St. Pete Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida

The St. Pete Pier opens 30 minutes before sunrise and closes at 11:00 PM every day, and there is no charge to enter the Pier District.

The pier is at 800 2nd Avenue NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, and its website, run by the City of St. Petersburg, says most events are free while some ticketed special events are held through the year (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Security is on site 24 hours a day (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Individual venues keep their own hours, which the pier says are subject to change seasonally:

One venue outlasts the property: Pier Teaki, the rooftop bar, stays open until midnight Sunday through Thursday and until 2:00 AM on Friday and Saturday, even though the St. Pete Pier itself closes at 11:00 PM (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Three trams and four tram stops run through the district, each tram carries up to 46 passengers with room for wheelchair users, and the pier puts the wait at up to 10 minutes (St. Pete Pier FAQ). There are no wheelchair or stroller rentals (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the City of St. Petersburg's St. Pete Pier FAQ, parking, attractions, art and events pages, PSTA's Downtown Looper page and the city's 2025 financial report.

The St. Pete Pier's Dolphin and Pelican lots cost $2 an hour on weekdays and $2.50 an hour on weekends for the first four hours, with a six hour limit.

Weekday rates run from 12:00 AM Monday to 5:00 PM Friday: $2 an hour for four hours, $3 for the fifth hour and $4 for the sixth, or $15 for six hours (St. Pete Pier, Getting Here and Parking). Weekend rates, from 5:00 PM Friday to 11:59 PM Sunday, are $2.50 an hour for four hours, $3.50 for the fifth and $4.50 for the sixth, or $18 for six hours (St. Pete Pier parking). Pay at the license plate pay stations by card or cash, or in ParkMobile under Zone 2015; lot enforcement runs 24 hours a day (St. Pete Pier FAQ). On-street meters along Pier Drive cost $2.50 an hour for three hours and $5 for the fourth, a four hour limit, enforced 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily (St. Pete Pier parking).

The pier has more than 500 on-site spaces and six electric vehicle charging stations in the Pelican lot; charging is free, but the normal parking rate applies and the Shell Recharge app is required (St. Pete Pier parking; St. Pete Pier FAQ). Overnight parking is not permitted, and monthly parking is not offered in the pier lots (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

The practical tip is timing. The pier says parking demand peaks on Fridays from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM and Saturdays from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and points drivers at those times to the Sundial Parking Garage, entered from 2nd Street North just south of 2nd Avenue North, and the Al Lang Parking Lot, entered from 1st Avenue South between Beach and Bayshore Drive (St. Pete Pier parking). The Sundial garage also takes stays longer than six hours (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Any vehicle needing more than one space cannot park on the St. Pete Pier; buses and RVs up to 30 feet can load and unload in the Pelican lot bus lane, and longer vehicles must load off the property (St. Pete Pier parking).

The free Downtown Looper stops at Bayshore Drive and 2nd Avenue NE at the St. Pete Pier entrance, and the SunRunner's closest stop is 5th Street N, Stop #1111.

PSTA describes the Looper as always free, running seven days a week, Monday to Friday 7:00am to 10:00pm and Saturday and Sunday 8:00am to 10:00pm, with service every 15 to 20 minutes (PSTA, Downtown Looper). The pier's FAQ says the Looper stops at the Sundial garage and the pier entrance every 15 minutes, so the two official pages differ on frequency; PSTA also posts a timetable with departure times by stop, where the stop is named Bayshore + 2nd Ave N (St. Pete Pier FAQ; PSTA). The PSTA Central Avenue Trolley has a stop on Bayshore Drive just south of 2nd Avenue (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

From the SunRunner stop at 5th Street N, the pier site's directions are to walk toward the water along 1st Ave N; the pier entrance is ahead at South Straub Park (St. Pete Pier, Getting Here and Parking). The Cross Bay Ferry from Tampa is not running, and the pier page says it is anticipated to start again in the fall of 2026 (St. Pete Pier parking).

By car from I-275, take I-375, which becomes 4th Avenue North, to its end at Beach Drive; to skip some traffic, the pier suggests a left on Beach Drive, a right on 5th Avenue North and a right on Bayshore Drive, with the entrance on the next left (St. Pete Pier parking). Boaters can use a limited number of short-term slips at the St. Pete Pier, first come, first served, with no reservations (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

The St. Pete Pier allows leashed pets, bicycles at 5 mph and alcohol in Pier-approved cups, but not electric scooters, electric bikes, skateboards or fishing outside the Fishing Deck.

Fishing is permitted only on the Fishing Deck east of the Pier Point building, from 30 minutes before sunrise until 11:00 PM, under City Code 7-5 (St. Pete Pier FAQ). The deck has a fish cleaning station and access to Gator Jim's Tackle for frozen bait, gear, tackle and nets (St. Pete Pier, Visit the Pier).

Pets must be on a leash of six feet or less and under the handler's control, and dogs are not allowed on the Majeed Foundation Splash Pad or on Spa Beach, under City Code Chapter 4 (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Alcohol must be in a Pier-approved cup from a Pier restaurant or cafe, and no one may bring alcohol onto the St. Pete Pier (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

Bicycles must keep to the posted 5 mph limit, and electric bicycles are not permitted (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Electric scooters and other motorized recreational vehicles are kept to Pier Drive and barred from the Pier District and its walkways under City Code 26-404, and skateboards and longboards are not allowed on the walkways at all (St. Pete Pier FAQ). For groups of 50 people or less, picnic areas and shade structures are first come, first served and cannot be rented; for groups of 50 or more, the FAQ directs organizers to Pier Management for Use Agreement terms and pricing (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

The St. Pete Pier has seven restaurants, a beach, a playground and splash pad, the Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center, a history museum, a fishing deck and outdoor public art.

The restaurants named on the FAQ are Teak, the rooftop bar Pier Teaki, Driftwood Cafe, Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille, Fresco's Waterfront Bistro, Spa Beach Bistro and Perry's Porch (St. Pete Pier FAQ). The Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center sits on the over-water walkway approaching the Pier Point and is run by Tampa Bay Watch, an environmental organization focused on the Tampa Bay estuary (St. Pete Pier, Visit the Pier). Spa Beach lets downtown visitors launch a kayak or paddleboard without driving to the Gulf beaches, and the Majeed Foundation Coastal Thicket is an ADA-accessible, lighted boardwalk through native vegetation on the north side (St. Pete Pier).

Public art includes Myth (Red Pelican) by Nathan Mabry, a 10-foot-tall aluminum sculpture at the entrance inspired by the brown pelican, St. Petersburg's official bird since 2020; Morning Stars by Xenobia Bailey, a mosaic about 23 feet wide; Olnetopia by Nick Ervinck near the Pier Point; and First Flight by Mark Aeling, a life-sized Benoist biplane at Benoist Plaza (St. Pete Pier, Public Art). The pier's district map lists Janet Echelman's Bending Arc as temporarily closed (St. Pete Pier).

The St. Pete Pier's currently listed signature events include a Costumed Dog Parade on October 24, a monthly Flicks and Food Trucks movie night and a fall festival with a pumpkin patch.

The Costumed Dog Parade is listed for October 24 from 4 to 8 PM at Family Park, with the parade at 6 PM and registration at $20 plus taxes and fees per dog (St. Pete Pier, Signature Events). Flicks and Food Trucks runs every third Friday with a free outdoor movie; visitors bring chairs and blankets (St. Pete Pier events). The St. Pete Fall Festival, Putt the Pier: Fall Pumpkin Edition and the St. Pete Pier Pumpkin Patch round out the fall list (St. Pete Pier events).

For planning, the St. Pete Pier management office answers at (727) 893-7248 from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday to Friday, and the events team at (813) 464-1657 (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Trams can be reserved through SP+ management at (727) 244-6189, and the Spa Beach Park Pavilion can be booked in advance through Pier Management (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

The current St. Pete Pier, a 26-acre district with a 1,380-foot pier, opened on July 6, 2020, as the latest of eight piers on the city's timeline of the downtown waterfront since 1889.

The pier's timeline also lists the 1900 Fountain of Youth Pier, 2,000 feet long and demolished in 1927 (St. Pete Pier, Visit the Pier). On January 1, 1914, the first flight of the world's first airline left from the Central Yacht Basin by the Municipal Recreation Pier for Tampa, which the First Flight sculpture marks today (St. Pete Pier; St. Pete Pier, Public Art). The city's own history page says the Inverted Pyramid, successor to the Million Dollar Pier, closed in 2013 to make way for the 26-acre pier that opened in 2020 (City of St. Petersburg, History of St. Pete).

The St. Pete Pier is run by the city itself. The city's 2025 financial report says the city assumed direct management of The Pier in fiscal 2022 from a third-party management company, and it counted six full-time Pier positions on September 30, 2025 (City of St. Petersburg, 2025 ACFR). The Digital Towns St. Petersburg landmarks hub covers the other downtown waterfront landmarks.