‘Spanish New Orleans’ is 20C in January and has ghosts, pirates and manatees As I sat at the bar overlooking Tampa Bay Harbour and watched the boats bobbing around in the warm January sunshine, I found it hard to believe this was the same spot where the whole world had watched Lieutenant Dan ride out Hurricane Milton in his 20ft sailboat.
Although the best cocktail is to be had was in the hotel’s fabulous rooftop restaurant Casa Cami, which also has breathtaking views over the city and coast all the way to St Petersburg, as well as knockout margaritas and Mexican cuisine – especially the rolled fried tacos, flautas.
And Tampa is somewhere they really do play – it’s a fun city which has been built for people to enjoy their lives, not just endure a 9-5 grind in damp, miserable weather before a hopefully early demise – but maybe that's just me in the UK.
Many of the city’s hotels are Downtown, but we loved the swanky Rocky Drive area and the fact that we had a beautiful ocean view from our room and a small beach area for a sundowner.
My teenager Jesse and I hired a car when we flew in and our home for five nights was the very swish Current Hotel Autograph Collection, just 15 minutes from the airport.
