Tampa walking tour & city guide

The Tampa Riverwalk

The Tampa Riverwalk runs for about 4 kilometers along the Hillsborough River and the waterfront, linking parks, museums and restaurants. Along the way are the Tampa Museum of Art, the Florida Aquarium and Curtis Hixon Park.

Across the river, the silver minarets of the University of Tampa's Plant Hall stand out. It was built in 1891 as a luxury railroad hotel and now houses the Henry B. Plant Museum.

Ybor City

Ybor City was founded in the 1880s as a cigar-making town. Its brick buildings with iron balconies now hold restaurants, bars and a few remaining cigar shops where you can watch cigars being hand-rolled. The Ybor City Museum State Park tells the story of the immigrant workers, and wild chickens wander the streets, protected as part of the district's heritage.

A classic Riverwalk stroll

Start at the Water Works Park at the northern end of the Riverwalk and walk south along the river past Armature Works, a converted trolley barn with a food hall. Continue past Curtis Hixon Park, with views of the Plant Hall minarets, to the Tampa Convention Center.

The path then bends east past Sparkman Wharf, a waterfront area of container restaurants, to the Florida Aquarium. Take the TECO Line streetcar from here to Ybor City for the evening. The walk is about 4 kilometers.

Visiting tips

The best time to visit is from October to May. Bayshore Boulevard, south of downtown, has one of the longest continuous sidewalks in the world. Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach are about 40 minutes away, and the Dalí Museum is across the bay in St. Petersburg.