The Best Hidden Spots To Visit In Tampa Bay
Even if you have lived in Tampa Bay for a very long time, there are still some hidden spots to visit in Tampa Bay. There’s a new list out from Southern Living that lists the 20 secret places in Florida. They also say that only locals know these spots, but even if you live in Tampa Bay, do you really know these spots?
Of the 20 Florida spots that Southern Living came up with only four are right here in Tampa Bay. There is Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. A lot of people know about this. There is an eight-story structure that is called the Singing Tower. They also have a Spanish style mansion and nature trails in Lake Wales.
Next is Cortez Historic Fishing Village in Cortez. If you don’t know where Cortez is, it is near Bradenton Beach. They have a 1920’s fish house called Star Fish Company. Additionally, there is the historic sponge docks over in Tarpon Springs. We here as Tampa Bay locals know about the sponge docks as it is the sponge capital of the world. You also can find shops and authentic Greek food there as well.
Finally, there is the Shiny Fish Emporium on Anna Maria Island. While you are down there, you can decorate sand dollars and shop for unique gifts like kimonos and ukuleles.
Those four are really great hidden spots to visit in Tampa Bay. I personally haven’t been to a couple of them but now that they’re on this list maybe it’s time for a trip to visit.
The Top 10 Secret Places To Visit In Florida
Below you can finally top 10 secret places in Florida to visit according to Southern Living.
- Ocala National Forest
- Bok Tower Gardens – Lake Wales
- Little Moir’s Food Shack – Jupiter
- Walkers Landing – Amelia Island
- Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens – West Palm Beach
- No Name Pub – Big Pine Key
- El Palacio De Los Jugos – Miami
- Peanut Island – Riviera Beach
- Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge – Vero Beach
- Airstream row – Seaside
Baskets of sea sponges line a table along the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs, Florida – Getty Images RF
Lake Wales, Florida, USA at Bok Tower Gardens – Getty Images RF
These Are The 3 Most Photographed Tampa Landmarks
There are a lot of Tampa landmarks, but there are some landmarks that are photographed more than others. A website called BonusFinder came up with a list of the most Instagrammable landmarks in the United States of America. They also looked at individual states and three Tampa landmarks ranked as the most photographed in Florida.
They looked at 2,700 landmarks across the United States to come up with this list. They broke it down into different categories like this which places have the most hashtags on Instagram. Categories are national parks, casinos, state parks, NFL stadiums, MLB stadiums and zoos and aquariums.
The #1 overall photographed landmark in the United States is Central Park New York. That is followed by Broadway, New York, and then Times Square, New York. New York City comes in number 1, 2 and 3. New York City has six of the top 10 most Instagrammable landmarks in the United States.
The Most Photographed Tampa Landmarks
So here are the three Tampa landmarks most photographed in Florida. Coming in at #13 in the state is Busch Gardens. There were 114,633 pictures with #buschgardenstampa on Instagram. The Tampa Riverwalk came in at #15 with 91,350 hashtags. Finally, the Florida Aquarium is #19 on the list of most photographed places in Florida. Over 63,072 hashtags of the Florida aquarium were used.
Below you can find the five most photographed places in Florida.
- The Everglades National Park
- Wynwood Walls
- Walt Disney World Resort
- SeaWorld Orlando
- John F. Kennedy Space Center
Love that three of our Tampa landmarks land in the top 20 in the state of Florida. I wish there were more as there are many more that could be on the list. Just a few I can think of include Raymond James Stadium, Amalie Arena the University of Tampa. Ybor City would be a place that I thought would be on the list. I know it’s not necessarily in Tampa but in the Tampa Bay area how about the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Kevin is a member of Tampa Bay‘s Hometown Morning Krewe on 995 QYK. He has been with the station for 25 years, is a Tampa native, and went to Jesuit High School and USF. Go Bulls!. He is passionate about all things Tampa Bay. Kevin writes articles on the ongoing road projects around the Tampa Bay area, awards that Tampa Bay cities and businesses have won and country music happenings around the Bay area. He is always doing many things with his wife and kids. He loves to read books and play video games in his spare time.
