Traveling to Tampa? Check out this road trip recap for how to spend 48 hours in Tampa, Florida.
Tampa was stop #2 on my road trip with Kyle to our new home in Dayton. Stay tuned for travel posts galore as I recap all of the awesome places we visited in the upcoming weeks! I’m so, so excited to share all of our adventures with y’all. You can follow along on our road trip below:
Stop 1: Destin, Florida
Stop 2: Tampa, Florida
Stop 3: Harry Potter World and Orlando, Florida
Stop 4: Charleston, South Carolina
Stop 5: Seattle, Washington
Stop 6: Orcas Island, Washington
Stop 7: Our new home in Dayton, Ohio
Prefer to watch our visit to Tampa?
If you’d rather watch the video from our trip, scroll to the bottom and click play!
Stop #1 on the trip was to Destin. We only stayed for one day, and I took zero quality photos, so I don’t plan to do a blog post on that, but if you’re ever in the Destin area, three spots I would recommend are:
1) The Other End: It’s a hidden restaurant with a decent menu. We had a hearty cheese and charcuterie board with game meat.
2) Donut Hole Bakery Cafe: It’s a delicious spot for breakfast.
3) AJ’s: This is a restaurant, but at night, the upstairs is transformed into a madhouse of a night club. It’s all outdoors, and the night we went, there was a live band that did some great cover songs. I’ve also been to AJ’s for dinner on a past trip, and if you’re looking for a good spot for oysters, this is it.
Anyway, back to Tampa!
The reason Tampa was on our road trip list is because Kyle’s best friend from high school lives there. His name is Joey, and we hung out with him and his girlfriend, Mandy for a couple days.
DAY ONE
We got to Tampa a little late on a Saturday night, so after catching up and having a drink at their apartment, Joey and Mandy took Kyle and me to a place called World of Beer. It has a really fun atmosphere. We sat outside and played some of the outdoor games they had. We played a round of giant Jenga, and I lost and made the tower fall. Whoops! We also played a round of corn hole – girls against guys. The girls dominated, and I’m low-key proud because I am not good at corn hole at all.
After our trip to New Orleans, I developed an obsession with mules (the drink, not the animal), so at World of Beer, I had a raspberry mule, and it may be my favorite drink that I had on our 2 1/2-week road trip. Kyle and I also shared some mac and cheese bites, and I could’ve eaten about 50 more; they were so good.
DAY TWO
Sunday was the only full day we spent in Tampa, and it was obviously my favorite day. Joey owns a boat, so we drove about an hour away to take his boat onto Tampa Bay. It was the most gorgeous day, and I actually got a sunburn that didn’t hurt, but made me peel throughout the rest of the trip, but I digress.
We took the boat out to Beer Can Island where we just floated, chatted and listened to music. When we got out of the water and went onto the island, we played a round of KanJam. Sadly, the guys beat us this time, but I’m so horrible at it that no part of me was disappointed.
After our day on the water, we went to Jackson’s Bistro & Sushi Bar for dinner. Not gonna lie, I was riding the struggle bus from having a few too many adult beverages on the boat, but I do remember the sushi being pretty good, and the view from our table on the patio was gorg.
DAY THREE
Because it was a Monday, Joey and Mandy were off to work pretty early on our last day in Tampa, so after we said good-bye to them, we went to First Watch to have some breakfast. Even though there was a First Watch in Shreveport, I never got to go to it, and I’m so glad we did because it was freakin’ delish. Luckily, there’s also one here in Dayton, so I’ll probably make my way over there a few times for breakfast sometime soon.
We were planning on meeting Kyle’s cousin for lunch, so we needed to waste some time before we met up with him. Mandy recommended going to the Florida Aquarium, so we decided to be little tourists and go. Kyle and I both love aquariums, and this one was fantastic. We got there right when it opened, so we got to enjoy seeing some of the animals while it was much less crowded, and it was so nice. My favorite were the little otters. They were so active and just doing their thing. I also loved the lemurs. We got to see them during feeding time, so they were super active.
The last thing we did in Tampa was meet up with Kyle’s cousin, Garrett, for lunch at La Creperia Cafe. He said it’s his favorite place to bring people who are visiting from out of town. I can definitely see why. They have so many different crepe options – savory, sweet, breakfast, etc. I remember when I was in high school, every time we went to IHOP I would always get a strawberry crepe. Of course, this was a million time better.
I got the La Paris and added mushrooms to it, and Kyle got the Bon Curry, which I was thinking about getting and didn’t, and I regretted it. The La Paris was good, but the Bon Curry was amazing. Because Kyle is perfect, he shared his with me.
This was my first visit to Tampa, and I’m glad that Kyle’s best friend and cousin live there because it gives us an excuse to go back in the future.
See our trip in action in my latest YouTube video!
Have you ever been to Tampa?
