2 Best Sights in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

A marble-lined, fountain-bedecked dining and shopping hub known in its previous (albeit less upscale) incarnation as Baywalk, this downtown St. Pete shopping center is home to trendy national-brand boutiques (Tracy Negoshian, White House/Black Market), spas for both men and women (The Shave Cave, Marilyn Monroe Spa), and restaurants (Sea Salt, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Locale) as well as a 20-screen movie theater.

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.