Because Tampa itself is a relatively small city, you only need a day or two to explore it. Many visitors never see downtown Tampa but head directly to Busch Gardens, a theme park on the fringe of the city, and the Gulf coast beaches half an hour's drive west. Be sure not to make this mistake.

With its high-rise office buildings, downtown Tampa seems just like any other modern city, but hidden among them are some treasures that you should explore. To get an overall view, take your kids for a ride on the 25-cent PeopleMover monorail from the terminal on top of the Fort Brooke Parking Garage on Whiting Street to Harbor Island, a large shopping mall on an island dredged from Hillsborough Bay. You can browse the shops for a while there, or head back to downtown.

Take several hours to wander through the contemporary Tampa Museum of Art, viewing its impressive collection of Greco-Roman antiquities and twentieth-century American art. Standing on the banks of the Hillsborough River, it has become a symbol of the city's cultural scene. Admission is free. (Open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 10 A.M.–6 P.M., Wednesday 10 A.M.–9 P.M., and Sunday 1–5 P.M., 813-223-8130)

Then head over to the awesome Tampa Bay Hotel, one of the few reminders of Tampa's early days. This hotel, built by Henry Plant in 1891 to house the social elite arriving on his trains, is a Moorish fantasyland of silver minarets, cupolas, domes, keyhole arches, and ballrooms. The quarter-mile-long building cost $3 million to build — a lot of money in its day. Plant spent another half-million on furnishings but the effect all of this had on promoting Tampa as a vacation destination for the rich was far beyond what Plant had expected. Before he built the hotel, he vowed to “turn this sand heap into the Champs-Élysées, the Hillsborough into a Seine.” And his monument to the Gilded Age did just that.

Stand on the hotel's front veranda and imagine America's industrial barons and their refined wives taking afternoon tea. Then suddenly you're jolted back to the present as you hear students conversing in various languages, for today the hotel houses the administrative offices of the University of Tampa. Wander through its hallways, ballrooms, and gardens before ending up in the Henry B. Plant Museum, which occupies the south wing of the hotel. You'll see some of the hotel's original furnishings and decorations on display, along with collections of English and French antiques and a replica of Plant's own private train. Admission $5 for adults, $2 for children. (Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 A.M.–4 P.M., Sunday noon–4 P.M., 813-254-1891, www.plantmuseum.com)

Though there isn't much visible history in Tampa, there's one building that's still standing — the Tampa Theatre, one of the few surviving “atmospheric theaters” erected by Mediterranean-mad designer John Eberson in 1926. When silent movies were at their peak, Eberson's movie theaters heightened the mood with star-studded ceilings, Moorish arched balconies, gargoyles, and reproductions of Greek and Roman statuary. When television came along, the Tampa Theater, like so many other old movie houses, fell into disuse. It's been restored to the original glamour that once earned it the reputation of “the Pride of the South.” Today, it houses the Tampa Film Club. For a $5 donation, you can take one of the occasional behind-the-scenes backstage tours of the theater. (813-274-8982, www.tampatheatre.org)

Hillsborough River State Park

At Hillsborough River State Park, 12 miles north of Tampa, you can experience one of the few rapids outside of a theme park in Florida. Beneath a shady overhang of magnolias, live oaks, and sable palms, the Hillsborough River tumbles over limestone outcrops before resuming its normal meandering course.

Plan to spend the day, especially on the weekends. In the morning, you can hike the park's walking trails or canoe the calmer parts of the river; in the afternoon you should visit Fort Foster Historic Site, a reconstructed 1836 Seminole War fort. You can only view the fort on one of the guided tours at 1, 2, and 3 P.M. for $1.50 per person. Costumed re-enactors, representing soldiers of the U.S. Second Artillery, occupy the fort and tell how more soldiers died from tropical diseases than in battle. On the opposite side of the river, similar re-enactors, dressed as Seminole Indians, tell their side of the conflict. To truly understand the nineteenth-century history of South Florida, you must see this. Admission $5 per car. (Open daily 8 A.M.–sunset, 813-987-6771)

Ybor City

Though you won't find much history or atmosphere in downtown Tampa, you'll find plenty of both in Ybor City (pronounced E-bore), 3 miles to the northeast. Bordered by Nebraska Avenue, Twenty-second Street, Fifth Avenue, and Columbus Drive, this turn-of-the-twentieth-century neighborhood looks much as it did when workers rolled cigars in its 200 giant factories.

In 1886, as soon as Henry Plant improved port facilities and could bring in a regular supply of Havana tobacco to Tampa, cigar magnate Don Vincente Martinez Ybor purchased 40 acres two miles north of Tampa and had workers clear the palmettos to lay the foundations for Ybor City. Around 20,000 Cuban cigar-makers, drawn from the stricken Key West cigar industry, plus Italian, German, and Jewish immigrants came to work in the cigar factories. They moved into boarding houses and casitas and formed social clubs, which gave them cradle-to-grave health care, death benefits, and recreational facilities. They produced first-class hand-rolled cigars that eventually made Tampa “the Cigar Capital of the World” for the next forty years. But mass-production techniques and the popularity of cigarettes began to take their toll. That and the onset of the Great Depression put many skilled cigar-makers out of work. Though revived somewhat, the death knell came with the embargo against Cuban tobacco in the 1960s.

In recent years, Ybor City has been turned into a tourist attraction. Begin your exploration at Ybor City Museum State Park. Located on Seventh Street in the 1923 Ferlita Bakery, with its original brick oven from 1896, the museum tells the story of the immigrants who worked in the cigar factories, as well as the creation of Ybor City, through photographic murals of the cigar rollers at work. Thousands sat in long rows at bench-tables working at a 25-cent-per-cigar piecework rate, cheering or heckling the lector, who read the news from Spanish-language newspapers while they worked. A cigar-roller demonstrates the skill needed to roll cigars from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. on weekends. After visiting the museum, walk a short distance down Ninth Avenue to the six restored workers' houses, called Las Casitas, built of Florida pine and cypress around 1895 and moved here in 1976. You can visit one daily 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. to see how the workers lived in simple surroundings. Admission to the museum and house is $3 per person. (Open Tuesday through Saturday 9 A.M.–5 P.M., 813-247-1434, www.ybormuseum.org)

From the museum you can take a one-and-half-hour guided walking tour on Saturdays at 10:30 A.M. for $6 per person (including museum admission) — walk past the factories where workers hand-rolled cigars, see the Cuban and Italian clubs where cigar workers socialized, and visit the homes where they lived. The tour ends in front of the Columbia Restaurant (see page 313).

After viewing the Casita, stroll to Ybor Square on Thirteenth Street. A Latin ambiance permeates the neighborhood. You'll discover shops selling hand-rolled cigars, and the smell of newly baked Cuban bread and freshly brewed coffee wafts through the streets. Spanish Talavera tiles adorn many buildings containing arts and crafts galleries, bookstores, antique shops, and intimate cafés — all making Ybor City one of Tampa's hippest neighborhoods.

Ybor Square, one of the former cigar-rolling factories, now houses shops and restaurants directed at tourists and has become the center of activity in the area. Stop here for a cup of strong Cuban coffee — if you're a coffee lover, you'll be drawn in by the heady aroma. As you sip your coffee, take a look at the cavernous interior of the former factory, its three stories supported by sturdy oak pillars. You can almost imagine the workers you saw in the museum murals sitting at tables rolling cigars. In 1893, Cuban poet and independence fighter José Martí spoke to thousands of workers from the factory's iron steps. He asked them for pledges of money, machetes, and manpower for Cuba's pro-independence struggle. It's said that the workers pledged 10 percent of their earnings, most of which went for the purchase and shipment of arms to rebels in Cuba. You'll see a stone marker at the foot of the steps that records the event. A statue of José Martí stands in the park across the street. After your tour of Ybor City, have lunch at the Columbia, the world's largest Spanish restaurant. Tampa Rico (813-247-6738) hand-rolls and sells cigars.

Busch Gardens

When you hear the name Tampa, you most likely associate it with Busch Gardens, a theme park on the grounds of a brewery. It's the prime attraction in the Tampa Bay area and the second most popular in Florida. Now known as Busch Gardens Africa, it takes you on a journey through colonial Africa. You can either walk or take the little steam train through the 300-acre gardens divided into several areas.

You'll first enter a typical Moroccan souk where you'll find crafts for sale as belly dancers and snake charmers weave through the crowd. By following the signs to Nairobi, you'll discover alligators, crocodiles, and monkeys, as well as the animal hospital and petting zoo. Straight ahead in Timbuktu, you'll see fewer animals and more rides, including a hair-raising switchback and a simulated ride through a desert sandstorm. If the Ubanga-Banga bumper cars in the Congo don't thrill you, take the raft trip around the Congo River Rapids and then cross Stanleyville Falls on a roller coaster, in the Stanleyville section of the park. The Serengeti Plain, roamed by giraffes, buffaloes, zebras, antelopes, black rhino, and elephants, is the largest section of the park and comes closest to showing you a simulated African environment, which you'll see from a short monorail ride. After all this excitement, you can spend time in the Hospitality House of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, where you can down up to three free cold beers. High-priced admission is $57.95 per adult, $47.95 per child 3 to 9, and includes all rides. (Open daily 9:30 A.M.–6 P.M. with longer hours in summer, Toll-free 888-800-5447, www.buschgardens.com)

For the Kids

You'll find plenty to keep your children interested in the Tampa area. In fact, the Tampa area probably offers more attractions aimed at kids than any other Coastal Florida destination, making it a prime destination if you have little ones.

There are science museums, and there are science museums. But the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, the largest in the southeastern United States, features Kids-in-Charge, the biggest children's science center in the country and the only domed IMAX theatre in Florida. (Open daily 9 A.M.–6 P.M., 813-987-6000, www.mosi.org)

The state-of-the-art 120,000-square-foot Florida Aquarium contains over 10,000 aquatic animals and plants, including fish from the ocean, exotic sea dragons, plus alligators and otters and wading birds. You can also see animal and dive shows and experience Explore-a-Shore, an outdoor water adventure exhibit. Admission is $23.95 per adult, $19.95 per child 2 to 12. A special DolphinQuest Ecotour costs $18.95 per adult, $17.95 per child. (Open daily 9:30 A.M.–5:00 P.M., Toll-free 800-353-4741, www.flaquarium.org)

And what kid doesn't like to play pirate? Your kids will be Yo-Ho-Hoing when they board the 300-ton José Gasparilla, the world's only full-rigged pirate ship, docked on Bayshore Boulevard. (813-223-8130)

At Lowry Park Zoo, the area's only dedicated zoological garden, your kids can see giant manatees in the Pepsi Manatee and Aquatic Center. A guide explains how they live, why they have become endangered, and what you can do to protect them as your kids stand transfixed in amazement inside a cool, dimly lit underwater viewing room, watching these two-ton “sea cows” flirt, play, and swim up for air. What makes this so unique is that this zoo is one of the few places in Florida where your kids can see manatees close-up swimming underwater. In fact, the zoo, with its 1,600 animals, has been designated the family-friendliest zoo in the country. It also features a Wallaroo Station Australian exhibit, a Safari Africa, a Primate World, a free-flight aviary, and a Florida Boardwalk, showcasing the state's native animals. (813-935-8552, www.lowryparkzoo.com)

Young kids have an inborn curiosity about life, and the Great Explorations Museum, 2 miles northeast in Saint Petersburg, lets them explore it. This interactive, hands-on museum for those 7 and under challenges kids to explore other worlds, their own perceptions, their creativity, and their feelings. You'll find it time well spent — and your children will thank you for it. Among the thirty-two major exhibits, kids can explore a firehouse, a veterinary office, a pizza restaurant, a working lie detector, water, and sounds, plus Puppets on Parade. Admission is $9 per person. (Open daily 10:00 A.M.–4:30 P.M., Sunday noon–4:30 P.M., Toll-free 800-444-6674, www.greatexplorations.com)

Big Cat Rescue, an educational sanctuary devoted to rescuing thirty-five species of exotic big cats that have been abused or abandoned, offers a special one-hour tour for children under 10 on Saturdays at 9 A.M. for $12 per person. The regular hour-and-a-half tour Monday through Friday at 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. and Saturdays at 9:30 A.M., 11:30 A.M., and 1:30 P.M. costs $22 per person. (813-920-4130, www.bigcatrescue.org)

Festivals and Seasonal Events

Tampa's multiple cultures offer many opportunities for festivals and special events. The following are the most notable:

Gasparilla Pirate Fest: Hundreds of costumed pirates, with cannon and guns blazing, “invade” Tampa's waterfront for a grand celebration at the end of January from the pirate ship José Gasparilla. A Children's Gasparilla Parade and fireworks display is held the Saturday before. (www.gasparillapiratefest.com)

Guavaween: A zany Latin-style one-day Halloween celebration, held in Ybor City in October, featuring a daytime Family Fun Fest, followed by “the Mama Guava Stumble,” a night parade and costume contest, and a street party with multiple entertainment stages. Admission is $3 to $12. (www.cc-events.org/gw)

Tampa Cigar Heritage Festival: Held in November at the Ybor State Museum, this festival celebrates the Tampa cigar tradition, with music, cigars, and cultural demonstrations, including a pig roast. (www.ybormuseum.com)

Ruskin Seafood and Arts Festival: Seafood is king on the first weekend of November in Ruskin on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay as twenty vendors and restaurants offer tastes of their seafood specialties, along with a boat show, children's area, and exotic animals. Adults pay $3 and kids 5 to 12 pay $1. (www.ruskinchamber.org)