Capsule: Poised at the southern end of a peninsula, the city of St. Petersburg -- with its grace, style, and old Florida elegance and sophistication -- looks east and south across Tampa Bay. To the west, islands strung like a necklace from Belleair Beach to St. Pete Beach provide miles of spectacular waterfront along the Gulf of Mexico.

Waterfront Homes: The city of St. Petersburg has blended business, sports. entertainment, the arts, education, hospitality and residences into a vibrant downtown. Luxury condominiums like those at Vinoy Place provide elegant residences with views of Tampa Bay within walking distance of BayWalk, an entertainment/retail complex.

To the north, towns like Belleair Bluffs bordering the Intracoastal waterway, Belleair Beach, Belleair Shores and Clearwater Beach offer premier waterfront estates on the Gulf of Mexico and the Intrracoastal Waterway.

Tierra Verde, an island that lies where Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, is a paradise featuring both upscale condominiums and luxury estate properties.

Golf and Tennis: More than three dozen private and public golf courses are eager to host your game in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Beach area. Many top professional players who call Florida home have designed courses that can be enjoyed by players of all skill levels.

Weather: The “Sunshine City” holds a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine -- a stretch lasting 768 days that began in 1967. But on average, you can only count on 361 days of sunshine per year -- and an average temperature of 73.7 degrees Fahrenheit. January's average low temperature is 50 degrees, while July's average high is 90.

Culture: Downtown St. Petersburg is a tropical haven for the arts. With six museums (including the world famous Salvador Dali museum), scores of galleries and an active performing arts community, St. Petersburg boasts that it is the cultural hub of central Florida. The 2,000-seat Mahaffey Theater for the Performing Arts is host to the Florida Orchestra, touring Broadway shows and contemporary performers.

The city also has a unique "Public Art" collection that has put many of Florida's outstanding artists on display in public buildings, parks, recreation centers, water towers, highway entrance ramps, fire stations and libraries. St. Petersburg began commissioning works of art in 1990 with the passage of a "per cent for art ' ordinance, and The Public Art Commission seeks to acquire high quality works of art which "connect" with residents and visitors.

For sports fans, St. Petersburg is home to Florida's only American League baseball team -- the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Across Tampa Bay, the National Football League champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning make the area a year-around professional sports venue.

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