A Superbowl win, three Stanley Cup titles, and a trip to the World Series. The city of Tampa Bay is a great place to be a sports fan. But that’s just one of many facets of a thriving metropolitan region that too often takes a back seat to Florida’s more glamorous East Coast destinations. The city’s namesake bay is the state’s largest open-water estuary, encompassing 400 square miles of water. On its western shore, the city of St. Petersburg nurtures a rich art and culinary scene, while Gulf Coast beach towns face powder-soft white sands.
The historic Ybor City district, once the world’s leading cigar producer, still echoes to a Latin beat and is always up for a good party. Tampa Riverwalk emphasizes the outdoors with walking, biking, and jogging paths within a park setting where water views provide the atmosphere for gastropubs and patio bars. Beyond the city lights, central west Florida transitions to pastoral landscapes of oak-shaded backroads and small towns. Landscapes of forest and rolling hills are punctuated by freshwater springs that flow from deep underground reservoirs to fill sparkling pools and crystal-clear flowing streams.
