Tampa Facts

Tampa Bay, one of the world's great secluded harbors, is a vast body of water separated from the Gulf of Mexico by a peninsula that stretches from Clearwater on the north to St. Petersburg on the south. In the center of the huge bay is a peninsula with MacDill Air Force Base at its southern tip. North of that is the city of Tampa, which got its name from a Native American word meaning "sticks of fire," a reference to the region as a campsite.

Tampa Airport/Westshore

The award-winning Tampa International Airport sits on the city's west side, in the Airport/Westshore region. With a passenger volume of about 14 million annually, Tampa International Airport ranks among the top 10 airports in the nation...

...for a mild taste of metropolis. If you have children in tow, they may demand that you go into the city so they can enjoy the rides and see the animals at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Once there, you can also educate them (and yourself) at the Florida Aquarium and the city's other fine museums. Additionally, historic Ybor City has the bay area's liveliest and hottest nightlife.

Tampa was a sleepy little port when Cuban immigrants founded Ybor City's cigar industry in the 1880s. A few years later, Henry B. Plant put Tampa on the tourist map by building a railroad that ran into town and by constructing bulbous minarets atop his garish Tampa Bay Hotel, now a museum named in his honor. During the Spanish-American...