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Central West Florida’s dazzling sunsets, Gulf beaches, tranquil islands and plentiful wildlife make it a natural beauty.
The region’s big cities—Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater—feature lots of green space, pristine waterways and rich cultural history, seen in such places as historic Dad e City, the Greek sponging town of Tarpon Springs and Ybor City. In the northern part of this region, the areas of Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties feature unspoiled lakes, rivers and an ocean coastline dotted with tiny islands.  Hikers enjoy the meandering 46-mile Withlacoochee State Trail, a former train route.
Cultural aficionados will find plenty to explore in this region. In St. Petersburg, the Salvador Dali Museum features a comprehensive collection of permanent works of the Spanish surrealist. Other museums include the Museum of Fine Arts, the Tampa Bay Holocaust Memorial Museum and the popular Florida International Museum, now featuring a permanent John F. Kennedy exhibit. In Tampa, The Florida Aquarium features thousands of plants and animals in four galleries. The Tampa Museum of Art offers changing exhibitions that range from contemporary to classic, and a renowned permanent collection of Greek and Roman antiquities.
Visitors will get a taste of Tampa’s Ybor City’s Latin heritage at the state’s oldest Spanish restaurant—the Columbia Restaurant, founded in 1905—and they can peek into the district’s cigar-making past at the Ybor City State Museum. The Tampa Bay History Center includes gallery exhibits showing the geographical, historical and multicultural influences that have shaped the region through the centuries, from 12,000 years ago to the present. Other Central West cultural centers worth a visit: the Dunedin Fine Arts Center, the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, the Gulfport Art Village and the Tarpon Springs Cultural Center. |
