Tampa Attractions

With the world's tourism mecca--Orlando--just 70 miles up the road, it's easy to overlook the cities by the bay as major travel destinations. But Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and their adjoining communities have a great deal to offer the visitor. And yes, there's a theme park here, too: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay preceded Walt Disney's dream by 12 years.

But there are also some things Mickey and friends don't have. Stretching for almost 35 miles from Crystal Beach south to Fort De Soto Park are the Gulf Coast's broad, graceful, white-sand beaches--some of the prettiest in the country. With varied cultural offerings, water recreation opportunities and savory Spanish- and Cuban-influenced cuisine, Tampa Bay merits a closer look.

Tampa Bay's top attractions fall into four fun-packed categories--theme parks, museums, outdoor activities and historic sites. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the area's only theme park, predates Disney's earliest Orlando park by several years, making it something of a regional pioneer in family oriented entertainment. Through exciting rides, live entertainment and natural animal habitats, Busch Gardens presents a grand tour of Africa. A Serengeti safari among free-roaming animals, a soaking raft ride on the Congo River and a lowland gorilla domain plus Egyptian tombs, a Moroccan bazaar and syncopated drumbeats re-create the sights and sounds of exotic places known only to world travelers. Four unique steel roller coasters punch up this park's thrill factor.

Of the art, history, science and nature museums that dot culturally chic Tampa Bay, two attractions in Tampa exude exhibit excellence. The Florida Aquarium, set under a shell-shaped, glass and steel canopy, offers a marinelife roundup of more than 10,000 oceanic and freshwater creatures plus dive shows and personal interaction with sharks, rays and other species. You don't have to be a science geek to get into MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry), where practical applications put scientific principals into perspective for all age groups. Ride a bicycle across a balance beam and learn why the laws of physics won't let you fall off; or feel the power of nature as you sit in a hurricane-force wind chamber. And while you're at MOSI, take in an IMAX film or two.

The Salvador Dali Museum is another one of St. Petersburg's famed attractions. Within the world's most comprehensive grouping of Dali's works are seven of the artist's large-canvas masterpieces, including "Hallucinogenic Toreador" and the museum's newest acquisition, "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes a Portrait of Abraham Lincoln." This romp through the surreal life and artistic outpourings of a self-described genius-madman has real shock value. Shocking or disturbing might describe the effect that St. Pete's Florida Holocaust Museum has on guests, but a message of hope permeates the powerful images, personal accounts and artifacts that recount the 20th-century's most horrific event. Equally profound is the Auschwitz boxcar, one of only a few left in the world.

A retreat "where nature, art and history come together" aptly describes Pinewood Cultural Park, a three-in-one attraction in Largo, near Clearwater. Native plant collections thrive in the 150-acre Florida Botanical Gardens; works by a cadre of contemporary artists share gallery limelight at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art; and a collection of original historic buildings in Heritage Village presents a snapshot of Florida's settlement period. This lovely retreat is all it claims to be and more.

If lazing on a picture-perfect beach under the sunny sky is your idea of outdoor fun, here are some other passive pastimes that involve sun and sea. From Clearwater Beach, the yacht Starlite Majesty and the riverboat Show Queen explore Clearwater Harbor at a leisurely clip, while the speedboat Sea Screamer putters politely out of the harbor and then rips across the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, often preceded by a dolphin escort. Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise, on a reproduction galleon also departing from Clearwater Beach, weaves pirate lore with local history for one whale of a sail. Sea Life Safari in Clearwater educates passengers about native marine life through the use of licensed trawl nets. Starlite Princess Riverboat and the Dolphin Queen, both docked in St. Petersburg, cruise around serene Tampa Bay and along the inland waterways. You'll find similar tour operations in nearby Madeira Beach, St. Pete Beach and Tarpon Springs.

Take your inner child about 50 miles south on I-75 to Sarasota, the former winter home of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Steeped in its circus heritage, Sarasota also is rich with tangible treasures bequeathed to the state by John Ringling. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art holds a world-class collection of European masterworks amassed by the couple on their world travels in the early 1900s. Cà d'Zan (or House of John), the palatial Ringling mansion, reflects the family's passion for all things Venetian. Costumes, posters and nostalgia-evoking displays at The Circus Museum preserve the Ringling legacy and even have the potential to trigger a few happy childhood memories of your day under the big top.

In nearby Bradenton an important collection of Native American artifacts unearthed in Florida during the 1930s and '40s forms the core of the South Florida Museum. With cultural and natural history exhibits, a dome-style planetarium featuring digital astronomy shows, and a habitat for the state's oldest manatee born in a protective environment (Snooty marked his "golden" birthday in 1998), this attraction captures Florida's life stages like a cherished family scrapbook. Hope you brought a camera.

Immerse yourself in Ybor City's Cuban culture: Learn about this district's historic cigar industry at Centro Ybor Museum; take a walking tour offered by the Ybor City Museum; sample traditional café con leche and guava pastry for breakfast at La Tropicana Café; buy a painting executed in coffee or tobacco extract by local artist Arnold Martinez; and watch sensuous flamenco dancers while dining at the 100-year-old Columbia Restaurant. On weekends, live la vida loca (the crazy life) among thousands of club-hoppers along Seventh Avenue.

Don your beach attire and head to Fort De Soto Park, Caladesi Island State Park or Clearwater Beach. According to noted authority "Dr. Beach," these are some of the best sandy shores in the nation when it comes to climate, water, sand and safety.

Mingle with St. Petersburg locals at The Pier, a five-story inverted pyramid with observation decks, restaurants (including a Columbia Restaurant satellite), a wine store that offers tastings, souvenir shops, an aquarium, sightseeing boats, four-wheel cycle rentals and its own trolley service to downtown St. Pete.

Get acquainted with the man who turned Tampa into a winter resort at the Henry B. Plant Museum, which occupies a wing of the railroad magnate's luxury 1891 hotel. The preserved Victorian-era building, with its sprawling veranda, ornate gingerbread trim and signature silver minarets, is part of the University of Tampa.