who can visit the cia museum

See Inside the Rarely Seen and Newly Reimagined CIA Museum

Off-limits to all but a few in-person visitors, the museum is starting to welcome the public, online at least

Molly Enking

Daily Correspondent

The CIA Museum has always been closed to the public; only the agency’s employees, their family members and other government officials can visit. Most of us will never see it in person—but online, the museum is beginning to allow civilians a peek inside its vast collection.

This year, in honor of the agency’s 75th anniversary, the CIA updated and restructured the physical museum space. Now, it is publishing a series of YouTube videos , which walk viewers through some of the displays. The agency is also publicizing its existing  online catalog , which contains a selection of the museum’s artifacts. 

The museum holds more than 3,500 items in total, according to Atlas Obscura ’s Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing. So far, the online catalog features about 200 artifacts, though the digitization process is ongoing. Items on display digitally include forged passports, counterfeit Nazi propaganda, Che Guevara’s flashlight , and a small portion of a written psychological analysis of Adolf Hitler , among many others.

Per NPR ’s Greg Myre, one of the items on view in the physical museum is a replica of the house in Kabul, Afghanistan, where the CIA found and killed Osama bin Laden ’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri , earlier this summer. Agents used the model house to brief President Joe Biden on the intelligence agency’s strategy.

The museum’s new ceiling is covered with black and white codes and ciphers. These aren’t just decorative—all of them can be broken—and they will be uploaded to the online catalog, as well.

But according to the  Washington Post ‘s Gillian Brockell, certain unflattering chapters from the CIA’s history are missing from the showcase. “The entire African continent is hardly mentioned, with no information on the CIA’s purported involvement in the 1961 assassination of Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba, the 1962 arrest of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela or other key events,” she writes. “Waterboarding also does not appear to be mentioned.”

The CIA Museum walks a fine line, maintaining secrecy while opening the organization up, even in a small way, to public view. So why do it at all?

“Every day, CIA officers help to shape the course of world events,” Toni Hiley, the museum’s former director, told Smithsonian magazine ’s David Wise, who was given a private tour of the museum in 2014. “The CIA has a rich history, and our museum is where we touch that history.”

The digitalization efforts are another step toward that goal, says Gina Weinstein, the museum’s exhibition specialist, to Atlas Obscura . “Figuring out how we are able to … provide this history, this information and these artifacts to the public is important to us, because there are important stories to tell.”

Former CIA director William Colby first proposed the idea for a museum in 1972. Since then, the agency has moved forward with caution; the first exhibition didn’t open until 1991. Located in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia, often simply referred to as “Langley,” the museum is part of the CIA’s headquarters.

The new virtual resources seem to be part of a larger effort to share, if only to a limited degree, what goes on at Langley. The agency also launched a podcast this year as part of the anniversary celebration.

“We do usually operate in the shadows, out of sight, out of mind,” William Burns, the CIA’s director, says in the first episode . “But I think it’s important to explain ourselves the best we can and to demystify a little bit of what we do.”

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Molly Enking | READ MORE

Molly Enking is a writer, editor and producer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work can be found in Wired , Rolling Stone , PBS NewsHour, Grist , Gothamist and others. She covers health disparities, space, the environment, scientific discoveries and oddities, food and travel, as well as how art, pop culture and history impact the way we view the world. 

CIA Museum Tour

American History TV toured the CIA Museum at the agency’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters. Director and curator Robert Byer highlighted cove… read more

American History TV toured the CIA Museum at the agency’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters. Director and curator Robert Byer highlighted covert action tools of the trade in the CIA’s collection, dating from the Cold War to 21st century terrorism. The museum was created primarily for CIA employees - as a resource for their ongoing work - and is not open to the general public. close

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A rare look inside the newly renovated CIA Museum

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-rare-look-inside-the-newly-renovated-cia-museum

As the CIA marks its 75th anniversary, it gave us a rare peek into its newly renovated museum. The space is for its own officers, it's not open to the public, and it displays mementos from some of the agency's most clandestine operations. Nick Schifrin got a tour for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Amna Nawaz:

As the CIA marks its 75th anniversary, it gave us a rare peek into its newly renovated museum.

The space is for its own officers. It's not open to the public, and it displays mementos from some of the agency's most clandestine operations.

Nick Schifrin got a tour for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Nick Schifrin:

In a working hallway in one of the world's most clandestine buildings, the new CIA Museum begins with one of the U.S.' single worst intelligence failures.

Janelle Neises, Deputy Director CIA Museum:

The attacks on Pearl Harbor are definitely something our organization can look at and say, we need to make sure this never happens again.

Janelle Neises is the CIA Museum's deputy director. She shows us CIA artifacts, Osama bin Laden's gun and a model of his Pakistan home where the CIA hunted and found him.

The CIA hopes the museum helps officers find lessons from past mistakes.

Janelle Neises:

When the CIA looks back at Curveball, I think it really was that turning point of looking at the other things, making sure you stay away from tunnel vision and that you really don't focus in on one possibility.

Colin Powell, Former U.S. Secretary of State: Every statement I make is backed up by sources, solid sources.

Twenty years ago, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, with CIA Director George Tenet behind him, used intelligence that came in part from an asset known as Curveball to make the case for war in Iraq.

Colin Powell:

They can produce anthrax and botulinum toxin. In fact, they can produce enough dry biological agent in a single month to kill thousands upon thousands of people.

Curveball and his claimed intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, proved false.

It is a lesson and always look to the other sides, what are the other possibilities, and make sure that, again, you are speaking truth to power. If you know something, say something to your managers, or say something, in this case, to the president.

The president is known as the CIA's first customer, who receives a daily brief, once called the President's Intelligence Checklist.

It got that name under President Kennedy, after another notorious failure, CIA-funded and trained Cuban rebels who failed spectacularly, to overthrow Fidel Castro. They landed at the Bay of Pigs, which wasn't the original plan Kennedy approved.

He wanted to change a plan that we had spent months, almost a year planning, and then gave us less than a week to kind of reassess and operate very differently.

And we should have said something. Telling the president this isn't going to work is obviously not an easy thing for a CIA officer to do. But the American people depend on us to do that, because we're the ones with the information, with the intelligence.

And the museum ends with a more recent failure, the August 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief, or PDB, just five weeks before 9/11, titled "Bin Laden determined to strike in the U.S.."

Sometimes when we notice things, maybe we need to push them sooner.

Robert Byer, Director, CIA Museum:

We need to make sure our officers don't forget the lessons of the past, because, if so, they're just going to repeat them.

Robert Byer is the museum's director. He says acknowledging failures is the only way to learn from the past.

Robert Byer:

When you look at the failures of CIA and then understand what you need to do in order to build upon that, you get incredible success stories.

For instance, Red Cell analysis was accelerated after the WMD issue. And what that leads to is, when you get to the raid at Abbottabad, we show President Obama all the different possible permutations of who could possibly be at Abbottabad.

It is not only about lessons learned. There's the gadgets that inspired James Bond, an Arctic suit, boots, a helmet, and instructions for a 1962 operation called Cold Feet, when a low-flying plane picked up CIA agents who had stolen Soviet research in the Arctic.

That was a real-life escape copied for the end of Bond's "Thunderball." Real spy work is, of course, not as glamorous. This building used to be an annex in downtown D.C., and it used to be known as the PICL Factory for that President's Intelligence Checklist, or PICL. This is actually commemorative from the day Kennedy was assassinated, with a poem that Kennedy read to reassure the public during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when he managed to apply the lessons of his own past failures.

This can't be just history for history's sake. This has to be history to improve today's and tomorrow's operations.

Many CIA stories remain secret, like the still-undisclosed messages coded into the ceiling. But it's an attempt to study the past to try and improve the future.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Langley, Virginia.

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Watch the Full Episode

Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Anne Azzi Davenport is the Senior Producer of CANVAS at PBS News Hour.

Zeba Warsi is a foreign affairs producer, based in Washington DC. She's a Columbia Journalism School graduate with an M.A. in Political journalism.

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The CIA Museum is digitizing its collections so everyone can view them

You'll be able to learn about spy gadgets, intelligence artifacts and more!

Shhhh…. it’s still super secretive and you still can’t go in... but the CIA Museum is now digitizing its collections so you can view them online, as reported by Smithsonian . Established 75 years ago for CIA personnel and other insiders only, today about 200 of the 3,500 artifacts are viewable online, with more to come.

These are fascinating objects, such as a model of the sunken and deteriorated K-129 Russian submarine, which sank mysteriously in 1968 (theories abound), and which the US tried to recover in a Cold War program called Project Azorian. Only portions were able to be recovered—some key bits of wreckage fell out of the grip of the claw—and the wreck’s location is still an official secret.

Some James Bond-ish items include a hollow silver dollar which can hide messages or film, a robotic fish which can be swum via a wireless radio handset, and a dragonfly insectothopter from the 1970s which flits around to collect intelligence while just looking like a regular dragonfly. You can see a camera concealed in a cigarette pack, a radio receiver hidden in a pipe and lots of other spy equipment.

In case you’ve ever wondered how the president receives their daily intelligence briefing, the collections include the serious-looking embossed document cover created for President Biden when he was president-elect. There’s a letter removal device that goes into a sealed envelope, winds the letter into a coil and removes it. There’s an Al-Qa’ida training manual with burn marks from US ordnance. And the list goes on.

The organization’s history may not be as light as this article suggests, but regardless, the artifacts are work visiting through the CIA Museum’s website . There are also “Debrief: Behind the Artifact” videos on YouTube which are brief explorations of particular objects or programs, such as the spy pigeon with a camera strapped to its chest (still in use today!). One video looks at the ‘drop dead rat,’ a literal but eviscerated rat into whose hollow shell secret messages can be placed for an asset to later collect, since no one would stoop to pick up or examine a deceased rodent. Although of course, now you probably will.

As for the actual brick and mortar museum, it’s at the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia . Good luck getting in; you might have to use the key concealed in a sardine can.

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

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Mclean Pyschological Practice

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Visit the cia museum in mcclean, virginia.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an agency of the United States federal government tasked with collecting and analyzing national security information from around the world through the use of human intelligence. Technically, you could say that the headquarters for the CIA is located in both Langley and McLean, Virginia but “Langley” is actually the name of the neighborhood in McLean in which the CIA resides. Before the town of McLean was founded in 1910, the CIA Headquarters was just known to be located in Langley, and despite the name change in 1910, the name “Langley” is still used to describe the McLean neighborhood where the CIA is located.

The CIA headquarters is located at 1000 Colonial Farm Road in McLean, Virginia and can be reached from George Washington Memorial Parkway. Due to a need for secrecy, however, the complex can only be accessed by those with the appropriate credentials or through appointment, and only authorized vehicles are granted access to the private road that leads to the complex from George Washington Memorial Parkway.

In 1959, the Federal government started the plan for the original Central Intelligence Agency headquarters with President Dwight Eisenhower laying the cornerstone, and in 1961 construction was completed, adding another chapter to McLean’s long and exciting history. The Original Headquarters Building contains 1,400,000 square feet of space and was designed by the New York firm Harrison & Abramovitz. The New Headquarters Building was completed in 1991 and was designed by Smith, Hinchman and Grylls Associated who broke the ground for construction in 1984. The New Headquarters Building complex adjoins two six-story office buildings and connects to the Original Headquarters Building (OHB) via a tunnel.

The CIA headquarters is also formally known as the George Bush Center for Intelligence but wasn’t officially named until April 26, 1999, through the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999. It was named in honor of George H.W. Bush who served as the Director of Central Intelligence between January 30th, 1976 and January 20th, 1977. George H.W. Bush later served as the 41st President of the United States.

The CIA gives its reports to the Director of National Intelligence and focuses on providing intelligence information to the President and the Cabinet. The CIA has no law enforcement function like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) does, but that is because it is mainly focuses on gathering intelligence from overseas and is limited in collecting intelligence domestically.

The CIA Museum is also located in McLean, Virginia and holds declassified items relating to the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and foreign intelligence organizations. It is a national archive for the collection and preservation of these intelligence artifacts and history, and currently, the collection holds about 3,500 items. Some of the declassified items include historical spy gadgets, weapons, and photographs but the because the museum is located within the CIA compound, it is not accessible to the general public. However, the CIA Museum does have public exhibitions in partnership with the Presidential Libraries and other major museums to promote a greater understanding of the craft of intelligence and its role in the American experience.

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You Can Soon Take Virtual Tour Of CIA Museum In USA & Check Out The Super Cool Spy Gadgets

Are you a Hollywood movie fan? Did you grow up watching CIA agents solving mysteries and getting into a whirlwind of adventure? Oh, I am already getting goosebumps! If the CIA and its fantastic ways of operation fascinate you, there is a museum for you. Read on…

The CIA? What’s that?

The acronym CIA stands for Central Intelligence Agency. Just like India has the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the US has the CIA. In 1947, it was formally founded as an intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the US government. During World War II, every country had its own intelligence department and spying agencies. The CIA has its roots in the Office of Strategic Services, a federal intelligence bureau of the US, which helped the country fix war strategies, by sourcing information through spies.

And They Have A Museum Now?

Yes, but there’s a catch. If you’re wondering whether you can visit the museum and get a real-life James Bond movie feel, the answer is yes and no. Due to the secretive nature of the CIA business, it’s not like you can visit their office and take a stroll around. To get people a clue about their lives, the CIA is now digitizing a lot of its equipment. So yes, it’s an online museum. You may find it a tad bit less exciting than a real one, but it covers a range of things. You can actually understand how were things done in the past when technology was not at the top of its game, as it is now.

Things To See at the CIA Museum

Do you know about the K-129 Russian submarine that sank mysteriously in 1968? In 1974, during the cold war, the US started its recovery, named Project Azorian. The internet and the popular media are full of mind-blowing stories and conspiracy theories. But that’s not the point. The online museum has a model of this ship and much more. Let’s take a quick look.

• A hollow silver dollar with a pocket to hide messages or films
• A robotic fish that can be controlled by a wireless radio handset, used mostly to gather underwater information
• A 1970 dragonfly insectothopter, looks and flies like a dragonfly but was used to spy on people in open spaces
• Cigarette pack with a spy camera
• A radio receiver hidden in a pipe
• A variety of spy equipment

If this list has got you, head to the CIA Museum Website now. You are going to love it!

Also Read: We Explored The Newly Built Museums Inside Red Fort, Delhi And They Left Us In Awe!

Cover Image Courtesy: CIA Website and Wikimedia Commons

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The ultimate guide to historic St Petersburg

Sep 10, 2019 • 7 min read

Sailing ship anchored by the Peter and Paul Fortress © Boris Stroujko / Shutterstock

St Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great just over 300 years ago. Although the capital moved to Moscow after the 1917 February Revolution, St Petersburg is still known as the ‘northern’ or ‘cultural’ capital of Russia. Explore the art, architecture, and history of Russia's grand and second largest city. 

On the map, St Petersburg fits into a triangle, its lines drawn along the Gulf of Finland, the Obvodny Canal and the Neva River; the river divides the city into two approximately equal parts. To the south of the Neva is the center of contemporary St Petersburg, to the north – Vasilievsky Island and Petrogradka. 

City of Squares

St Petersburg is a city of squares. At the very heart of the city is Palace Square lined by the Winter Palace on one side and the former General Staff Headquarters on the other. Today they’re both part of the Hermitage Museum , with one of the best art collections in the world. The center of the square is occupied by the fifty meter-high Alexander Column , topped by an angel, symbolizing Russian victory over Napoleon in 1812. 

Right next to Palace Square is the Admiralty , a former wharf-turned-naval headquarters. Admire the Admiralty’s famous spire topped with a golden ship – one of the city’s symbols. Stop at nearby coffee shop  Bonch for a quick bite. Apart from excellent coffee, Bonch offers European-style food, and its floor-to-ceiling windows are great for people watching.

Head down Bolshaya Morskaya Street to St Isaac's Square and stand in the shadow of St Isaac’s Cathedral (the largest in the city), view the statue of Emperor Nicholas I, and spot luxury hotels Astoria and Angleterre and the huge Mariinsky Palace . The palace is located across the Blue Bridge – the widest in the city (almost 100 metres). Check out the impressive neoclassical interior and climb to the top of its enormous dome for panoramic views of the city. 

There are plenty of options to eat on the square, including Schastye (Happiness), which offers a mix of Russian and European classics and Obshchestvo Chistikh Tarelok ( Clean Plates Society ) with lots of vegetarian dishes and great cocktails.  

Between the cathedral and the Neva river embankment is the Senate Square , where the Decembrist Uprising took place in 1825. Today the main attraction is the Bronze Horseman , depicting Peter the Great himself, a monument immortalized in the eponymous poem by Russia’s best known poet, Alexander Pushkin. The square is named after the former Senate building, which faces the Horseman. Right next to it is the Most Holy Synod and the Manege Central Exhibition Hall , which hosts regular contemporary art exhibitions. 

Nevsky Prospekt

19th century writer Nikolai Gogol described Nevsky Prospekt as 'Petersburg's universal channel of communication' in a story named after the city’s main thoroughfare. This definition is still true; Nevsky is the city’s busiest promenade, a showcase of the best that the former capital has to offer. 

The buildings on Nevsky have been rebuilt many times – the most recent rebuild was during the reign of the last three tsars, from the 1860s to 1910s. The buildings, however, adhere to the same architectural principles developed by Carlo Rossi in the first half of the 19th century: monotonous lines of buildings of the same height occasionally broken up by waterways, squares or churches.

One such church is the Kazan Cathedral , surrounded by an imposing colonnade, designed to resemble St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Built as a home for the especially revered icon, 'The Mother of God of Kazan', the Kazan Cathedral ironically became the Museum of Atheism during the Soviet times.

Across the street, on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Griboyedov Canal, you can see the Singer Building , built in the Russian art nouveau style and topped with a glass globe. Today it houses the largest bookstore in the city and cafe ' Singer ' on the second floor. Stop there for a cappuccino and incredible views of the Kazan Cathedral. 

Further down the street is Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor , meaning ‘a large merchant’s court’. It’s the oldest shopping arcade in St Petersburg, which covers a whole block. Admire its architecture, but it's best to shop elsewhere. For example, stop at the Kupetz Eliseevs , located halfway between Griboyedov Canal and Fontanka River. Designed in Moderne style, this opulent food hall offers all kinds of delicacies. Alternatively, you can sip a glass of wine under a giant palm tree. 

Another Nevsky highlight is the Anichkov Bridge over Fontanka River, designed by Peter Clodt. The four rearing horses symbolize the struggle between humanity and nature, but according to urban legend, if you look under one of the horse's tails you can see an image of a person that offended Clodt. 

Nevsky Prospekt is not famous for good dining and drinking options, so after Anichkov Bridge, turn right to Ulitsa Rubinshteina, the main restaurant street of St Petersburg (or possibly the whole of Russia). Try Fartuk for burgers, falafel and various home-made food, as well as craft beer and cocktails; go to Bekitzer for Israeli street food and their famous vodka infusions and to the relatively new Iskra for pizza. 

Vasilyevsky Island

Vasilyevsky Island, locally known simply as ‘Vaska’ is the largest island in St Petersburg. It’s here that Peter I actually intended to build his new capital. Dozens of canals were already dug when he changed his mind. The canals turned into linii (lines) and prospects – the major streets on the island. 

Start your island exploration at Strelka (the Spit) – the easternmost tip of the island with the most landmarks. Check out the old Stock Exchange building behind the famous Rostral Columns that used to serve as navigational lamps in the 19th century. 

Vasilyevsky Island is the neighborhood of ‘firsts’: first museum – Kunstkamera , where Peter the Great gathered various curiosities, the first university – Twelve Colleges complex, and the first stone building in the city – Menshikov Palace . 

Further down the embankment is the Academy of Fine Arts with a small museum and two Egyptian sphinxes in front. Just around the corner is the walking street 6 i 7 Linii with wonderful baroque St Andrew’s Cathedral and plenty of places to eat, including an outpost of Na Parakh health food chain, where all the dishes are steam-cooked. 

Take a taxi or a bus to the western side of Vaska to see Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art , which has a permanent collection of St Petersburg 20th- and 21st-century art, as well as regular exhibitions. The museum’s restaurant is also worth a visit. 

Even further west is the newly opened Sevkabel Port , an abandoned ship-cable factory, which now hosts techno parties, flea markets and several restaurants. Stop in to check out Kuta Bar & Kitchen , with authentic Balinese cuisine and bar Machty , with a retro look and disco parties. 

Petrogradka

The Petrograd Side, aka Petrogradka, is the oldest part of the city. Here, on Zayachy (Hare) Island Peter the Great founded Peter and Paul Fortress in 1703. Today the fortress is home to several museums, including a former prison and the beautiful baroque St Peter and Paul Cathedral , the site of the crypts of most of the Romanovs, a family of aristocrats that ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917, when the reigning Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne.

A small bridge leads from the fortress to the Petrograd Side proper, dominated by a beautiful sky blue mosque and Kshesinskaya Palace, which used to belong to a ballet dancer that was at one time Nicholas II's lover. It now houses the Museum of Political History . For lunch, go to Chekhov restaurant, the interior of which looks like a stage set for Anton Chekhov’s play. Try some traditional Russian dishes like borscht and pelmeni and don’t skip on the house-made beer and infusions. 

Check out more moderne buildings on the neighbourhood's main avenue – Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt on your way to the Museum of Petersburg Avant-garde . This wooden cottage used to belong to Mikhail Matyushin, a painter, composer and one of the leading figures in the turn of the century avant-garde movement. 

Spend a perfect Petrogradka evening at the rooftop bar Hi-Hat , overlooking the Botanical Garden. Down a pint of beer or a cocktail while watching the sunset and listening to some live music or a DJ set.  

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Learn how to easily plan your dream trip to Florida!

17 Best Things To Do In St Petersburg FL You Shouldn’t Miss

January 4, 2022 //  by  Florida Trippers

Are you looking for a list of fun things to do in St. Petersburg, Florida? We have you covered!

While St. Petersburg or “St. Pete” is known as the Sunshine City, there are more than just beaches to see here! Located between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is a quick drive from Tampa or Clearwater!

From hidden gardens, museums, murals, restaurants, and breweries there is something for everyone on our list of things to do in St. Petersburg, FL!

St. Petersburg Sunken Gardens

The Sunken Gardens are a hidden tropical oasis located in old Northwest St. Petersburg. Open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and on Sunday 12 pm to 4:30 pm.

Admission is $12 adult, but they often run specials on Groupon, so keep an eye out! For those living in the area, they have annual family passes for $100!

Sunken Gardens made our list, as it is one of the best things to do in St. Petersburg, Florida. At 100 years old it is the oldest living museum in St. Pete, and also the last authentic roadside attraction. The Sunken Gardens is home to over 50,000 plants!

The ADA-accessible paths wind through waterfalls, tropical environments, bird habitats, and flamingos! There is plenty of shade in the gardens so this is a great activity if you don’t know what to do in St. Pete during the summer.

Murals and Street Art, St.Petersburg

If you are looking for free things to do in St. Pete, try walking around the 600 block of Central Avenue. It has over 90 street art murals to admire.

Staring in 2014, St. Pete embraced the artistic culture of the city. Every year the two-week Shine festival, held in October, gives local, national, and international artists the opportunity to paint murals. This year over 26 new murals were added to the 90 already located in St. Pete.

One of the more popular murals in downtown St. Petersburg is the Black Lives Matter mural outside the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum. In the warehouse arts district, you have several “Sunshine on My Mind” murals as St. Pete is the sunshine capital!

From ocean themes to feelings, to retro, portrait, and pride these colorful murals provide a great free, outdoor thing to do in St. Pete! If you’re looking for somewhere just as unique to stay, try our suggestion of a tiny house oasis .

Dali Museum

St. Pete is home to the largest Salvador Dali collection outside of Europe. If you’re looking for an art museum, add this one to your list of best things to do in St. Petersburg! The museum opened in 2011, and most of the collection belonged to the Morse family who donated it in 1982.

The Dali Museum is home to over 2000 works, ranging throughout every period of Dali’s life. The collection contains drawings, sculptures, photos, documents, and oil paintings. This includes 8 out of 18 Dali masterworks.

The museum itself is also a work of art with a glass dome known as the “enigma” and a spiral staircase leading to the roof!

The museum is $25 and is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm. Specially priced tickets are available Thursday 5 pm – 8 pm for $12.50. You can tour the museum digitally as well.

If you’re looking for free things to do in St. Petersburg, the museum gardens are always free!

Don CeSar Hotel

Built in 1928, the Don CeSar Hotel is known as the “pink palace”. Add visiting this luxurious hotel to your list of the best things to do in St. Petersburg, Florida.

For those interested in using the pool, beach, fitness center, restrooms and showers you can buy a day pass for $40 to make use of the facilities and beach!

If you’re looking to stay, the hotel has 241 rooms starting at $279 a night. This is the place to stay in St. Pete, Florida if you’re looking for total luxury and relaxation. Once the playground of the wealthy elite during the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald, Al Capone, and Franklin Roosevelt are all past guests.

During World War II the hotel became a military hospital, and later a Veteran’s administration office. It officially reopened in 1973 as a hotel.

For those looking for a bite to eat, try Uncle Andy’s Ice Cream Parlor and the Sea Porch Café. Or for upscale dining, try Maritana and the Row Bar. If relaxing poolside, try the Beachcombers Bar and Grill!

Chihuly Collection Museum

The Chihuly Museum opened in 2010 and houses the works of Dale Chihuly, a pioneer of the glass art movement. If you are downtown and looking for fun things to do in St. Petersburg make sure this is one of your stops!

Open from 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday and 12 pm to 5 pm on Sunday, admission is $20, or included if purchasing a Tampa City Pass. You can also purchase a St. Pete Art Experience ticket for admission to the Morean Art Museums as well.

Chihuly is known for his large-scale, colorful sculptures blown from glass, such as Ruby Red Icicle Chandelier hanging in the lobby. His work has been seen in museums such as the Louvre, Chihuly Over Venice, and Chihuly in Jerusalem!

Skyway Fishing Pier

For those who like to fish, one of best things to do in St. Petersburg is to visit the Skyway Fishing Pier! This state park located at the mouth of Tampa Bay is home to a fishing pier that spans the entire length of the bridge.

Open 24 hours, 7 days a week, this bridge is lit up at night for fishing, has concessions, a restroom, and a bait shop. Snook, grouper, mackerel, snapper, and sea bass are all popular catches due to the 65 artificial reefs off the bridge.

The history of the pier dates back to 1980 when a freighter collided with the bridge and collapsed pilings of the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge. When being rebuilt it was decided that the old bridge was to be used as a fishing pier.

The pier opened in 1994, spanning 4 miles, and it became the largest fishing pier in the world! There are two entrances to the bridge, the North and South Pier. It is also, popular with bird watchers, kiteboarders, kayakers, and windsurfers!

The St. Pete Pier

The new St. Pete Pier is another of the great, free things to do in St. Petersburg. It is not just a pier but a new attraction on the waterfront! You can bike, swim, dine, and be entertained at numerous venues.

If you’re looking for educational things to do in St. Petersburg with kids, the St. Pete pier is home to the Tampa Bay Watch: an interactive classroom experience providing education on how to restore the Tampa Bay Estuary!

For those looking to dine, the Pier Port has three restaurants: an upscale restaurant, a rooftop bar, and a casual café. For Caribbean fare and a lively atmosphere head to Doc Ford’s Rum Bar!

The Vinoy Hotel

The Vinoy is a Mediterranean-style hotel owned by Marriott Group, located in downtown Saint Petersburg. It’s a perfect place to stay if you’re looking for a weekend escape, as it is near St. Petersburg attractions such as theDali, Chihuly, and Fine Arts Museums. Tons of restaurants and shops are a short walk away.

For those looking for recreational things to do in St. Petersburg, you can charter a boat from the marina or play a round of golf!

Built in 1925 by Aymer Vinoy Laughner, the hotel has seen famous guests such as Babe Ruth and Herbert Hoover. During World War II, it was used as an army training school. The Vinoy closed from 1970 to 1990, and finally reopened in 1993.

A great thing to do in St. Pete is to visit the lobby bar for live music and drinks! The hotel is home to Paul’s Landing, a local seafood and smoked meats restaurant, and Marchand’s Bar and Grill the hotel’s signature restaurant!

Or try the St. Pete location of Datz for one of the Tampa Bay area’s most popular breakfast and brunch spots!

Florida Holocaust Museum

The Florida Holocaust Museum was opened by philanthropist Walter Loebenberg in 1998 in memory of those who lost their lives during the Holocaust.

This museum makes our list of the best things to do in St. Petersburg, as the museum’s goal is to teach about the worth of all human lives regardless of gender, skin color, race, or culture.

Loebenberg escaped Nazi-occupied Germany in 1939 and later served in the US Army during World War II. The museum is credited with helping pass Florida legislature in 1994 for Holocaust history to be taught in schools.

The museum is open daily from 10 am to 4 pm. Tickets are $16 but are free for the US Military, USF students, and children under 6.

There is a docent-led tour of the first floor on Saturdays at 1:30, and the Anne Frank virtual tour is included with all ticket purchases. The “History, Heritage and Hope” exhibit houses original photographs, videos, and a boxcar used during the Holocaust.

The Holocaust Museum’s mission statement is ‘to empower people to make positive changes in the world’! It is home to the largest library of genocide and Holocaust documents in the United States.

Fort De Soto

For those interested in history, Fort de Soto should be on your list of best things to do in St. Petersburg, FL.

The fort dates back to the Civil War when it was used to block Tampa Bay. Named after the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, it was completed in 1900 and abandoned 23 years later.

During WWII it was used as a bombing range, and in 1962 was opened once again as a public park.

If museums are on your list of free things to do in St. Petersburg, check out the Quartermaster’s Museum, which does a great job of explaining the history of the fort. You can even explore a battery, and for those willing to climb the stairs you’ll be rewarded with a view of the gulf!

Open 7 days a week, from 7 am until dark, the entrance is free, but there is a $5 parking fee.

After you’ve explored Fort de Soto, you can then visit the other nearby beaches .

The Cider Press Café

The Cider Press Café makes our list of the best things to do in St. Petersburg as it is one of the best restaurants in St. Pete ! This Asian-inspired eatery in downtown St. Pete focuses on farm-fresh ingredients and is open daily from 12pm to 8 pm.

The restaurant’s focus is on “veganista” or someone who loves plant-based foods! Open for 5 years, they have an award-winning menu of delicious vegan options.

Standouts on the menu include bang bang shrimp, cauliflower bites, bahn-mi made with grilled seitan, ghost bean burger, avocado BLT, buffalo chick’n, and mac n’cheese.

For those visiting with families or friends, they offer several family-style meals that serve four people, such as stuffed peppers, or shepherd’s pie! Kombucha and a wide variety of hard ciders are also on the menu.

The Cider Press Café is a great lunch spot after exploring the murals or museums in downtown Saint Petersburg.

Morean Arts Center

The Morean Arts Center should be on your list of things to do in St. Petersburg Florida as the art gallery is free and open to the public. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 12 pm to 5 pm.

Founded in 1917 as the Art Club of St. Pete, the Morean Arts Center is home to the Art Gallery, Chihuly Museum, the Morean Center for Clay, the Bank of America Children Learning Center, and the Moran Glass Studio.

If you’re looking for interesting things to do in St. Pete, try a glassblowing class at the Moran Glass Studio, or stop in for a local demonstration Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm.

Or you could try a hands-on class at the Morean Center for Clay, open Tuesday through Saturday. There are 42 resident clay artists working at the museum, which is home to the largest pottery studio in the South.

The Bank of America Children’s Learning Center hosts story and art time on Saturday mornings. The Moran Arts Center holds many affordable classes and workshops open to the community.

Reduced admission for those on EBT or WIC admission to the museum is only $3! And first responders and medical workers and their families are $5!

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve

If you are looking for outdoor things to do in St. Petersburg, visit the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. It is a 245-acre protected preserve in St. Pete located on Lake Maggiore.

Open Tuesday through Friday 9 am to 6 pm and Saturday 7 am to 6 pm, facilities include water fountains, restrooms, picnic tables, playgrounds, and kayak rentals. Entrance costs $3 for adults and $1.50 for children.

There are 3 miles of trails, many of which are ADA friendly, but a tram tour does run at 1 pm, and on Saturday 10 am and 1 pm for $5 adult and $3 children.

The nature preserve is home to a bird of prey aviary for permanently injured birds now taken care of by park staff. At the nature preserve, you will see different ecosystems, from the marsh, swamp, pine flat woods, hammock, and sand scrub.

3 Daughters Brewing

Started in 2013 by Mike and Ty, 3 Daughters got its name from the owners asking how many beers they would have to sell to send three daughters to college. 3 Daughters Brewing made our list of best things to do in St. Petersburg Florida for those who want to visit a family-friendly brewery!

In 2013, the first beer was brewed after trying to make beer-battered fish, and it quickly outsold every other beer offered. The brewery is one of the largest independent breweries in Florida. Plus it’s home to the only seltzer made in Florida!

With a family-friendly environment, the brewery is home to live music and events, a tasting room, food trucks, and games. 3 Daughters Brewing offers a brewery tour for those wanting a behind-the-scenes look at the brewery and has 60 beers on tap.

St Pete Beach

Voted one of the best beaches in the US, it would impossible to visit St. Petersburg and not visit St. Pete Beach. Known for its white sands and stunning sunsets, St. Pete Beach is one of the best things to do in St. Petersburg.

Play in the emerald shallows, comb for shells or relax on the wonderfully clean, soft sand. The more adventurous folks may choose to kayak, windsurf, or parasail. The water at St. Pete Beach is always kept warm by breezes coming in from the gulf.

Restrooms are available at St. Pete Beach, and chairs and cabanas can be rented. However, be sure to pack your own lunch, as there isn’t food for sale on the beach itself.

Park & Rec DTSP

If you’re looking for a fun date night, one of the best things to do in St. Petersburg is to visit Park & Rec. This lively bar will fill you with nostalgia for the 90s as you play arcade games and drink a creative cocktail out of a Capri-sun-like pouch.

Their motto is “youth has no age”, so let yourself feel like a kid again. With both an indoor and outdoor section, you’ll be sure to have a blast playing pinball, cornhole, skee ball, giant Jenga, and giant beer pong. Or simply challenge your date to a game of pool. Meanwhile, snack on pizza, burgers, or fried Oreos.

A fun place to visit either day or night, Park & Rec is located in downtown St. Pete. It may soon become one of your favorite bars in St. Petersburg . (They have a Tampa location as well!)

Mahaffey Theater

For a more romantic date, one of the best things to do in St. Petersburg is to attend a show at the Mahaffey Theater. Performances at the Maffey Theater range from Broadway tours to pop and rock concerts, comedy shows, and classical music.

Located inside the newly-renovated Duke Energy Center for the Arts, the Maffey Theater has more than 2,000 seats in an elegant, old-fashioned concert hall with European-style box seats, but with up-to-date acoustics.

After the show, take your date for a stroll along the palm tree-lined waterfront, with views of Tampa Bay.

On this list of things to do in St. Petersburg Florida, we have chosen the best the Sunshine City has to offer. From free things such as museums, outdoor murals, and piers to amazing museums and hotels that should be on any list of things to do in St. Petersburg Florida, we hope you enjoy!

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