Tampa

There's a lot more to Tampa than we expected. A medium-sized city on Florida's Gulf Coast, Tampa has much to recommend it: impressive museums, winning sports teams, rocking nightlife and a wealth of tourist attactions. Whatever your interest, Tampa can probably fulfill it. Tampa's crown jewel is Ybor City, the historic Cuban neighborhood. It's fun to amble down its shady brick-paved streets, following your nose to bakeries to buy fragrant loaves of Cuban bread or to shops where tabaqueros hand roll fine cigars. The sounds of lively Spanish conversation might lead you to an old-fashioned domino parlor where grandfathers with gnarled hands gather to play in friendly neighborhood matches. Antique shops, boutiques and art galleries beckon. After dark, the nightclubs throw open their doors, and Ybor City metamorphoses into the Tampa hot spot. Stylish young party animals come out to prowl the area's many hip bars.

Tampa Travels & Tours

Busch Gardens Despite heavy competition from the parks in Orlando, Tampa's Africa-themed amusement park remains one of Florida's leading attractions. Located on the grounds of a former brewery, it has nearly 2,700 animals, including giraffes, gorillas, zebras and buffalo. The Rhino Rally attraction features Land Rovers that travel over extreme terrain to allow close-up views of endangered white rhinoceroses, Asian elephants, crocodiles and other exotic animal species. There also are an aviary and a few continental anomalies -- koalas, for instance. Stage entertainment ranges from ice shows to musical theater. Seminole Casino Tampa Popular with snowbirds, gamblers and bingo lovers, this Native American-owned and -operated casino has poker and electronic games. Florida Aquarium More than 10,000 aquatic plants and animals -- some native to Florida, others from all over the world -- can be found at this waterfront institution. Frights of the Forest focuses on species of the Amazon rain forest -- vultures, vampire bats, electric eels and poison-arrow frogs, among others. The interactive No BoneZone, an exhibit of animals without backbones, has low tanks so young visitors can touch crabs, urchins and other wiggly invertebrates. Another display follows a drop of Florida water from freshwater springs and limestone caves to the rivers and then into the open ocean. Adventure Island This water park offers a spectacular array of opportunities to cool off with its 30 acres/12 hectares of waterslides, corkscrews, waterfalls and other water attractions. The newest attraction, Wahoo Run, features semienclosed corkscrew slides and plunges at 15 ft/5 m per second into a splash pool. Four waterfall "curtains" descend at strategic intervals to provide a thorough soaking. Lowry Park Zoo This highly regarded small zoo just west of downtown has 41 acres/16.5 hectares of natural habitat. It's home to the Pepsi Manatee and Aquatic Center, one of three manatee hospital and rehabilitation facilities in Florida. More than 1,500 animals can also be found at the zoo, with its free-flight lorikeet aviary, children's petting zoo and educational center. Stingray Bay is an interactive exhibit that allows you to reach in the water and touch the stingrays. The zoo's newest attraction is Wallaroo Station, an Australian-themed children's zoo with a mini-water park. Ybor City State Museum The displays found in the century-old Ferlita Bakery building examine the political, social and cultural influences that shaped early Tampa. Watch a demonstration of cigar rolling, the skill that epitomizes Ybor City's early years. The cigar workers' cottages (called canones or shotgun houses because of their long, straight-through architecture) and the spectacular gardens surrounding the museum, round out impressions of the district's history. Museum of Science and Industry An educational playground with 450 hands-on exhibits and interactive attractions, including the Gulf Coast hurricane display, which lets you feel the force of high-speed winds in a safe setting. Be sure to experience the MOSIMAX Theater, where you can see more of wild nature -- from an erupting volcano to the Amazon rain forest -- on an 85-ft/26-m screen. Tampa Museum of Art Known for its collection of classical as well as contemporary painting and sculpture exhibits, this innovative institution is right on the Hillsborough River. The museum has a renowned collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and features a Florida Gallery showcasing the state's acclaimed and emerging artists. Henry B. Plant Museum This museum will allow you to take a walk back in time to Florida at the turn of the 20th century. It commemorates the railroad and steamship baron who had a role in Tampa's early history. Housed in what was once the Tampa Bay Hotel (built by Plant in 1891), it's one of the finest examples of Moorish architecture in the Western Hemisphere. Now part of the University of Tampa, the building -- with opulent domes, arches and minarets -- houses Victorian art, original furnishings and a permanent exhibit about the Spanish-American War, in which the hotel played a large part. The Tampa Bay History Center Displays artifacts relating to the area's eclectic cultural history, as well as occasional traveling exhibits from other museums. View permanent exhibits about the Spanish exploration of Florida, the early Native Americans who populated the area, the first Cuban immigrants involved in the cigar trade and Florida's wartime efforts.

Nature and Adventure

Tampa also has real animals in abundance: sharks and rays at the Florida Aquarium and the more lovable manatees at the zoo. At Busch Gardens (it predates Walt Disney World), you can ride across re-created African plains in a safari truck, stopping to hand feed roaming giraffes. Only a 30-minute drive away are St. Petersburg (or St. Pete, as it's known locally) and the gorgeous Gulf Coast beaches. Once primarily a retirement spot, the Tampa-St. Petersburg area now attracts people of all ages. Sun, warm temperatures and water are Tampa's selling points. Accompanying the warm weather is high humidity, which can be uncomfortable in the summer. Temperatures generally stay around 82 F/28 C. Be sure to use sunscreen -- the Florida sun is relentless. Winters are mild and generally dry, but with occasional cold snaps. Temperatures hover around 60 F/15 C. Some winter mornings may see near-freezing temperatures, but rest assured that by midday the warmth will return.

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