Planning Your Time

Given that the Tampa Bay [1] area, like most of Florida [2], is a region that grew up in the age of the automobile, you’re likely to be doing a whole lot of driving here regardless of how focused your itinerary is. Thankfully, you’ll seldom be much more than a half hour’s drive away from the city of Tampa [3], which makes it the ideal home base; and although traffic on I-4 and I-275 in the city is a nightmare at rush hour, both freeways are generally easy to navigate.

Allow yourself at least three days to take in major sights like Busch Gardens [4] and the Florida Aquarium [5], the museums of St. Petersburg [6], a night out in Ybor City [7], and a day at the beaches near Clearwater [8] to recover. A snorkeling excursion with the manatees in Crystal River [9] requires about 185 miles (three hours) of driving roundtrip but is well worth it.

It’s worth noting here that the theme parks of Orlando [10] are only about an hour away, and many travelers opt to construct a monolith of a vacation that combines Orlando [11]’s offerings with Tampa [3]’s.

While this may seem like an ideal way to maximize your time, it’s unadvisable for two reasons. One: A visit to Tampa Bay [1] isn’t very “attraction”-based and is much better enjoyed at a leisurely pace that allows you to soak in the culture and outdoor activities; rushing through the region and ticking sights off a list would be supremely unrewarding. Two: The stretch of interstate between Tampa and Walt Disney World is a soul-crushing stretch of road that manages to make a 60-mile drive seem like 600.