lorithadel

Hi there,

My friend and I am planning a train trip down the South Atlantic from Philadelphia in June. We will be stopping at Charleston and Savannah, and I want to visit Florida since I've never been, but am debating between Tampa and Miami (and Orlando, but less so). Which city is more unique/interesting in terms of culture and the people, and also more walkable? We aren't too interested in all the touristy stuff (ie no amusement parks or museums or any of that, and beaches aren't a priority) and will be there at most 2 days.

Thanks for any help you could give me!!

nytraveler

Have spent minimal time in Miami (business only) but at least South Beach area is cute and walkable. Have been to Tampa twice on business - and found it to be very depressing, not walkable - and seemed to have quite a few dicey areas (even to a native New Yorker).

GoTravel

I think South Beach in Miami Beach would be the most walkable.

Two totally different cities. Miami is the capital of Latin America while Tampa is a Florida city.

Geckolips

Tampa downtown is just business buildings with workers during the day and empty at night. The area around the cruise ships is coming to life, but one nite going through the shops and a trip through the aquarium and you are done...and don't walk more than a block away. Ybor City is the "walk on the wild side" night life section of Tampa. I would not hang out there myself but many love it. During the day it is totally dead - absolutley nothing going on.
Downtown St. Petersburg has come to life and is on the other side of Tampa Bay. It has neat shops, a nice variety of restuarants and, museums, art galleries (Dali, Chahuli, Fine Arts, etc) but not a real "happenin" place necessarily. I tend to think you might like Miami South Beach just for the extreme contrast to Charleston and Savannah.

Tandoori_Girl

Other than Miami, which is a grand idea, another pleasant stop might be Sanford and Winter Park. Definitely don't take the train to Tampa. Tampa has not figured out mass transit. You get off the train in the middle of nothing. I don't think there's any taxis either. Downtown Tampa is not at all walkable nor livable.

danedon

Based on your criteria, i.e.: We aren't too interested in all the touristy stuff (ie no amusement parks or museums or any of that, and beaches aren't a priority) and will be there at most 2 days.
I would say go to Tampa. I believe it would be quite a "walk" from the train station to South Beach anyway! I'll bet all the answers up to now have been from prejudiced people that live in the Miami area!

There is quite a bit of historical areas to walk to around the train station in Tampa, and a short distance away is the campus of Tampa University. Formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel, Built between 1888 and 1891, the hotel was designed to surpass all other grand winter resorts. At a cost of $3 million, the 511-room giant rose to a flamboyant height of five stories, surrounded by ornate Victorian gingerbread and topped by Moorish minarets, domes and cupolas.

The rooms that once hosted Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, Sarah Bernhart , Babe Ruth (who signed his first baseball contract in the hotel’s grand dining room), Clara Barton, Stephen Crane, Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, the Prince of Wales, the Queen of England and many other celebrities of their day, are today classrooms, laboratories, public rooms, academic and administrative offices – the heart of the University that now fans out around Plant Hall.

A short walk away is a sidewalk known as the world's longest continuous sidewalk, Bayshore Boulevard borders Tampa Bay ... Bayshore Blvd is the longest continuous sidewalk in the world. Close by this sidewalk is a very old area of homes that you would find very interesting walking to see.

As a fellow walker I have answered because you were looking for something that is "walkable."

Judyrem

Gotravel...very cheeky ;-), but true about Miami!