Tampa
Although glitzy Miami seems to hold the trendiness trump card and Orlando is the place your kids will want to visit annually until they hit middle school, the Tampa Bay area, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and the Gulf Beaches, has that elusive quality that many attribute to the "real Florida." The state's second-largest metro area is less fast-lane than its biggest (Miami) or even Orlando, but its strengths are just as varied, from broad cultural diversity to a sunset-worshipping beach culture. Florida's third-busiest airport, a vibrant business community, world-class beaches, and superior hotels and resorts - many of them historic - make this an excellent place to spend a week or a lifetime.
When to Go
The best weather and the greatest crowds occur from December until May, when temperatures average between 60°F and 80°F (15°C and 27°C) and rainfall is slight. From June to September, soaring heat and pouring rain combine to create one huge open air humidor, a dramatically clammy and unpleasant atmosphere in which ferocious thunderstorms are frequent early-afternoon visitors.
This is also part of Florida's hurricane season, which officially runs from June through November.
What to See
Busch Gardens : Anheuser-Busch's addition to the world of Floridian them parks. Eight miles northeast of the city, Busch Gardens looms as Tampa's biggest tourist haven housing attractions such as Gwazi, The Anheuser Busch Hospitality House, and the Edge of Africa safari experience. More than 2,700 animals are just part of the attraction at the sprawling, carefully manicured site. Themed sections attempt to capture the spirit of 19th-century Africa, and a monorail ride simulates an African safari -- taking in free-roaming zebras, giraffes, rhinos, lions, and other exotic animals. The 335-acre park also has live entertainment, animal exhibits, shops, restaurants, games, and thrill rides, including six roller coasters.
St Pete Beach: Around on the St Petersburg-occupied side of Tampa Bay, at the southern end of the low wafer-thin island of Long Key wrapped around the city's Gulf coast, are the enticingly blue waters and expansively white sands of St Pete Beach. It's a popular day trip from Tampa's metropolitan neighbour, St Petersburg. Dominating part of the foreshore is the big pink outline of the Don CeSar Beach Resort, built in 1928 and a regular stopover for well-mannered society types like F Scott Fitzgerald) and Al Capone. The place was completely restored in the late 1980s and recommenced its career as a resort hotel shortly after.
Clearwater Beach: Clearwater Beach is on a narrow island between Clearwater Harbor and the gulf. It's a popular hangout for teens and college students. It’s a fine spot for swimming and sunbathing not to mention canoeing, kayaking, cycling and shell-collecting. If you get bored sitting in the sun, have a look at the local nonprofit aquarium which dedicates itself to rescuing and nursing marine animals including dolphins, turtles and sea otters. Clearwater's Pier 60 is besieged by craft stalls and buskers around sunset from Thursday to Monday.
Florida International Museum: In a wonderful conversion of a downtown department store, the Florida International Museum in downtown St. Petersburg has become a major focal point of the central business district. John F. Kennedy, the Exhibition, is the largest display of John F. Kennedy memorabilia in the world. It fills 20 galleries and includes a full-sized copy of the Oval Office, complete with Kennedy's desk and the crayons he kept inside for his small children. There's also a replica of the Rose Garden, even a depiction of the Dallas motorcade with a presidential limousine. The museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, typically has at least one major, non-Kennedy-related exhibit each year.
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