Another Florida thread

[pbjam]

We are looking at heading down to the Tampa area for a week in early February. Mostly because the airfare from our close by airport is dirt cheap to get there.

The loose plan is to head east first to Legoland and stay there and then head back to Clearwater/St. Petersburg.

We are art people so the Dali museum and Chihuly would be on the list for one of the days.

Anything else to do in that area that you would recommend? The sunken gardens that look intriguing.

Also somewhere to stay that is nicer. We will have DS that is 9 with us.

[harrisonbergeron]

Sand Key Beach is a state park and a really nice beach in the area. I always preferred it to Clearwater Beach, which is always super crowded. It has public bathrooms, a playground, parking is easy/cheap (I just looked, apparently as of 2 weeks ago, $5 a day).

If you're interested in old Florida/kitsch and up to traveling a bit (1 hour drive or so north) check out Weeki Wachee Springs. The springs are beautiful with the option to kayak or canoe and they also have an old roadside attraction live mermaid show.

[Pistol]

If you were waiting until the first week of March I would suggest the strawberry festival in plant city. It's like a big county fair. We went last year and my kids are already insisting at need to go again when we are down there this year. H and I enjoyed the good while the kids rode rides. There is a good BBQ place also in plant city called Johnsons Barbecue. Plant city is going to be smack between lego land and Tampa.

[unicornofthesea]

Bok tower gardens was amazing

If you want to see a bunch of manatees check out the manatee viewing center at the power plant. There’s 100’s of them there this time of year.

For a less touristy beach try Honeymoon island instead of Clearwater Beach.
Clearwater beach is great though, lots of shopping, restaurants etc. definitely worth checking out. If you’re up for going out on the water the pirate ship cruise is fun plus they entertain the kids the entire time🤣
You can also visit coachman park which is right before the causeway out to the beach and it has a little splash pad and playground area. It’s newly revamped so a cool little spot to check out near the water.


Visit Safety Harbor pier and downtown area right off main st with good restaurants and cute stores (it’s right across the causeway from Tampa)

If you feel like wandering to St Pete they have a really cool downtown pier area as well. Awesome playground, good restaurants, and cool little aquarium on the pier (my boys loved it)

Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland is amazing. Tons of playgrounds, tree houses, kids museum, butterfly garden… lots of walking and outdoor stuff

That’s all I’ve got for now 😅