Tampa: Where The Relaxation Meets Fun

ULELE

Inside a historic red-brick pump house by the Hillsborough River, Ulele is a cavernous modem space starring original art from the owner’s collection. The menu is inspired by the ingredients of the bay’s native peoples and Spanish explorers. Enjoy creative cocktails and craft beer made on-site.

HYDE PARK

This bayside neighbourhood of 1920s Arts-and-cCafts bungalows gives a fascinating insight into Tampa’s community before the downtown glass-and-steel towers took over. Stop by French-inspired Piquant fora takeaway coffee. Finish up at glittering Bays Boulevard, the world’s longest continuous sidewalk.

CIRO’S SPEAKEASY

Call ahead for the daily password to this dimly lit Prohibition-sty le bar, tucked inside an apartment block. Private curtained booths and retro furniture are eerily authentic, recalling the era when real speakeasies thrived in 1920s Tampa. There’s a supper club too, but cocktails are the thing here: Ciro’s tie-touting staff can make whatever you fancy.

OXFORD EXCHANGE

The beautifully chic Oxford Exchange building will have you flitting between its interior-design store and wood-panelled coffee house. The light-filled atrium cafe-restaurant serves inventive egg dishes and pumpkin pancake breakfasts between tinkling fountains.

LA SEGUNDA CENTRAL BAKERY

Cuban immigrants landed in droves on Tampa Bay’s 19th-century shores to toil in Ybor City, once the world’s cigar- making capital. Stop by this old-fashioned Cuban bakery where locals pop in for guava turnovers and Cuban sandwiches.