it's probably one of the most overlooked
places in Florida and I'm going to tell
you why it shouldn't be and what you can
do there
I'm Gary beverage of tips for travelers
I'm in Tampa Florida it's the third
biggest city in Florida but probably one
of the most ignored by many tourists
something I think should change there
are 11 things that I discovered and saw
that I think you will also find
fantastic and interesting my favorite
thing to do in Tampa is Busch Gardens
this is an amazing theme park it's
themed around Africa and it combines
wild animals and extreme thrill rides so
there are the most amazing selection of
animals in the Serengeti plane which you
can visit by either going on the train
ride which circles the whole park or
going on the incredible Serengeti Safari
where you get to actually get really
close to the animals and actually hand
feed the giraffes which is a fantastic
experience right across the park are a
whole range of amazing thrill rides and
roller coasters some of the most popular
rides include the Cheetah Hunt which is
a really fast roller coaster there's
cobras curse where you go in a vertical
lift face to face with a faing and then
you spin backwards and forwards as the
Congo River Rapids there's khumba
there's also the Stanley Falls flume
which is a boat ride which has a 40-foot
drop so whether you're into looking at
animals or you're a thrill seeker you'll
be satisfied at Busch Gardens for me the
second most amazing part of Tampa was
Ybor City was created by the vision of
one man the gent a Martinez ebo he
created what eventually became the cigar
capital of the world he set up and then
attracted many other cigar makers
largely from Cuba to move and set up in
Ybor City which was originally just a
swamp at its height in 1927 there was
over 200 cigar factories there's 10
blocks which are historic landmark
district and they are fascinating
stories don't just go and explore by
yourself I strongly recommend that you
go on a walking tour and really
understand the history and know what
you're seeing now one of the things you
must do if you go to Ybor is is head to
Lessig under Central
bakery credible bakeries became for over
100 years it makes the most phenomenal
Cuban bread Cuban sandwiches pastries
and cakes now another really important
thing to do is focus on the water and
the river Tampa has a beautiful
waterfront make sure that you actually
get and explore the river and there's
three key ways of doing that first of
all is the parrot water taxi and they
travel along the Hillsborough River and
the garrison Channel and it's a great
way of seeing Tampa and whoever's
captaining the ship will give you
commentary now if you're feeling more
energetic is the Tampa Bay Water bikes
so you can jump on them and you can
peddle your way along the river it's
really good fun really easy to do and
it's a great way of seeing the river and
Tampa another great option is the Tampa
Riverwalk and it starts at the
Convention Center and you basically now
walk right along the river either with
walkways that have been built along the
river or paths and you can stroll your
way or cycle away for miles and miles
and miles now another thing that would
recommend you go and see is the Henry B
Plant Museum you can't miss this
building you'll see it on the rivers
tour you'll see it when you travel
around the city the actual building
itself used to be the Tampa Bay Hotel
this originally was built as a very
upmarket hotel resort by Henry B plant
who built the railroad which stretched
right across Florida and he built a
series of hotels to try and attract the
wealthy most of the building is now
occupied by the University of Tampa but
a big part of the ground floor is the
Henry be plant Museum and inside there
they have the original artifacts
original furniture paintings carpets and
it is a fascinating history of his role
in putting Tampa on the map so next tip
is if you're looking for some culture
and some art whether it is a fantastic
Museum of Art and it's renowned for not
only having a great art collection but
it has a beautiful view of the city from
the plaza in front of the Museum of Art
but the museum itself has a fantastic
collection it has ancient Greek through
to Rome and it has pop artwork lots of
traveling exhibitions
if you're looking for a little bit of
culture and art is a fantastic Museum I
I really enjoyed it an enormous amount
now my next suggestion is zoo Tampa at
Lowry Park this is a really interesting
zoo it has a much more diverse range of
animals then you will see at Busch
Gardens it's not a particularly huge zoo
but does have a lot of options a lot of
choice of things to see the zoo also has
throughout the day a number of
interactive things that you can do so
for example one of the great fun things
as they had them a cow flyby where they
had some kids push a button release the
macaws and they flew all around about
people's heads and then you could watch
them being fed and hear about them and
there's various different experiences
throughout the day with differe animals
now my next tip and suggestion is the
Florida Aquarium this is a very
well-respected aquarium because not only
of its exhibitions that it has its
outreach program but also it focuses on
conservation in three key areas sharks
sea coral and sea turtles the credit has
a great location is right next to some
of the cruise terminal certificate
coming on cruise it's a very easy walk
to basically go and visit the aquarium
so if you're looking for entertainment
well there's two things that I would
strongly recommend you do one of which
is top Gulf it's a huge driving range
that has three levels where you hitting
balls and trying to get them into
various targets ooh - has great food and
is a huge amount of fun so if you're
looking for some entertainment topic of
is definitely one of them the other is
the David J Strauss Center for
Performing Arts this is a huge complex
there's actually five theaters you might
find the opera seasons on the orchestra
song and then they have a whole series
of big shows that are on tour people
temperate are extremely passionate about
sport there's three really important
teams that I recommend you focus on and
see if a games on why you're visiting so
first of all ice hockey they have a
professional team which is known as a
Tampa Bay Lightning if you're American
football the pro team is called the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and if you're into
baseball the team is called the Tampa
Bay Rays the Tampa food scene is
extremely dynamic there's lots happening
there's an incredible restaurant so I
had mazing range of food now one of the
things I would recommend that you
though is make sure that you go and
visit and eat at these really new
emerging food halls one of them is
called armature works it's in this
beautiful restored building whether you
know trolleybuses used to be stored the
other one which I really loved is the
hall on Franklin going to eat at these
new food halls is an absolute must to
and something very exciting with in
Tampa know what about shopping well
there's two things I'd suggest you focus
on the first is a place called Hyde Park
Village there's also two fantastic
things to do there's the sprinkles
cupcake shop and what they have is a
cupcake ATM just down the road from that
is goodie goodie burgers this is a
famous chain which it disappeared and
has been resurrected a few years ago and
it recreates the whole goodie goodie
concept in terms of the look even some
of the furnitures the same many of the
recipes are the same but it was a tamp
institution and it's been brought back
if you're looking for more of a mall
type shopping activity I suggest you go
to the International Plaza and Bay
Street this is a huge sprawling more
with lots of shops and there's so much
to see and do in Tampa hopefully I've
shown you through these 11 things that I
found fascinating and really great fun
that it's definitely a place that you
should consider if you're heading to
Florida either as a destination in its
own right or as part of a bigger trip I
found this video interesting and helpful
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