5 Best Sights in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

Downtown St. Petersburg's Florida Holocaust Museum is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. In addition to hosting rotating exhibits, it has the permanent History, Heritage, and Hope exhibit; an original boxcar; and an extensive collection of photographs, art, and artifacts. One compelling display includes portraits and biographies of Holocaust survivors.

The museum was conceived as a learning center for children, so many of the displays avoid overly graphic content. Signs are posted outside galleries where the subject matter might be too intense for kids.

Learn about the history of the Tampa Bay region, from indigenous Tocobaga people to St. Pete's spring training history to America's first commercial airline, at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. Exhibits include those on Native American primitive shell tools and thousands of baseballs signed by the likes of Babe Ruth. There's also a full-size replica of the Benoist Airboat flown by pioneer aviator Tony Jannus.

Tampa has long been a baseball city. The first Tampa team was organized in Ybor City in 1887, and the love of the game grew with the influx of Cuban immigrants who flocked to the area to work in the then-thriving cigar industry. Housed in the childhood home of Al Lopez, Tampa’s first Major League Baseball player, manager, and Hall of Fame inductee, this museum honors baseball heritage with exhibits that highlight, among other things, the city's factory, inter-social, municipal, Cigar City, and Negro leagues.

From the early civilizations that once flourished on its shores to the 2000 presidential vote recount, the Tampa Bay region has long played integral roles in the history of Florida and the rest of the nation. The interactive exhibits here let you peer back in time at the people and events that helped shape the area. You'll learn about the Tocobaga and other coastal peoples, as well as the Spanish explorers who encountered them. You'll get insight on pirates with the help of a massive replica ship.

Information and artifacts also highlight the Seminole Wars, Ybor City's cigar industry, and the Florida crackers who once drove their cattle in areas now saturated with busy roads and shopping centers. Exhibits also cover sports teams that have called Tampa Bay home, not to mention the war heroes and politicians of the 20th and 21st centuries. When it's time for a bite to eat, you're in for a treat: the café here is a branch of Columbia, Tampa's most famous and historic restaurant.

This park provides a look at the history of the cigar industry. Admission includes a tour of La Casita, one of the shotgun houses occupied by cigar workers and their families in the late 1890s. Tours are held every hour between 10 am and 3 pm.