Tampa Bay is a beautiful and relaxing Florida vacation spot. In Tampa, you can find the best of everything, miles of clean sandy beach, an exciting nightlife, and emerald golf courses, all within reach of your rental apartment or condo. After breakfast at a waterside cafe, spend the morning on one of Tampa's sugary white sand beaches. If after parasailing and jet skiing you still have some energy left, play a round of golf or go shopping at the luxury stores in Channelside. At night, find your way to the historic Cuban heart of Tampa Bay, Ybor City, by following the intoxicating music and mingling aromas of strong coffee and rich Cuban cigars.

Here are a few additional suggestions of things to do in Tampa:

• Busch Gardens Africa: The best of both a zoo and a theme park, Busch Gardens Africa is a great way to spend an entire day or two, especially if you're traveling with children.
• Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center: Excellent concerts and touring Broadway shows take place in this multi-venue complex.
• George M. Steinbrenner Field: Come watch major league baseball teams practice during spring training.
• The Museum of Science and Industry: Indulge your curiosity about dinosaurs, hurricanes, and other fascinations of the natural world. Learn about the laws of gravity and then defy them by riding a bike along a high wire 30 feet off the ground.
• Weeki Wachee Springs and the Buccaneer Bay Water Park: Adjoining the water park is an iconic American roadside attraction. Come watch the mermaids perform in their underwater grotto, take a river cruise, and then ride the waterslides at Buccaneer Bay.

Come to Tampa for spring training to see famous baseball players up close, or visit in January for the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival, when surly swashbuckling pirates invade Tampa Bay. No matter what time of year you arrive here, the weather is beautiful and it's always easy to find a find an affordable vacation rental as close to the ocean as you like.