diff --git a/src/types/string.rs b/src/types/string.rs
index 8e313edc..2bb5e3cd 100644
--- a/src/types/string.rs
+++ b/src/types/string.rs
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ impl PyString {
     /// (containing unpaired surrogates).
     #[inline]
     pub fn to_str(&self) -> PyResult<&str> {
+        #[cfg(not(Py_LIMITED_API))]
         unsafe {
             let mut size: ffi::Py_ssize_t = 0;
             let data = ffi::PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(self.as_ptr(), &mut size) as *const u8;
@@ -54,6 +55,16 @@ impl PyString {
                 Ok(std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(slice))
             }
         }
+        #[cfg(Py_LIMITED_API)]
+        unsafe {
+            let data = ffi::PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(self.as_ptr());
+            if data.is_null() {
+                Err(PyErr::fetch(self.py()))
+            } else {
+                let bytes = self.py().from_owned_ptr::<PyBytes>(data);
+                Ok(std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(bytes.as_bytes()))
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     /// Converts the `PyString` into a Rust string.