Tampa & St-Petersburg

The city of Tampa operates over 165 parks and beaches and just northeast of the city. Tampa is also home to a number of attractions and theme parks, including Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Adventure Island, Lowry Park Zoo, and Florida Aquarium.

Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo features over 2,000 animals, interactive exhibits, rides, educational shows and more. The zoo serves as an economic, cultural, environmental and educational anchor in Tampa.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is a 335-acre Africa-themed park located near the University of South Florida. It features many thrilling roller coasters, for which it is known, including Sheikra. Visitors can also view and interact with a number of African wildlife.

Adventure Island is a 30-acre water park adjacent to Busch Gardens. It features many water rides, dining, and other attractions typical to a water park.

The Florida Aquarium is a 250,000 sq ft aquarium located in the Channel District of Tampa. It hosts over 20,000 species of aquatic plants and animals. It is known for its unique glass architecture. Adjacent to the Aquarium is the SS American Victory, a World War II Victory ship preserved as a museum ship.

The Tampa Bay History Center is a museum of Tampa Bay History located in the Channel District, Tampa, Florida of Tampa. It boasts over 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) of exhibits through 12,000 years. Theaters, map gallery, research center and museum store.

Well-known shopping areas include International Plaza and Bay Street, WestShore Plaza, SoHo district, and Hyde Park Village.[118] Palma Ceia is also home to a shopping district, called Palma Ceia Design District.[119] Previously, Tampa had also been home to the Floriland Mall (now an office park), Tampa Bay Center (demolished and replaced with the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers training facility, known as "One Buc Place"), and East Lake Square Mall (now an office park).

The St. Petersburg Pier is a popular tourist attraction. It contains a small aquarium open to the public, retail shopping, adventure activities, and both casual and fine dining restaurants. Various sightseeing boat rides are also offered. The Bounty II, a replica of HMS Bounty that was used in the 1962 MGM movie starring Marlon Brando was permanently docked near the Pier for many years until the ship was sold to Ted Turner in 1986.The Bounty II, however, still makes St. Petersburg its winter home. In 2010.

Downtown is the location of the BayWalk shopping complex which contains an IMAX Muvico 20 screen movie theater, as well as many chain restaurants and retail shops, catering to more of a middle and upper class audience. Baywalk is also a nightlife destination although it is less well attended than the block surrounding Jannus Landing, just south of BayWalk. Central Avenue, from the Yacht Club east to 8th Street, is also both more vibrant and "organic" than BayWalk with the exception of a couple underdeveloped blocks. Restaurants serving ethnic and domestic culinary specialties can be found throughout the downtown area.

Due west of downtown on Central is a district called Grand Central which is contained within Historic Kenwood. It is known for its artistic community, LGBT presence and hosting of the annual St. Pete Pride parade. Like its name implies, Old Northeast is adjacent to downtown from the northeast. It is known for its historic status and eclectic architecture.

North of downtown is Great Explorations, The Children's Museum, an interactive museum featuring a Children's Village with giant pretend stores, Fire House and Pet Vet Clinic, and preschool, science, music, art, and water exhibits. The museum is located next to Sunken Gardens. 4th Street as a whole, from Downtown up to Gandy Boulevard, is home to many restaurants and bars running the gamut from fast food to haute cuisine.

St. Petersburg is well regarded for its beaches. In 2005, Fort Desoto was rated the number one beach in America by the annual Dr. Beach rankings.TripAdvisor also has the beach ranked number one in the nation for 2008.Also noted for its arts community, St. Petersburg regularly places top 25 in the nation among arts destinations Recently, St. Petersburg has become known and regarded as one of America's most livable cities.