Tampa Flights and Travel Guide

Take away the typical glitz and glam of Florida's southern cities, add a few more golf courses and a laid-back lifestyle and you've found yourself in Tampa. Great beaches, sunny skies and lots and lots of golf await travelers on Tampa flights. And there's something for the kids, too! Tampa is home to Busch Gardens -- a wildlife metropolis where endangered animals and eager humans mingle among the masses.

Cuban immigrants originally founded Tampa's Ybor City cigar industry in the 1880s and put Tampa on the map. Today, Ybor City remains one of Tampa's hottest destination points for nightlife and parties. Thanks to the millions of travelers booking flights to Tampa for conventions and business expos, the city continues to thrive on the tourist dollar.

Most vacationers booking Tampa flights are heading westward to Florida's Gulf Coast. However, it's worth staying in Tampa a few days before you head out to the coast. Visitors to Tampa enjoy top attractions including Busch Gardens, the Gonzalez y Martinez Cigar Factory, and a night dining and people watching in Ybor City.

Find flights to Tampa

Back to top

Tampa Climate

Back to top

When to Fly to Tampa

Tampa flights and hotels book up fast during the peak travel season, but in the off-season, travelers looking for cheap flights to Tampa and reasonable hotel rates are likely to get lucky. Talk about the best time to travel to Tampa.

Peak Season:

Most visitors prefer October through April. The hotels, bars, discos, restaurants, shops, and attractions are all crowded, and the performance arts are in full season.

Off Season:

Budget-minded visitors have discovered that along Tampa's coast, ocean breezes make the summer quite bearable and many west coast hotels lower their prices considerably. Tampa flights may be cheaper at this time.

Find cheap flights to Tampa

Back to top

Getting Downtown Tampa

The airport is seven miles west of downtown Tampa. Passengers arriving on Tampa flights are steps away from on-site rental cars, limousines, off-site car rental shuttles, buses, and taxis. HARTline (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority) public transportation provides direct service from the airport to the downtown Marion Transit Center and Tampa Union Station (Amtrak rail). The Limo/SuperShuttle operates van services between the airport and hotels throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Back to top

Getting Around Tampa

Downtown Tampa and Ybor City are easily covered on foot, and you can get from one to the other using the HARTline buses or the TECO Line Streetcar System. The free Uptown-Downtown Connector Trolley gets you around downtown, and the inter-city buses, rubber-tired trolleys, and historic electric streetcars take you around Tampa. HARTline buses also run to Ybor City, Busch Gardens, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the airport.

In the winter months, there’s added traffic at the beginning and end of each month as the northern “snow birds” escape the snow and arrive in Florida. If one month ends and the next one starts over a weekend, the traffic on the north-south routes is very heavy.

Back to top

Tampa Insider Information

• Catch a live performance or a first-run or classic film the Tampa Theater. This is a vintage theater, opened in 1926 and decorated with a star-spangled ceiling, mythological statues, and a very large Wurlitzer.
  
• A free attraction are the manatees at the Tampa Electric Company. The water in the Electric Company's canal is at least 68 degrees, which is just right for a manatee. When the temperature of Tampa Bay drops below 68, there can be upwards of 300 manatees in the canal. You can come see the manatees November 1 to April 15.
• Florida was producing wine before California was discovered. Eden Vineyards and Winery, the southernmost federally licensed winery and vineyards in the U.S., is just over an hour’s drive south of Tampa Bay. Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards is Florida’s largest winery and also about a hour’s drive south of Tampa.
• For up-to-date listings of what’s going on while you’re in town, the free Weekly Planet has listings as does the Thursday Tampa Tribune.
• Tampa is the largest city on Florida’s west coast and boasts the attractions, entertainment, culture, and fine arts of a large city. The Tampa Museum of Art has exhibits of old masters, twentieth-century American art, sculpture, and works by emerging Florida artists. The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is the largest performing arts center in the southeastern U.S. with five separate theaters and a performing arts conservatory. The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) deals with health, environment, and outer space through hands-on activities and shows. The Channelside entertainment complex is the center of the downtown waterfront with shops, art galleries, dining options, a 3D IMAX Theater, nightclubs, and sporting events.

Talk about your favorite things to do in Tampa

Back to top

Tampa Airports

Back to top