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One of the most popular areas in Tampa is The Tampa Riverwalk right in the heart of downtown. The locals especially love coming here to enjoy spacious grassy areas, gorgeous views, a nicely paved walkway, a few museums, fun parks, restaurants, and a trendy food hall.

The Riverwalk starts at The Florida Aquarium and you can walk a nice pedestrian trail along the Hillsborough River ending at the popular food hall, Armature Works. The entire trail is 2.6 miles long one way, so it’s a pretty long trail. We usually start at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park where it’s a more leisurely and enjoyable one-mile walk to Armature Works.

If you want to experience all the activities on the entire trail, you’ll probably need a few days to explore everything. The Florida Aquarium itself will take up your entire morning. It’s a great aquarium where you can meet penguins up-close too!

Right next to the aquarium is Sparkman Wharf where you can eat at hip restaurants and enjoy the beer garden. There’s also the American Victory Ship you can explore and if you want to experience a sunset dinner cruise, Yacht Starship is located here as well.

About a half mile down from the aquarium is the Tampa Bay History Center where you can learn all about Florida’s first inhabitants with three floors of interactive exhibits and theaters.

Next to the history center is Amalie Arena where you can watch sports events and concerts, but most notably, it is home to the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League who won the Stanley Cup back-to-back in 2020 and 2021.

If you want to enjoy cocktails with a view, The Sail is located close the arena. It’s a popular waterside patio bar where the locals like to relax.

From The Sail, the next point of interest is Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, which is about a 15-minute walk. If you don’t feel like walking, you can drive or hop on the Pirate Water Taxi. Once you purchase your water taxi pass, you can hop on and off all day at all the popular stops along the Hillsborough River.

As I mentioned earlier, Curtis Hixon is where we usually start our walk on Tampa’s Riverwalk. It’s an easy 1-mile walk with lots of parks, museums, and eateries along the way.

But right before Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, you must stop by Kiley Gardens. It’s a unique landscape with checkerboard pattern of grass and concrete panels overlooking the Hillsborough River. It’s quoted as being “one of the greatest landscapes of the 20th century”. Definitely a great spot for photo opportunities.

Kiley Gardens with a gorgeous view of the University of Tampa across the river

Kuma loves the grassy area of Kiley Gardens

The iconic Sykes building of downtown tampa

The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is also located here along with a couple of restaurants including Remedy that has a great outdoor atmosphere.

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is a spacious grassy area that is home to the Tampa Museum of Art and the Glazer Children’s Museum. There is also an interactive children’s playground (that is fun for the adults too) and a small fenced-in dog park.

Curtis Hixon often hosts special events including Riverfest, Taste of the Riverwalk, Free Concert Series, and much more.

As you continue your way to the Straz Center, you will find various historical busts featuring the key figures who shaped Tampa’s history. Henry B. Plant being one of them, of course. He has been called the “King of Florida” for making Tampa and Florida a tourist destination.

The Straz Center has shows and concerts often and is a beautiful performing arts center. I’ve personally watched Broadway shows like the Sound of Music and The Book of Mormon here and had a wonderful time.

Right outside of the Straz Center is an outdoor seating area where you can enjoy snacks and cocktails. You can order food from Maestro’s On The River where they offer a light menu of salads, sandwiches, and burgers.

Next, you’ll come across Water Works Park where there is another little dog run area and next to that is a fun children’s water park that is free to use.

Ulele (pronounced You-lay-lee) is a popular Tampa restaurant with a native-inspired menu. We love to take our friends here when they are visiting Florida because it’s a great atmosphere with delicious food.

Finally, we come to Armature Works, which is a stunning social space with various local food stalls and restaurants. We come here often to meet up with friends because they have a variety of cuisine to choose from and the view of the Hillsborough River is just beautiful.

The next time you’re visiting Tampa, make sure to stop by the Riverwalk. It’s truly a spectacular area of Tampa Bay.

Gorgeous view of the Hillsborough River from Armature Works

A variety of food to choose from at Armature Works

ACTIVITIES

There are plenty of activities you can enjoy at the Riverwalk and one of the coolest things you can do is paddle on a water bike on the Hillsborough River. You can even take your dog with you! You can also kayak down the river as well. Check out Tampa Water Bike Company for more details.

If you want to enjoy the river at a more leisurely pace, you can rent an eBoat or a Mini-Powerboat. We’d love to check out the Mini-Powerboat one day and maybe even take our dog with us too.

If you want to give stand up paddle boarding a try, you can do that on Hillsborough River as well with Urban Kai.

If you don’t want to walk the entire trail, you can also rent scooters and bikes. There are several hubs along the trail and we personally had a great time renting Coast Bike Share.

If you happen to be in Tampa on the fourth Friday of the month, there’s a great event called Fourth Friday Tampa that offers an evening of exclusive offerings to celebrate Tampa’s Downtown arts & culture scene. You can enjoy live local music, free admission or discounts at participating locations like Henry B. Plant Museum, and special food and drink deals.

PARKING

If you are starting your walk from The Florida Aquarium, there is a parking garage right across the street.

If you are starting your walk from Curtis Hixon, there is street parking nearby or you can park at Poe Garage, which is right next to the Tampa Museum of Art.

If you are starting your walk from Armature Works, there is street parking and a couple of parking lots. And if you are eating at Ulele’s, they have a free parking lot on Doyle Carlton Drive. Both locations also offer valet service.

All of the parking lots and street parking accept credit cards and you can also use the ParkMobile app to pay with your smart phone at most locations.