'We love our city': St. Pete named one of the top places to visit
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg has been nicknamed the Sunshine City and for good reason, as locals know it as their slice of paradise. For those who didn’t know about St. Petersburg or hadn’t heard about it before, they will now as the city was voted one of the best big U.S. cities to visit by Condé Nast Travelers’ readers.
St. Pete came in at No. 10 on the list next to big cities such as Chicago, which earned the first spot on the list. The announcement makes the Sunshine City the latest recipient of the Condé Nast Travelers 2020 Readers Choice Award. It’s one of the most prestigious awards in the travel industry, meaning for St. Pete to make the list is no small feat.
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It puts the city in the national spotlight, giving visitors a chance to check the Sunshine City for themselves. This is the first time ever that St. Pete has made it onto this ranking after Condé Nast Traveler changed the criteria to allow any city with a population of over 250,000 people to be included in the big cities category. St. Pete has about 265,000 residents, while CNT’s No. 1 destination, Chicago, has over 2 million residents.
Other cities on the list include places like Boston, Washington D.C., and San Diego. The 715,000 people who voted had to answer a series of questions that took into consideration things like hotels, attractions and restaurants in the city they were voting for.
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With the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a strange time to win a travel award, but Mayor Rick Kriseman said he’s proud of how his city and community have handled the pandemic and he’s eager to show that off to visitors.
“I hope you’ll consider thinking about St. Pete as a place to come visit or even live or work," he said Tuesday. "We take safety seriously, we wear masks, we love our city and each other and we want everyone to be healthy. And despite the challenges this year, St. Pete is continuing to thrive through innovation and resilience.”
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Kriseman encourages anyone who wants to visit to bring their mask and practice social distancing, but he reminded tourists that St. Pete has many outdoor spaces to enjoy, including beautiful parks, trails and the new St. Pete Pier.
“We have so many things to offer that big cities have like Chicago or Boston or New York, but we have a community feel," Kriseman said, "and I think that’s what makes St. Pete so different than so many other places, and I also think that that’s why, when I run into visitors who are from somewhere else, what I hear from them, and you don’t always hear this in other cities is, ‘'The people here are so nice, everybody here is so nice.’ I think it’s what sets us apart.”