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Adventure Island
This 25-acre water park, run by Anheuser-Busch, has 16 different areas, including Key West Rapids, on which rafters go down a six-story twist, ending in a 60ft-long pool. Other slide rides include the Aruba Tuba (some portions are in total darkness) and Rambling Bayou, where you go through weather 'effects' areas (some foggy, others have heavy rain). There's also a 9000-sq-ft swimming pool with waterfalls, diving platforms and tube slides.
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Busch Gardens
Competing with Walt Disney World to empty the wallets of Floridian fun park addicts is Busch Gardens, an African-themed exercise in big-budget amusement that's located on its very own boulevard. Busch is equipped with a number of rides designed to scare the crap out of you and everyone in your immediate vicinity.
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Centro Ybor
A dominating upscale shopping, dining and entertainment emporium, Centro Ybor runs along 8th Ave between 15th and 17th Sts, but it also cuts through what would have been 16th St down to 7th Ave.
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Channelside
This huge entertainment megaplex, directly on Ybor Channel, boasts a fun bar (Newk's Café with outdoor seating), an IMAX theater, a movie theater, lots of eateries, some clubs and open-air shops. You'll also find cruise ships pulling into the Port of Tampa here, as well as the Florida Aquarium.
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Children's Museum of Tampa
Located near Lowry Park Zoo and also known as Kid City, this place has rotating, hands-on interactive displays and a permanent, 45,000-sq-ft outdoor exhibition that kids love: child-size replicas of 13 municipal buildings, each with activities. Care to try your hand as a judge in the courthouse or a reporter at a TV station?
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Contemporary Art Museum
The University of South Florida's museum mounts six to eight exhibitions by university students and alumni.
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Davis Island
To glimpse another 'real' neighborhood in Tampa, head over to the little village straddling the roadside. Take Davis Island Blvd off Bayshore Blvd and then at the split, take E Davis Blvd. Grab a coffee and hang around or settle in with some chips and salsa at one of the sidewalk restaurants.
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Florida Aquarium
The wonderful three-storey Florida Aquarium's thematic exhibits range from a wetlands recreation - complete with limestone cave, mist-topped water, mangroves and resident turtles (plus some alligator spawn) - to an indoor dune-studded beach and a coral reef that's held prisoner in a very large tank.
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Gonzales y Martinez Cigar Company
The Gonzales y Martinez Cigar Company has cigar-rolling demonstrations Monday through Saturday.
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Henry B Plant Museum
Railroad magnate Henry B Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel, which opened in 1891, was one of the most luxurious places imaginable in the early days of the city, when Tampa was about as remote as Miami. All 500 guestrooms had private bathrooms and electricity, and the extravagant hotel contained all the furniture, sculptures and mirrors Plant's wife had collected during their European and Oriental travels.
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King Corona Cigar Factory
The largest cigar emporium is the King Corona Cigar Factory, complete with an old-fashioned cigar bar and live entertainment including barbershop. It carries Honduran and Dominican-made cigars.
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Legends Field
The New York Yankees play spring-training baseball games in March at Legends Field, the 10,000-seat stadium modeled after the 'House that Ruth Built' (ie Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York.) The Yankees' minor-league team, the Tampa Yankees, plays at Legends Field from April to September (tickets around US$3 to US$5 ).
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Lowry Park Zoo
The lush zoo has the great manatee encounter and aquatic center, but there are also good exhibits on panthers, alligators, Komodo dragons, pandas, primates and bison. The Asian domain highlights a rare Indian rhinoceros, while families love the Wallaroo Station, an Australian themed area with kangaroos and wallabies that kids can pet. They can also pet and feed stingrays elsewhere in the park. Before leaving, don't miss the 18,000-sq-ft, free-flight aviary.
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Metropolitan Cigars
One of the country's only shops set up as a humidor, Metropolitan Cigars is the best cigar shop in this former cigar capital of America. It sells Arturo Fuente and Cuesta Rey cigars.
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Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI)
With upwards of 450 'minds-on' activities, hyperactive kids will think they're in heaven at this museum. There is a cool hot-air balloon exhibit, as well as ones on the human body and the annual garbage pile generated by the average American. Enter a flight avionics simulator or a Gulf Coast hurricane before hitting the trail through the wetland preserve.
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Old Hyde Park
Bayshore Blvd, the world's longest contiguous boardwalk, measuring a whopping 6.5 miles, is a great place to bike, walk or run along the water. While you're in the area, drive or walk around Old Hyde Park, a residential area with brick streets, gas lanterns and renovated Victorian-style architecture. It's the loveliest part of Tampa.
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Outback Bowl
If you've never seen an American college football game, don't miss the Outback Bowl, an NCAA (National College Athletic Association) football game on New Year's Day.
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Parque Amigos de José Martí
Parque Amigos de José Martí contains an inaccurate but life-sized monument to Martí that was dedicated by Martí's son, actor Cesar Romero. The park is sited at Paulina Pedroso's house, where Martí stayed after the Spanish government attempted to assassinate him in 1892.
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Raymond James Stadium
The NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers play at Raymond James Stadium from August (pre-season) to December, but you'll probably have to catch them on TV since season ticket holders grab most stadium seats.
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St Pete's Times Forum
The NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning play hockey at the St Pete's Times Forum from October through March. The forum also hosts basketball games, concerts and ice shows.
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Tampa Museum of Art
This mod museum boasts impressive classical Greek and Roman antiquities. It also features rotating exhibitions - from the avant-garde to old masters, from sculpture and photography to works by emerging Floridian artists. Overlooking the Hillsborough River, the glassed-in Terrace Gallery provides a great backdrop for sculptures, and the grounds are a great spot for a picnic.
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Tampa Theatre
The still-operational Tampa Theatre on Franklin St is a beautiful palace of a place built in 1926 and decorated with a star-spangled ceiling, mythological statues and a very large, ear-shaking Wurlitzer. Audiences turn out for independent and classic films, concerts and other special events.
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UT Falk Theater
This 900-seat theater is operated by the University of Tampa.
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Ybor City
Once an iffy destination because of crime, the renaissance of Ybor City (pronounced ee-bore) almost matches that of Miami Beach. For power-drinkers and 20-somethings, the area is a must for its energy and drink-till-you-drop potential; there are over 60 bars and clubs within the small neighborhood.
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Ybor City State Museum
Covering about half a city block, this museum includes La Casita (a reconstructed 'shotgun'-style abode that housed immigrant cigar workers), the Ferlita Bakery (with its original brick ovens and exhibits on the bakery and cigar industry), cigar-rolling demonstrations (call for exact days and times) and fascinating photographs of the cigar factories and late 19th-century Ybor City. Informative walking tours (around US$6 ) are offered on Saturday at .
Showing 1-25 of 25 results
