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Hotels in Tampa
• Quality Inn Busch Gardens Tampa from $59.95 USD
• Clarion Hotel Tampa Westshore Tampa from $69.95 USD
• Doubletree Suites Busch Gardns Tampa from $79.00 USD
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Vacation Rentals in Tampa
• Extendedstay Tampa West Shore Tampa from $69.95 USD
• Chase Suite Hotel Tampa Tampa from $95.95 USD
• Studioplus Tampa Memorial Hwy Tampa from $75.95 USD
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TAMPA , the business hub of the west coast, has been one of the major beneficiaries of the flood of people and money into Florida - and boasts an impressive cultural diet envied by many larger rivals. A small, stimulating city with an infectious, upbeat mood, it's well worth a stop: in addition to its fine museums and Busch Gardens , one of the most popular theme parks in the state, it boasts in Ybor City the West Coast's hippest and most culturally eclectic quarter.
Tampa began as a small settlement beside a US Army base built to keep an eye on the Seminoles in the 1820s. In the 1880s the railroad arrived, and the Hillsborough River on which the city stands was dredged to allow seagoing vessels to dock. Tampa became a booming port, simultaneously acquiring a major tobacco industry as thousands of Cubans moved north from Key West to the new cigar factories of neighboring Ybor City. The Depression ended the economic surge, but the port remained one of the busiest in the country and tempered Tampa's postwar decline. While the social problems that blight any decent-sized US city are evident, little seems to stand in the way of Tampa's continued emergence as a forward-thinking and financially secure community
The city's airport (tel 813/870-8700, ) is five miles northwest of downtown: local HART bus #30 is the least costly connection (Mon-Fri every 30min 5.48am-8.18pm, weekends less frequent; $1.15; tel 813/623-5835), or use the 24hr Limo Inc. vans (tel 813/572-1111 or 1-800/282-6817, ; about $15 to downtown). Taxis (try United; tel 813/253-2424) to downtown or a Busch Boulevard motel cost $13-24; to St Petersburg or the beaches, $30-45. Greyhound buses come in downtown at 610 Polk St; trains arrive at 601 N Nebraska Ave N.
The downtown visitor center , 400 N Tampa St, suite 1010 (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; tel 813/223-2752, ), and the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce , 1800 E Ninth Ave (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 813/248-3712, ), give out useful leaflets and maps.
Although both downtown Tampa and Ybor City are easily covered on foot, to travel between them without a car you'll need the HART local buses , ($1.15, one-day pass $2.50, five-day pass $12; tel 813/254-4278, ). Useful bus numbers are #8 to the Florida Aquarium and Ybor City, #5, #8 or #39 to Busch Gardens, #6 to the Museum of Science and Industry and #30 to the airport. Rush-hour commuter PSTA/HART express buses run between Tampa and the coast (Mon-Fri; $1.50) - #100 (PSTA tel 727/530-9911, ) to St Petersburg and #200 (HART) to Clearwater.
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