Hi friends! I hope everyone had an amazing long weekend and a great start to your week so far. I spent my day off from work (MLK Day) sleeping in til almost noon and trying to catch up on rest. Now, as I’m sitting here gathering my thoughts from the events of this past weekend, I am typing a mile a minute and I’m truly SO excited to share everything with you about my stay at The Hotel Zamora.
The Hotel Zamora is a 4-star hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida located on St. Pete Beach. From the minute my friend, Kaitlin, and I landed at the airport on Friday morning, we knew we were in for a treat! Our Uber driver saw the location we were headed to, and he started ranting and raving about the hotel. He went on and on about how new the hotel was, how he’d heard great things about guests who had stayed there previously, how the rooftop was one of the best rooftops along the beach, and how the restaurant (Castile) was to die for. We couldn’t wait to experience all the hotel amenities for ourselves.
We landed in St. Pete around 11:30AM, but our check-in at The Hotel Zamora wasn’t until 4:00PM. When I called the hotel to see if we could possibly leave our luggage with the front desk, we were pleased to discover that they were able to accommodate us and let us into our room early! We changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach for a few hours to grab some beachy drinks. When we returned back to our room to change for dinner, we were surprised to see an adorable tray of fruit and chocolate covered strawberries, accompanied by a note that welcomed us to the hotel. How adorable is that? Talk about friendly staff!
As Kaitlin and I got ready for dinner, we ordered a bottle of champagne and celebrated the start of our girls weekend getaway. Seriously, is there anything better than drinking a bottle of champagne, getting dressed up, and dancing to some music with one of your best friends? NAME SOMETHING MORE FUN… I’LL WAIT.
Before heading to Castile for dinner, we checked out the rooftop bar, 360 Rooftop, which we had heard countless great things about. The view was incredible, and the drinks were even better! When we first began chatting with the bartender, neither Kaitlin or myself knew which cocktails to order. Everything looked so delicious! The bartender asked us what kinds of drinks we liked, and he told us he would surprise us. The drinks he made us were sooo tasty, and I would seriously go back there every weekend if I could!
After rooftop drinks, we headed downstairs to grab dinner at Castile (and you can check out their menu here). When I tell you everything on the menu was incredible…. I am not kidding. Naturally, I ordered my go-to drink; a vodka dirty martini. Kaitlin and I ordered a few things to share, and everything was absolutely delicious. If you are planning to visit The Hotel Zamora soon, eating dinner at Castile is a MUST. We ordered: fried burrata, pulp gallego, and the “Princess” sushi roll (lobster, tempura shrimp on top: eel, spicy mayo). Yes.. the food tasted as amazing as it sounds. For dessert, we ended the night with cappuccinos (with a splash of Bailey’s Irish cream). These were AMAZING, and I want another one righttttt now.
On Saturday, Kaitlin and I slept in and got a late start to the day. It’s extremely easy to sleep til mid-morning when you’re in a king-size bed that feels like an absolute cloud, so can you blame us?! We took our time getting ready and then headed back downstairs to Castile (can you tell we were obsessed with it?) for lunch, where we ordered mimosas and sat outside. The lunch view was AMAZING. Below, you’ll see the view from our table. We had a perfect view of the pool, ocean, and sunny blue skies.
For lunch, we ordered one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever had in my life, and I would seriously consider flying back to St. Pete just to order it again… and I am not joking. One small detail that may not mean much to some people, but I feel it’s worth mentioning — Kaitlin and I ordered a burger and Caesar salad to share. Previously, when I’ve split meals with friends at restaurants in the past, the food is typically brought out as it normally would be, and it would be up to me to split the food myself. However, the wait staff at Castile was kind enough to perfectly split the burger in half for us, and they even served us half of our salads in little salad dishes. How cute is that?! Again, I know that may seem like a small gesture, but I truly appreciated the great service.
After lunch, we headed down to the beach. Don’t wait to lay on the sand? Not a problem! Each room at The Hotel Zamora comes with two complimentary beach chairs from 9-5. Forgot a towel? No worries! The staff at the beach will have them ready and waiting for you. Plus, the towels are cute and yellow, which is always a plus. Right along the beach was an adorable tiki bar with easy access to food and beachy drinks. AKA, paradise!
On Sunday morning, we checked out at 11:00AM and made our way to the airport. Our stay was nothing short of amazing, and I highly recommend The Hotel Zamora to anyone looking to stay in the St. Pete area. I plan to return back time and time again, and refuse to stay anywhere else! I hope this blog post was helpful for anyone looking to book an unforgettable stay at an amazing hotel.
xo, Ashlen
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*Thank you Hotel Zamora for sponsoring this post!