17 Best Sights in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

This popular beach has fine, powdery quartz sand that squeaks under your feet, very much like the sand along the state's northwestern coast. You'll also find 40 acres of nature trails and tons of amenities. Don't forget to bring a volleyball—or a tennis racket. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; toilets. Best for: partiers; sunset; swimming; walking.

Roller coasters and other thrill rides are the biggest draw at this theme park, which has some 4 million visitors annually. The twisting Tigris, with a 50-foot skyward surge and dramatic drops, is one of Florida’s tallest coasters. The Iron Gwazi, at more than 200 feet, is the tallest hybrid roller coaster in North America, as well as the fastest and steepest hybrid coaster in the world. The Serengeti Flyer features back-to-back seating in gondolas that swing ever higher and faster as the ride progresses.

The park also has a world-class zoo—with more than 2,000 animals and a live entertainment venue—that provides a full day (or more) of fun for the whole family. The Wild Oasis exhibit puts Bengal tigers center stage and at eye level—allowing you to view them from underground caves and underwater windows. In the 335-acre adventure park's habitats, you can spot some of the world's most endangered and exotic animals. For the best sightings, come early, when it's cooler. Also, to beat the crowds, start in the back of the park and work your way around clockwise. Within this area is also the Wild Oasis realm offering kid-friendly rides and immersive experiences that are designed to entertain and educate.

Catering to the shorter set, the Sesame Street Safari of Fun is a 5-acre kids' playground with themed rides, shows, and water adventures. The Air Grover roller coaster takes kids (and parents) on mini-dives and twisty turns over the Sahara, while Jungle Flyers gets everyone swinging and screeching. Cool off at Congo River Rapids, Stanley Falls (a flume ride), or Bert and Ernie's Watering Hole—complete with bubblers, geysers, water jets, and dumping buckets. Character lunches are available (but you might want to wait until after your rides).

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 ($20 per person). You can also paddle yourself over in a kayak.

An electrifying 10,000-square-foot, Albert Alfonso–designed building is home to world-renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly's work. Here, impossibly vibrant, larger-than-life pieces such as Float Boat and Ruby Red Icicle sit next to some of the famed sculptor's smaller and more under-the-radar works. Docent-led tours are available for groups of 10 or more and must be scheduled in advanced. 

Each display is perfectly lighted against a shade of gray paint handpicked by Chihuly himself, which adds to the drama of the designs. Check out the gift shop at the end if you'd like to take some of the magic home with you. Your admission includes access to the Morean Arts Center's glassblowing studio, where you can watch resident artists create a unique glass piece before your eyes.

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 $3.50 per hour in some 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; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: partiers; sunset; walking.

This is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sanctuary for the manatee. Kings Bay, around which manatees congregate in winter (generally from November to March), feeds crystal-clear water into the river at 72°F year-round. This is one of the sure-bet places to see manatees in winter since hundreds congregate near this 90-acre refuge. The small visitor center has displays about the manatee and other refuge inhabitants.

If you want to get an even closer look at these gentle giants, several dive companies provide opportunities for you to swim among them—if you don't mind shelling out some extra cash, donning a wet suit, and adhering to some strict interaction guidelines. In warmer months, when most manatees scatter, the main spring is fun for a swim or scuba diving.

Inside and out, the building housing the waterfront Dalí Museum, which opened on 1/11/11 (Dalí is said to have been into numerology), is almost as remarkable as the Spanish surrealist's work. The state-of-the-art structure incorporates a surreal geodesic glass structure called the Enigma, as well as the outdoor Avante-garden, and a DNA-inspired spiral staircase leading up to the exhibition of artworks. And all this even before you've seen the collection, which is one of the most comprehensive of its kind—courtesy of Ohio magnate A. Reynolds Morse, a friend of Dalí's.

Here you can scope out his early impressionistic works and see how the painter evolved into the visionary he's now seen to be. The mind-expanding paintings in this Downtown headliner include Eggs on the Plate without the Plate, The Hallucinogenic Toreador, and more than 90 other oils. Another 2,000 additional works include watercolors, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and objets d'art. The museum also hosts temporary collections from the likes of Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. Free hour-long tours are led by well-informed docents.

The new Dalí Alive 360° brings the artist's work to life in this immersive digital dome.

Here you can see many manatees and several species of fish through a floating glass observatory known as the Fish Bowl—except, in this case, the fish are outside the bowl and you are inside it. The park's wildlife walk trails lead you to excellent manatee, alligator, and other animal programs.

Among the species are bobcats, a western cougar, white-tailed deer, a black bear, pelicans, herons, snowy egrets, river otters, whooping cranes, and even a hippopotamus named Lu—a keepsake from the park's days as an exotic-animal attraction. Boat cruises on Pepper Creek lead you to the Homosassa wildlife park, (which takes its name from a Creek word meaning "place where wild peppers grow").

Spread over five small islands, 1,136-acre Fort De Soto Park lies at the mouth of Tampa Bay. It has 7 miles of waterfront (much of it beach); two fishing piers; a 4-mile hiking, cycling, and skating trail; picnic and camping grounds (seven picnic shelters still lack tables, though all 15 grills have been replaced); and a historic fort that kids of any age can explore. For those traveling with their canine family members, there is a long and popular dog beach just north of the main fishing pier. Its namesake fort was built on the southern end of Mullet Key to protect sea lanes in the Gulf during the Spanish-American War; some areas around the fort are still closed due to hurricane damage.

Roam the fort or wander the beaches of any of the islands within the park. Kayaks and beach cruisers are available to rent, and mementos can be found at a souvenir shop/grill on the park's north side.

Dade City is known mostly for its strawberries, but word is spreading about another, more unusual attraction: the graceful giraffes at this nearly 50-acre ranch. You can view them on a tour—in a safari-style vehicle, on the back of a camel, or aboard a Segway—and hand-feed them cabbage leaves. Other animals that roam the grounds here include zebras and ostriches, a pair of pygmy hippos, and a giant porcupine. In enclosures near the ranch's welcome center and gift shop, you can watch guinea pigs chomp on sweet-potato chunks, hold a baby goat, and feed lemurs or bongos (antelopes). You can also feed and help bathe a pair of rhinos. Most of the activities require an extra fee.

The ranch's proprietors have encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world, and the overall experience is meant to impart a sense of connection with the animal kingdom and the environment. Tours, which start at 11 am and 2 pm, take about 1½ hours, and reservations are required.

Administered by Florida State University, this 20-acre waterfront compound encompasses the entire estate of circus magnate John Ringling and his wife, Mable. This includes not only the museum built to house their enormous personal art collection, but also their Ca' d'Zan mansion and its expansive gardens; the Circus Museum; the Historic Asolo Theater, home to the Asolo Repertory Company; restaurants; an education center; and a research library.

The Museum of Art, completed in 1931, was a dream long in the making, with setbacks that included a land bust and Mable's death. Works here range from Indian doorways elaborately carved with Jain deities to paintings by Rubens and other Old Masters—all of it displayed in a seemingly endless number of gorgeously appointed rooms. Contemporary art has dedicated space here, too, as do selections from the museum's photography collection. A newer wing, with its facade of jade-tinged terra-cotta, houses ancient and contemporary Asian art.

Patterned after the Doge's Palace in Venice, Ringling's grand home, Ca' d'Zan, has 32 rooms, 15 bathrooms, and the 61-foot Belvedere Tower. Completed in 1925, the mansion sits along the bay, and its 8,000-square-foot terrace overlooks the dock where Mable moored her gondola. Thirty-minute mansion tours occur on the hour; if you prefer to explore on your own, show up on the half hour for a self-guided tour. Allow time to wander around in Mable's Rose Garden, a lush labyrinth surrounded by towering banyans and filled with rare blooms and haunting statues.

Although the Circus Museum offers a colorful glimpse at the history of the American circus, it's main attraction is arguably the world's largest miniature circus, a 40-year endeavor by master model builder Howard Tibbals. His impressive to-scale replica of the circa 1920s and '30s Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is astonishingly detailed and accurate—from the number of pancakes the cooks are flipping to the likenesses and costumes of the performers to the names of the animals marked on the mess buckets. If you're looking for clown noses, ringmaster hats, and circus-themed T-shirts, check out the Ringling Museum of Art Store.

A renowned research facility, the Mote is also a popular attraction that draws families and others interested in its international array of ocean creatures. It has a large outdoor habitat featuring a family of frolicking river otters. In the main building, a 135,000-gallon tank lets you view various types of sharks from above and below the surface. Other tanks contain eels, rays, and additional creatures native to area waters. Touch tanks abound here for the little ones, and the not-so faint of heart can scope out a preserved giant squid—a rare find out in the wild. The expanded Seahorse Conservation Lab offers a glimpse into the unusual creatures' lives and how the aquarium helps them survive and thrive. There's also a permanent sea turtle exhibit, as well as manatees, gators, and stingrays.

At the southern tip of St. Pete Beach, one of the area's most popular beaches epitomizes Old Florida. It skirts the west end of historic Pass-a-Grille, a charming neighborhood with stylish yet low-key mom-and-pop motels and restaurants. There's a sunset celebration each night at a pavilion/snack shop on the stretch of beach between the ends of 9th and 10th Avenues. On weekends, check out the Art Mart, an open-air market showcasing the work of local artists. Amenities: food and drink; parking; showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; windsurfing.

Downtown St. Pete's waterfront buzzes thanks to a new, 26-acre entertainment district that's open from 30 minutes before sunrise to 11 pm. With both indoor and outdoor offerings, many of them family-friendly, it's the perfect place to start or finish a day. Highlights include the Spa Beach (finally, no need to drive to the Gulf side!); the shady Coastal Thicket path; the Marketplace, which showcases locally crafted goods; the Waterfront Walk; and the Splash Pad water park for kids. You can also learn about marine life at the hands-on Discovery Center and check out public artworks throughout the pier. Note, too, that the city's renowned Museum of Fine Arts is just a five-minute walk away.

Restaurant options include Doc Ford's, with waterfront views at the start of the pier, and Teak, which has water and skyline vistas as well as a rooftop tiki bar that's the perfect place to enjoy sunsets. The newest eatery, Perry's Porch, offers a relaxed setting with a menu inspired by the city's character and history.

A peninsula that's technically part of Treasure Island, this 2-mile-long outcrop is one of Tampa Bay's best-kept secrets. The northern end has a mixed crowd—from bikers to spring breakers—the middle portion is good for families (there's a pavilion and playground at around 78th and West Gulf Boulevard), and the southern tip attracts the LGBTQ+ crowd. Surfers hit up Sunset Beach on the rare occasion that the Gulf has swells. Once you turn onto West Gulf, you can find multiple paid parking lots. There are several pay lots starting to your right just south of 82nd Avenue. If you opt to take advantage of the neighborhood's abundant side-street parking, make sure you park legally—it's all too easy to unwittingly get a ticket here. Amenities: parking; toilets. Best for: partiers; solitude; sunset.

Tampa’s revitalized Downtown waterfront offers numerous restaurants, breweries, shops, museums, and outdoors activities along a pedestrian-friendly, 2.6-mile stretch of the eastern bank of the Hillsborough River. Whether you’re walking, biking, or in-line skating, you'll find something here to pique your interest amid open spaces and stunning water views. Be sure to check out the Historic Monument Trail, which offers insight into Tampa's storied past.

At Weeki Wachee Springs, the spring flows at the remarkable rate of 170 million gallons a day with a constant temperature of 74°F. The spring has long been famous for its live "mermaids," clearly not the work of Mother Nature, as they wear bright costumes and put on an underwater choreography show that's been virtually unchanged since the park opened in 1947—making it a classic piece of Florida history and culture.

It also features snorkel tours and canoe trips on the river, and a wilderness boat ride gives an up-close look at raccoons, otters, egrets, and other semitropical Florida wetlands wildlife. In summer Buccaneer Bay water park opens for swimming, beaching, and riding its thrilling slides and flumes.