14 Best Sights in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

Quiet, secluded, and still wild, this 3½-mile-long barrier island is one of the best shelling beaches on the Gulf Coast. The park also has plenty of sights for birders—from common sandpipers to majestic blue herons to rare black skimmers—and miles of trails through scrub oaks, saw palmettos, and cacti (with tenants such as armadillos, rabbits, and raccoons). The landscape also features mangroves and dunes, and the gradual slope of the sea bottom makes this a good spot for novice swimmers and kids.

You have to get to Caladesi Island by private boat (there's a 108-slip marina) or through its sister park, the Honeymoon Island State Recreation Area, where you take the hourly ferry ride across to Caladesi ($14 per person). You can also paddle yourself over in a kayak. Amenities: food and drink; showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; swimming.

On a narrow island between Clearwater Harbor and the Gulf is a stretch of sand known for its beach volleyball. Pier 60, which extends from shore here, is the site of a nightly sunset celebration, complete with buskers and artisans. It's one of the area's nicest and busiest beaches, especially on weekends and during spring break, but it's also one of the costliest in terms of parking fees, which can reach $3 per hour in city-owned lots and even higher in private parking areas. Note, too, that parking can be scarce and traffic can be gnarly, especially approaching sunset, so arrive early or plan to come on foot or by public transport. Amenities: food and drink; showers; toilets. Best for: partiers; sunset; walking.

This aquarium gives you the opportunity to participate in the work of saving and caring for endangered marine species. Many of the sea turtles, dolphins, and other animals living at the aquarium were brought here to be rehabilitated from an injury or saved from danger. The dolphin exhibit has an open-air arena giving the dolphins plenty of room to jump during their shows.

This aquarium is also home to Hope, star of the Dolphin Tale film franchise. The aquarium conducts tours of the bays and islands around Clearwater, including a daily cruise on a pontoon boat (you might just see a wild dolphin or two), and kayak tours of Clearwater Harbor and St. Joseph Sound.

It comes in two parts: a shady mainland picnic area with barbecues and a white-sand beach island. The causeway is a popular hangout for windsurfers, and the entire area is great for birding. The beach itself is very relaxed and family-friendly, and you can find kayak rentals on the island's eastern side. Amenities: parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming; windsurfing.

If you're seeking an almost completely undeveloped beach that's still easily accessible by car, this is one of your best bets. Northwest of Clearwater, this large state park offers some of the best shell hunting you'll find, as well as thousands of feet of serene beachfront. If you head north along the park road, you find extensive hiking trails, along which you'll see an astonishing array of birds. You can also catch a ferry to Caladesi Island from here. Amenities: food and drink; showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; swimming; walking.

When entering this Gulf Coast town, the road narrows to two lanes and is lined with upscale residential condos instead of busy hotels. There are quite a few beach access points, though your best bet is a landscaped facility offering ample parking, nearby food and drink, and an occasional event. Amenities: food and drink; parking; showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; swimming; walking.

This spot is the terminus of State Road 60 (hence the name), which runs under various names between Vero Beach on the east coast and Clearwater Beach on the west coast. Around 3:30 each day, weather permitting, the area surrounding the pier starts to liven up.

Local artists and craftspeople fill their folding tables with beaded jewelry, handmade skin-care products, and beach landscape paintings. Jugglers, musicians, break-dancers, and fire breathers perform. And the grand finale is the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico. On weekends when the weather is mild, there are also free, family-friendly movie screenings.

In addition to a lovely beach (a mellow alternative to the often-crowded Clearwater Beach to the north), this 95-acre park has plenty of green space, a playground, and a picnic area. Parking is a flat $5. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee) showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; sunset; swimming.

When pelicans and other birds become entangled in fishing lines, locals sometimes carry them to this nonprofit sanctuary dedicated to the rescue, repair, recuperation, and release of sick and injured birds. Formerly the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, this beachfront spot played a big role after the Gulf oil disaster in 2010. At times there are hundreds of land and sea birds in residence, including egrets, herons, gulls, terns, sandhill cranes, hawks, owls, and cormorants.

It's a replica of St. Sophia's in Istanbul and an excellent example of new Byzantine architecture. It's also the home of a weeping icon that received national and international headlines in the 1970s.

You may not be able to find monkeys in the wild in the Tampa Bay area (at least not naturally), but you can catch them bouncing around in their cages at this low-key facility. The alleged final home of Cheetah, the chimp who played Tarzan's sidekick for a couple of years in the 1930s, the sanctuary houses a whole slew of primates. One of the first you'll meet is Pongo, a massive Bornean orangutan; if he's in the right mood, he will greet you when you walk up.

The sanctuary also hosts baboons, lemurs, spider monkeys, macaques—you name it—many of them former pets or onetime laboratory test subjects that aren't deemed able to make it in the wild. There are also a few reptiles (you can get a picture of yourself holding a baby alligator) and a colorful array of birds. You may find the colorful plastic toys in the primate enclosures odd, but they actually serve to enhance the animals' senses.

As the name suggests, this beach park is known as one of the best places in North Pinellas County to watch the sunset. It's a small beach but a great place to barbecue. From April through November there's a weekly concert. Amenities: toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming.

Although it's not on par with larger facilities in Tampa and Clearwater, this is certainly an entertaining and interactive attraction. There are some good exhibits, including a 120,000-gallon shark tank complete with a coral reef. (Divers feed the sharks several times daily.) Also look for tropical fish exhibits and a tank where you can touch baby sharks and stingrays.

Paralleled by a busy boulevard lined with sponge shops and Greek restaurants, this several-blocks-long waterfront showcases Tarpon Spring's Greek roots as well as the industry that first made the town thrive over a century ago. Stroll along the docks, and tons of small boutiques, bakeries specializing in baklava and the like, and several boat tours of the surrounding waters. Pop into the Sponge Docks Museum to see a film about the much-sought-after creatures from the phylum porifera and how they helped the town prosper in the early 1900s. You'll come away converted to (and loaded up with) natural sponges.