Initially we had booked flights out to Portland for our Honeymoon, hoping that COVID would be resolved. However after much delivery we decided to postpone that trip, and stay closer to home for the time being.
We absolutely love the vibe in St. Pete but never had the opportunity to stay for more than a day. We booked in a little boutique hotel downtown called The Avalon, which was an absolute STEAL at $70 a night. The location is unbeatable, and within walking distance to everything we wanted to do downtown. Plus if you get tired of walking, there are plenty of scooter and bike rentals on nearly every block!
The hotel offered free coffee in the morning, and free wine and champagne in the evenings from 5-7. Also when they found out we were checking in for our honeymoon, they brought champagne and card to the room! We loved everything about this hotel and would absolutely stay here again.
They have a sister hotel next door called The Hollander, and the amenities there such as the pool, bar and restaurant are available for use by guests of both properties. On Mondays they have $5 martinis and they were amazing!
While in town, I secured us tickets to the Dali Museum which is running a Van Gogh Alive Exhibit through April. We were able to walk to the museum from the hotel, and it was absolutely the perfect day! The museum had plenty of COVID safety measures in place, and it never felt overwhelming.
We strolled through the Dali exhibit, then went down to have lunch and sangria in the Cafe Gala, which was delicious and reasonably priced. The Van Gogh Alive Exhibit was a visual and auditory masterpiece, and I’m so happy we were able to experience it together. To top it off, as a nod to Van Gogh, there were sunflowers EVERYWHERE which was really sweet as that was the flower in my wedding bouquet.
We had dinner that night at an amazing Vegan restaurant called the Cider Press Cafe, which I will do a separate Tasty Tuesday post for and highly recommend.
Even though COVID threw a curve ball in our original plans, we had an amazing time on our honeymoon - and look forward to our next out of town adventure together!