A day out in Tampa (with or without the family)

Heading to Tampa and wondering what there is to fill your day? We visited three family friendly spots that all offer something a little bit different. Downtown Tampa has a lot of cheap, entertaining places to fill your day. Here are three options…

Curtis Hixon Park

One of the first places I ever visited in Tampa was this nice urban park that borders the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa. The park has lovely views of the unique architecture of the University of Tampa and is now a stop on the recently created River Walk system (which means the Water Taxi also stops here). Always a nice day out, this park has a modern playground, a spray park and, on the day we visited most recently, a Winter Village. When the weather is nice you often see families with a picnic or playing football on the grassy area. An added bonus for an urban park, there are also free, clean, public restrooms.

The Winter Village, surprisingly, had an ice skating rink under the pavilion! There were also a few stalls which hosted vendors selling crafts and clothing.

Posing in front of the Winter Village in bathing suits.

The Spray Park, Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa

Ballast Point Park

Ballast Point is a nice place to while away a day. The park has covered picnic tables, two playgrounds (one for older children and one for smaller children), shade, a spray park, a fishing pier, a bait shop, and s small restaurant that serves seafood and ice cream, free parking, and public restrooms.

Murals in Channelside

Channelside is in the mists of a massive redevelopment. While wandering around we accidentally stumbled upon a string of murals! Most of them were painted by the artists tada!. The murals start at Whiting Street and continue north to Kennedy. You can walk along 11th and 12th Street and see most of these just by looking around a following the cross streets when you see one.