Tampa, Florida, one of the anchor cities of the Tampa Bay area on Florida's Gulf Coast, is the county seat of Hillsborough County and home to over 336,000 people. It has the seventh largest commercial port in the country and is home to an air base containing 14,000 personnel. However, what everyone knows the city for is its tourist appeal. With some of the finest beaches to be seen anywhere in Florida, a host of upscale shopping destinations, a plethora of parkland, and a glitzy nightclub scene, Tampa is one of the state's most popular tourist destinations. It's a top city for twenty-somethings, one of the cleanest cities in the country, and one of Forbes magazine's best outdoor cities.

The biggest festivals on Tampa's calendar are the Gasparilla Pirate Festival and McDill Air Force Base's annual air show. In season, you can catch home games by the region's NHL, MLB and NFL teams while year round you can visit the many local art and history museums, including the SS American Victory, a World War II museum ship. The most popular Tampa destinations for young and old alike are the theme parks, the largest of which is Busch Gardens Africa. A close second is the nearby Adventure Island water park, with the runner up being the 25,000 square foot Florida Aquarium.

Tampa's nickname, "Cigar City" came from its prowess as a producer of said rolled smokables and now the district which started it all, Ybor City, is one of the city's best outdoor shopping destinations. You can still buy hand-rolled cigars there as well as vintage clothes, antique furniture, and local art. The glitz and glamour of the city's most expensive homes has rubbed off on the shops of Hyde Park, which has some of the city's ritziest upscale designer boutiques. The International Plaza is Tampa's large scale retail destination, featuring high end department stores like Sak's Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom.

If you want to have a good time without shelling out a lot of money in admittance tickets, try visiting one of Tampa's 165 city parks. With a combined total of over 2,200 acres of forests, trails, lakes, and playing fields, a trip to the park for some hiking, biking, picnics, fishing, or canoeing is a day well spent. And of course, no trip to Florida would be complete without going to the beach. There are eighteen beaches in the Tampa Bay area suitable for swimming, surfing, playing, or just relaxing on the sand reading a book.