Ready for a break? Kick back on the sandy white beaches of St. Pete, as the balmy waters of the Gulf of Mexico lap at your toes. With an average of 361 days of sunshine per year, St. Pete Beach is guaranteed to please. A Pinellas County destination and home of award-winning beaches, St. Pete Beach is where you can find the architecturally and historically grand Don CeSar resort.
Don CeSar
The Don CeSar Hotel.
Situated on the sugary white sands of the Gulf of Mexico, the Don CeSar Hotel was built in the Great Gatsby era of the 1920s. Listed among the Historic Hotels of North America and the National Register of Historic Places, the resort features 277 luxurious rooms, including 40 spacious suites.
The Don CeSar has been hosting families from around the world for decades. Notable guests throughout history have included American author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, baseball great Lou Gehrig and mafia gangster Al Capone. Ready to plan your own family vacation? Here are four ways to have the most relaxing vacation you can imagine at the Pink Palace:
1. Toast to a little romance while you’re on vacation and kick back in one of the lounge chairs on the white sand beach.
2. Go for a swim in one of the sparkling oceanfront pools. Or book a spa treatment at Spa Oceana.
3. Indulge your sweet tooth at Uncle Andy’s Ice Cream Parlor. This old-fashioned ice cream shop offers yummy banana splits and strawberry shakes that are homemade and deliciously authentic.
4. Watch one of Florida’s beautiful Gulf Coast sunsets.
The Don CeSar Hotel is located at 3400 Gulf Blvd. on St. Pete Beach. For more info, visit doncesar.com.
The Florida Aquarium
The Florida Aquarium.
Rated one of the top five kid-friendly aquariums by Parents magazine, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa features more than 20,000 aquatic plants and animals, both native to Florida and from around the world. The Penguins Backstage Pass Experience offers a 30-minute experience with birds and biologists. The staff and their educational programs have reached more than 1 million children, and preservation efforts aim to make sure bay area sea life will be around for future generations. But beyond all that, the Florida Aquarium was designed to deliver fun, with play areas for the kids and interesting, engaging presentations.
This article was written in partnership with VisitFlorida.
