Tampa Bay Florida

Tampa is the vastest city of the west coast in Florida. It is located in a beautiful area near the river Hillsborough and Gulf of Mexico is just an hour drive to the west. The city offers a wide pallet of activities from culture and art and represents also a transit city with an international airport. Tourits usually visit a theme park Busch Gardens (www.buschgardens.com) or rush to the beaches of Gulf Coast that are only half an hour drive far to the west. Tampa downtown is thoroughly designed, calm and compact. The main crowd-pullers are definitely local museum of art, an outstanding cinema built in Spanish Renaissance and Tampa hotel. If you do not find what you were looking for in Tampa downtown, you will surely find it in Ybor City (www.floridastateparks.org/yborcity, a quarter that is one mile off the downtown to the north-east and takes pride in many historical sights reminding you the heady days of fights for independence in Cuba. Let's mention even Hyde Park with its mixture of masterpieces from the Middle Ages, Gothic style, Tudors' or colonial, or even modern fashion shops that can be find in the area of Old Hyde Park Village.

Accommodation

However, Tampa offers many possibilities for accommodation, cheaper hotels are difficult to find. Cheaper motels are located on Ybor City boulevard and the only camp can be found in the national park Hillsborough River.

• www.grams-inn-tampa.com - cheaper accommodation facilities in outskirts of the city
• www.tahitianinn.com - comfortable accommodation

Dining

You can choose from a large variety of diffent restaurants – except the downtown. Probably the best and the most interesting meals are served in Ybor City on Seventh Ave. Another great place is Hyde Park with a large number of restaurants. Please, bear in mind that most of the restaurants are open for lunches only.

Night life

At night Tampa offers mostly drinks and life rock music but even those who are interested in different kinds of enjoyment will be satisfied. Complete information about nightlife in Tampa is to be found in free weekly magazine Weekly Planet (every Thursday or on www.weeklyplanet.com. There are two newly opened shopping stores Channelside and International Plaza and Bay Street (www.shopinternationalplaza.com)

Useful information at:

• www.visittampabay.com