Tampa Hotel Guide

Tampa sits at the cultural crossroads of the booming influx of the Hispanic community, the palm-laced white sands Gulf Coast, and the theme park appeal of Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, and several other tourist attractions.

Throw in some serious business and convention action, and a sprawling university campus, and you've got lodging opportunities that run the gamut from leisure-friendly, to nuts-and-bolts basics, to high-end luxury, and everything in between.

If you're looking for a party, but you're on a budget, book a room along the westernmost I-4 corridor, where it's just a quick skip to Ybor City, South Central Tampa's current hotbed of nightlife. Ybor (pronounced ee-bore) offers up old Latin charm and a full set of dancin' and drinkin' clubs to suit every taste, whether you have disco fever or the blues. The convention center, Ice Palace sports arena, and Florida Aquarium live in the southeast quadrant of downtown, so hotels surrounding the convention center, and those situated a bit further out on exclusive Harbour Island, will fit the bill both for visitors who are on official business and those who just came for vacation and sightseeing.

Business travelers coming in at Tampa Internation Airport should opt for shelter in the booming Westshore district, with its top-notch combination of proximity to most of Tampa's big business, plus quality, services, and selection -- though big-time corporate CEOs will head for downtown's high-rise hotels, where the prices and the cush rise high too.

North Tampa is home to the University of South Florida, Busch Gardens, and a growing business sector in burgeoning New Tampa. Again, families and working travelers alike will find shelter at a whole host of recently built hotels ranging from inexpensive to pricey. And East Tampa boasts its one big draw: the wildly popular Seminole Gaming Palace, with a large hotel conveniently located right next door, and smaller mom-and-pop operations sprinkled along Hillsborough Avenue.

Finally, western-most Tampa sits on the sunset-soaked shore of the Bay. Beach-frolickers and sun-worshippers will find family, solo, and couple-oriented places to stay, usually all within the same hotel. Because of Tampa's inherently integrated atmosphere, delineation is not along family demographics, with one hotel the best for singles and another meant mostly for vacationing families, but lies either with the alloted budget or the purpose of the visit. Whether that purpose is business, vacationing, convention-going, sight-seeing, gambling, or visiting, there's some of each in Tampa.

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