Tampa, Florida's health resort and port at the Gulf of Mexico, today has a population of several hundred thousand and is a city full of contrasts. Visitors can find glittering sky-scrapers as well as the traditional university and the historic Cuban district Ybor City. Sights worth visiting include the Children's Museum of Tampa, the Museum of Art, the Museum of Science and Industry and the History Center. We also highly recommend a visit to the cigar factory "Tampa Rico Cigar Company" as well as 'Busch Gardens', an African-themed funpark with shops and restaurants. 'Water babies' will love the huge water funpark, 'Adventure Island', and the Florida Aquarium.

Tips for excursions

Historic Tampa

The participants will be able to saunter down the corridors of the historical former Tampa Bay Hotel. A visit to Hyde Park and the Bayshore Boulevard with its many majestic houses. There will be a break in Ybor City, the Cuban Latin quarter of the city, which was once known as the world capital of cigars. Time to buy souvenirs and have something to eat before returning to the airport.

Florida Aquarium

A visit to the ultra-modern Florida Aquarium, which is home to more than 4300 animals and plants; 550 of which are indigenous to Florida. The exhibition begins in the swamps of Florida (Sawgrass Swamp with crocodiles, otters, and swamp cypresses) and continues to the tangled roots of the mangrove trees at the coast right up to the nearby flat beach with its algae. Close to the end of the exhibition you come to the multi-storey, life-size Florida-typical replica of a coral reef. One of the most popular attractions is shark feeding.

Tour of Tampa

Trip from the harbour to the historical Ybor City, the Cuban centre of the city. Information about how immigrant families created the cigar industry. A visit to the Centro Ybor, a new entertainment, shopping and restaurant centre with views of the historic Tampa Bay Hotel, which is a listed historic monument. Further highlights of the tour are a trip along the Bayshore Boulevard, where the bay is fringed by sweet houses, along with Hyde Park and its numerous shops and restaurants. The participants will also see the ice palace, the district around Garrison harbour and the Tampa Convention Center. The tour finishes at Tampa airport.