flight to Orlando start at 650 Euros.
www.airfrance.com
www.lufthansa.com
www.jetblue.com

HOTELS

Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club (501 5th Avenue) This traditional hotel, opened in 1925, is directly on Tampa Bay in the centre of St. Petersbug. Most roos offer a spectacular view on the bay, www.marriott.com

Postcard Inn (6300 Gulf Boulevard) Casual motel, turned into a boutique hotel with beach bar, popular with surfers, www.postcardinn.com

Flamingo Resort (4601 34th Street) The first Holiday Inn hotel in Florida is now one of the biggest gay resorts in the US. There is a big pool, where the local gay scene meets for t-dance, several bars and a club, www.flamingofla.com

NIGHTLIFE

Georgie’s Alibi (3100 3rd Avenue N) Apart from branches in Ft Lauderdale and Palm Springs, there is also one restaurant cum bar in St. Pete, www.georgiesalibi.com

Code Bar (4601 34th Street) Leather bar inside Flamingo Resort in St. Pete, www.flamingofla.com

Hamburger Mary’s Ybor City (1600 E 7th Avenue) The branch of this gay-friendly hamburger chain is right in the centre of Ybor City and surrounded by many gay bars und clubs, www.hamburgermarys.com

Centro Cantina (1600 East 8th Avenue)  TexMex cuisine, live bands and more than 20 types of frozen margaritas, www.centroybor.com

Streetcar Charlie’s (1811 N. 15th Street) Gay sports and video bar in Ybor City, famous for its Sunday brunch, www.streetcarcharlies.com

The Honey Pot (1507 E. 7th Avenue) Ybor City’s largest club on two floors with several bars and a balcony truns gay mainly on Fridays, www.yborclubs.com

G-Bar (1401 E. 7th Avenue) Video bar and club offering a gay night on Saturdays, www.yborclubs.com

Ybor Social Club (1909 N. 15th Street) Gay club and bar, open from 2pm to 3am. Daily drinks specials and sexy go-go dancers, www.yborclubs.com

All relevant information and  more can be found in SPARTACUS INTERNATIONAL GAY GUIDE or SPARTACUS iPhone App!

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