Hotels in Tampa

Tampa is the working city of Florida's Gulf Coast, with more substance than the resort strips and a genuinely distinctive history. Ybor City was built by Cuban, Spanish and Italian cigar workers in the 1880s and remains a National Historic Landmark District, with wrought-iron balconies, social clubs and the original Columbia Restaurant, Florida's oldest.

Downtown has been reshaped by the Riverwalk, a 4 km waterfront path linking the Tampa Museum of Art, the Florida Aquarium and Sparkman Wharf, and by Water Street. Busch Gardens is the major theme park, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Lightning both draw serious crowds.

Tampa itself faces the bay rather than the Gulf, so for beaches you cross the causeways to St Pete, Clearwater or the quieter Caladesi and Fort De Soto, all within 45 minutes. Orlando's parks are 90 minutes east, which makes Tampa a cheaper and more characterful base for a combined trip.