A Rough Overview of Tampa Bay

Downtown Tampa

Sprawled lazily across a hundred miles of Gulf coast from Crystal River south to Englewood lies the Greater Tampa Bay area, a loose confederation of cities, suburbs and exurbs anchored by Tampa and Saint Petersburg, the twin hubs of culture and commerce around which the area revolves and the place where I spent most of my life. The area is home to a wide array of activities and places to explore, from the cityscapes its two largest constituent cities to semi-exotic island beaches, from highly-cultivated orange groves to verdant parks and just about everything in between.

Fog sometimes visits in fall

The city of Tampa is my preferred haunt, boasting some 330,000 residents spanning from the Interbay peninsula to the Pasco county line and it is here where you'll find the most urban setting in the region. Tampa hosts a number of attractions for a number of different tastes. Visitors can dance the night away in Ybor City, mix and mingle with the young urban professional crowd in SoHo, take in a Lightning hockey game at the St. Pete Times Forum (named for the paper that bought the rights to the building, not the city in which it is located) in downtown, a football game at Raymond James Stadium or visit Busch Gardens for some theme park fun.

Gulf Coast sunsets are captivating

If the beach is more your style, then the Pinellas county side of the bay is the one you're looking for. The best beaches are to be found on the barrier islands that stretch the length of the county's coast and draw millions each year. Clearwater and St. Pete Beach are two of the more popular and commercial beaches, but for those looking to get away from the din of the crowds the county offers Fort De Soto in the south and Honeymoon Island in the north. They'll each cost you a few bucks to get into, but I can tell you from personal experience that they're both worth the price of admission.

St. Petersburg is also home to one of my favorite cultural icons, the Salvador Dali Museum. The museum boasts of having "the world's most comprehensive collection of the renowned Spanish artist's work." It is here that you'll find seven of the painter's 18 original masterworks, including my personal favorite The Hallucinogenic Toreador. Central Avenue in St. Pete is a good place to look for nightlife on the western side of the bay. The area has been made-over in recent years to house a younger more artistic crowd which has given rise to a distinctive culture all its own. Not far from this hipster hangout is Tropicana Field, a distinctly shaped dome that houses the Tampa Bay Rays.