24 Hours in Tampa, Florida: What to Do, See & Eat

Tampa is a fantastic city that's got a little bit of everything, rich history, waterfront views, and a culture you can actively feel as you're walking around. In just 24 hours you can explore the brick streets of Ybor City, learn about its deep cigar making roots, grab a bite to eat at the iconic Columbia Restaurant or even a Cuban sandwich from one of the local vendors, and then end the day with a sunset stroll along the Riverwalk. If you only have one day then here's my favorite way to explore one of Florida's most underrated cities. Let's jump in. First stop in Tampa Oxford Exchange for breakfast. In a building that was originally constructed in 1891 Oxford Exchange is the perfect way to start your day in Tampa. Surrounding the restaurant there's stunning architecture, historic artwork, and lots of different shops that you can peruse. Plus the restaurant itself has an awesome outdoor dining area with lots of natural light. This is a beautiful spot for breakfast. I went with the avocado toast and the cappuccino and pops copied me and got the exact same thing. Maybe it was the other way around where I went for it and he copied me you can decide. Both the avocado toast and the coffee were fantastic and we must have got there early as there was no one when we got there and there was a ton of people when we left. We took about 20 minutes to explore the rest of the space and there's a co-working spot upstairs, a great shop downstairs, and even a champagne bar. And then right across the street is the University of Tampa. That's where we just had breakfast and now we are crossing the street to go there. That was an excellent spot. The coffee was outstanding and the avocado toast we both agreed was some of the best we ever had. We walked through the campus a little bit on our way to the Henry B. Plant Museum. It's so cool this old building they have offices and they have classrooms but the museum part is over here. Described by some as stepping back into a gilded age time capsule, this museum is housed in an architectural masterpiece in the Moorish Revival style. And if you're a fan of history even remotely then this is a spot you should not miss while you're in Tampa. It is a mark of low breeding to fidget either with the hands or feet or to fuss with color. I loved walking through the bottom floor complete with original furnishings many from the 1890s but my favorite part was reading all the etiquette quotes. None but a lowbred clown will ever carry bonbons away from the table. Pops I remember that time you carried the bonbons away from the table. What's a bonbon? I don't know what you're talking about. You are a lowbred clown. That would not be the first time someone's told me that. This building was formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel which was a luxury resort built in 1891 by Henry B. Plant who made his money through the railroads. Back in the day this was a destination for the wealthy elite visiting Florida in the winter and you can see it through the designs of the room and all of the ornate antiques they have on display. When someone's telling a story don't correct them even if it's a very poor way to tell the story compared to how you would do it. Write this down and memorize it. Don't correct your father. Even when he's telling a bad story. That has never happened. The museum also has an interesting room on Gasparilla which is a Tampa Florida tradition that includes a pirate invasion, parades, festivals, and more. I knew nothing about this but it almost feels like Tampa's Mardi Gras. So Henry Plant was this brilliant railroad and steamship magnate and his critical thing that did for this area of the world was he connected Tampa Bay to other parts of Florida and also to Cuba which just opened up this area for growth and traffic etc. That is an incredibly cool museum well worth the time to go over there very historic and they have a lot of artifacts. We're heading on to explore more of Tampa. Heading back to our car we made the 10-minute drive over to one of Tampa's most popular tourist attractions Ybor City. We've made it to Ybor City which is kind of like the historic heart of Tampa so we're going to spend the next two hours and explore. Ybor City began development in 1885 and in 1886 500 Cuban cigar makers boarded in Key West and sailed for Tampa starting cigar shops and making this the cigar capital of the world. Pops is starting a new cigar revolution here. The first thing we did in Ybor City is actually walk up to a park where we could leave the country and we didn't even need our own passport. One of the most interesting things about Ybor City is this park right here and when we cross into this park we are actually crossing into Cuba. Have you ever been to Cuba before Pops? I have not. Well now you have. I have and I'm greeted by chickens. This land was donated to Cuba in the 1950s so you're technically on Cuban soil when you're here. I think this chicken's gonna ask for a tip afterwards because look at that perfect pose right next to the statue. Another one's walking across the front. The park honors Jose Marti who was a national hero in Cuba. He spent a lot of time in Tampa in the 1800s working with Cuban cigar workers to raise support for Cuban independence from Spain. So if you ever wanted to visit Cuba without leaving the United States you could do it here. One of the coolest things about this part of Tampa is that it has its own streetcar service and it's actually free. You can just hop right on and hop off at many of the different spots. We hopped on right near the park and we rode it to the end of Ybor City so we could walk back. It actually goes into downtown Tampa and you'll see that at the end of this video we ride it again to get back to a place that we parked. Such a cool thing for the city to offer and so historic and unique. It's awesome that was the last stop on the route and he just goes to the other side changes all the chairs and then drives it back. Feels like you're in one of those cable cars in San Francisco. The streetcar led us off right next to Centennial Park to begin our exploration. It's so funny to see all these chickens all over the park and just to hear them as you're walking around. They're also a museum here but it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays which is when we're here. Ybor City was founded in the 1880s by a Cuban cigar maker who moved his operations here from Key West Florida. By the 1900s it was known as the cigar capital of the world and as you walk through the downtown area it feels like you're walking through history. Ybor City protected by the chicken defense force. So there's not really much going on down here during the day. There's a few shops but mostly it looks like it's restaurants and bars for nighttime. I will say though it's pretty fun to walk around and to hear the roosters and just to see the history of the place. Home of the five dollar cigar. So if you're looking for five dollar cigars apparently you can get them right there. The first cigars produced with the clear Havana tobacco logo were rolled at this site in 1886. The workers rolled over a half million cigars per month here. And now we're heading on to get some lunch and we're actually going to tour the last remaining cigar factory later this afternoon. All right so we are going now to a place that's offered time-tested Cuban bread and pastries since 1915. This restaurant is known as La Segunda Central Bakery and we were told that we had to get a Cuban sandwich from here. There is nowhere to sit inside so we got our food and we are heading back to the car. All right so we tried the two most popular sandwiches the 1915 and the Cuban. Let's go Cuban first. I think this is what you think of when you think traditional Cuban sandwich. It's very good like the mustard sauce that they have on that. Yeah the pulled pork is fabulous and the salty kind of ham and whatever salami it in there really adds a nice touch to the flavor. I had to take a second bite before I moved on that's so good. All right this is a totally different one but they said people love this here. And I chose the 1915 because as we say this place opened in 1915 maybe this is the original or something. Pops has no idea what he's talking about. Nowhere near as good as the first one. I like this about equally it's very very different. I think we both agreed that the Cuban was the better of the two but the star. You just said they were both the same earlier. Quit interrupting you're the cameraman. But the star is the bread and the thing that's so cool about the bread that I love is you have to chew it. You know it's got a beautiful crust on it so the bread is the star. We also got two of the recommended guava pastries to try after our sandwich. Flaky. Guava's amazing. Outstanding. This is really nice this is this is also a star. This look at that the flakiness of this crust and guava is fabulous as a filling. Once we were finished eating our lunch in the car it was time to tour JC Newman's Cigar Company. It's fascinating that they have a park across the street where you can try out the cigars as well. I think a tour of JC Newman's Cigar Company is one of the coolest hidden gems in Tampa that a lot of people don't even think about when they visit. If you're exploring Ybor City then it's definitely worth trying to dive into the cigar culture of Florida and this is the oldest family-owned premium cigar maker in America. A tour here is equal parts history, craftsmanship, and of course cigar making. Founded in 1895 it's the last operational cigar factory in Tampa and they're now in their fourth generation keeping the tradition alive. It's located inside of the iconic El Reylo building which was built in 1910 and whose name means the clock which you can see on the outside of the building. The tour lasts about an hour and it takes you all over the factory including into the cigar vault which has the oldest hand-rolled cigars in the world that are from 1857. If you like cigars the smell in here is incredible. This is one of the coolest rooms that we went into and it's the aging room where you can see the cigars in different stages of aging. From there though the tour went upstairs and we got to see the vintage cigar making machines in use. Some of these machines are over a hundred years old and they actually have to employ people to fix them since the companies that made them are no longer in business. And then from there we headed upstairs one more time to the hand rolling area. The people who hand roll the cigars have to go through years of training and it's amazing to see this process take place. We got to spend a good 15 minutes just walking around and seeing the different things that they were doing such as cutting, bunching, and rolling. It was really amazing just to watch the history and craftsmanship take place here. It's hilarious to see this picture here. This could be my grandfather. This is what old guys looked like back in the day in their cheap overstuffed chair smoking their cigar. It's just so classic. You're gonna bring that back? Yeah, yeah. I'm not a cigar person. That was still a fascinating tour. Plus it's the only cigar factory that still operates in the United States. So if you're interested in the history at all you should definitely come check that one out. You know it's really interesting. Josh and I were talking that we've been on a variety of different tours for like alcohol companies whatever. Totally different. Totally fascinating. Especially the the way that over the years the number of companies that have produced cigars has reduced to the point that this is the only one. Really fascinating. Next up we're heading out to explore the river walk but before we do that I'm gonna go to the aquarium. Pops is going to hang out at a coffee shop because he hates fish. There's no fish that I like. Even if they have bones or no bones it doesn't matter. Fish hater. The coffee shop we found for Pops was called Shortwave Coffee and it was a great spot. Even the water dispenser is cool. Look at that. I've decided I think I hate fish too. I'm gonna stay here at this coffee shop. I don't eat fish. Cheers. About five minutes walk away from the coffee shop is the Florida Aquarium one of the top tourist attractions in Tampa. I love aquariums and I like to see the different ones that are available around the United States so if I'm in a city with one there's a good chance I'll go. While it's not as big as some of the other aquariums I've been to there's still a lot to see. This is a cool dome. There's all sorts of birds flying around and just landing nearby you and beautiful birds as well. It was cool the aquarium had this large outdoor dome as they could have a lot of different animals that you don't normally see in aquariums. From there I headed into the shoreline exhibit and met this guy which was definitely my favorite fish before heading over and touching some rays. The aquarium here opened in 1995 so it's relatively new and it has over 7,000 aquatic plants and animals from Florida and all over the world. According to its website the volume of its largest tank is around 500,000 gallons and it has 250,000 square feet of floor space. What's pretty fascinating is there's basically no one here with me today. I've never been in an aquarium where we have this little amount of people. One of the most unique things that I've never done in any other aquarium is that at the end they actually had a place where you could touch jellyfish. To finish the aquarium I would say that was a small but mighty aquarium. There was a lot of things to see and the fact that there wasn't a lot of people there made it pretty cool for me. It's going to cost about 40 bucks a person so know that going in and we're going to explore more of the river walk. As I was leaving the aquarium I saw the streetcar we rode earlier and it's cool that you could actually ride from here all the way to Ybor City. For us though the next stop was Sparkman Wharf where they have all sorts of different places where you can get food, drinks, or desserts. You know what let's just skip the river walk and get ice cream. We're pretty easily distracted and we saw somebody walk by with an ice cream from Hampton Chocolate Factory and we could not resist going in. Pops was really wanting to get the giant cone but unfortunately we didn't make a reservation so you don't get your five pounds of ice cream today. Well maybe we can get it tomorrow. This place has some of the craziest ice cream combinations you have ever seen and we tried the most popular which was called the It's basically a cone that's filled with white chocolate, strawberry syrup, and cookie crumble. Then they put vanilla ice cream on top and then they put cookie crumble and more strawberry syrup on top of that. What are you having? Are you going to eat any dinner tonight? What are you having? I only got a little one prepared. Yeah is that the one that you reserve? I wanted this one. So this thing is a dessert experience. They put the crumble and the chocolate inside of the cone even. All right moment of truth. Was it worth eight dollars? Let's see. Do you want some of my ice cream? I bet you do. So crunchy and crispy on top of everything. Yeah that is epic. You're giving that a worth eight dollars? Oh my gosh that's a winner. I would easily pay eight dollars for this again. Man alive. All the stuff on the outside crispy, crunchy, fabulous. This is another thing you can get here. It's blow torched. Don't tell us we're not healthy. We only got one of those to share and our next stop is the river walk where we are going to walk a couple miles. Right across the street is the start of the river walk and it goes two and a half miles from here. So our plan is just to walk the river walk long enough to burn off all those calories we ate from the ice cream place and then when we get to the end get the trolley back. I think if we were trying to burn off all the calories we'd have to walk the river walk the entire rest of the day and maybe into tomorrow. This is definitely an awesome thing for the city to have. It's a beautiful walking path right along the water and you can see hundreds of people out here enjoying it. Pops I noticed you're getting passed by a lot of runners. You need to try a little harder. Yeah this feels a little bit like San Diego. It does feel a little bit like San Diego that's true. Yeah they have water taxis here as well so the pirate water taxis you can grab if you want to go along the river. The love between pops and the strawberry shortcake ice cream. This is definitely the water sports area. That is like a jet boat and then out here you can actually rent some boats. They were about 90 an hour when I looked. What's cool about the river walk is that it connects a lot of the best stuff in Tampa such as the aquarium, the history center, and even the museum of art. So it's kind of like a pedestrian highway and then right next to it is the streetcar so there's multiple different ways that you don't need to drive when you're in downtown Tampa. This is right next to the University of South Florida which is why this is on the river walk. One of the best things for us about the river walk is that the sun was about an hour from setting and so it wasn't traditional sunset which I'm sure would be beautiful but it was cool to see the way the light was dancing off the buildings and dipping behind some of the other ones. That river walk is awesome. What a beautiful part of Tampa. It continues for a while longer but we are heading in to catch the trolley and to go on to dinner. We decided to leave the river walk at MacDill Park as that was the last area that you could access the streetcar which was going to take us back to where we parked. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved the public transit system here and I talked to somebody who works in downtown but only lives about a five minute drive away and they still choose to use the streetcars because they're so fun. I do imagine that they get packed during rush hour if there was an event going on. That's such an awesome way to get around town. It's cool that it's free as well and now we're heading on to our dinner reservation. For dinner we said goodbye to downtown Tampa and we headed back to Ybor City to go to the Columbia Restaurant. This is an icon in Florida that was established in 1905 and is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the state. This spot is massive. It takes up an entire city block and it has over a dozen dining rooms. Throughout the building there's chandeliers, wrought iron balconies, hand-painted tiles, and even fountains. It's definitely one of those places you're going to want to explore a little bit after you get seated. It's famous for Spanish Cuban classics including the Cuban sandwich and the 1905 salad that's made table side. The salad is actually pretty simple with ham, Swiss cheese, tomato, olives, and grated Romano cheese. Then they have their famous garlic dressing and Worcester sauce to top it off and it's a signature dish here inspired by the year the restaurant was founded in Tampa. Tops is trying the famous salad that they're known for. I don't know what fork I'm supposed to use. You can't take him anywhere. You work from the outside in. I'll try this one. If you look at this it's just a salad but it's so good. The way everything combines together it's really really nice. Lives up to the hype? I would say so yeah. This is a strong salad for sure. It's definitely very hyped up but I would say it's a really strong salad. Pops and I got the sampler to share but after that salad I'm already pretty full. Lots of interesting things to try here. The sampler was the perfect way to end the night as it had a lot of different options but I would say the salad truly was the standout here. And with that our day in Tampa is done. Hopefully you enjoyed exploring with us. If you want to continue the adventure click right here to go on the Gulf Coast road trip which you are starting tomorrow.