Sarasota (Fine Dining and Beach) ★ 4.4
Sarasota an hour south runs its own Michelin Guide listings with stars at Indigenous, plus the Selva Grill and Owen's Fish Camp on the bayfront.
More food day trips in Tampa
Lakeland (Publix Original) ★ 4.1
Lakeland east of Tampa houses Publix's founding 1930 store and a revived downtown lakefront with brunch, craft beer and the original Florida Southern campus.
St Petersburg (Downtown and the Pier) ★ 4.5
St Petersburg downtown runs a stronger waterfront restaurant scene than Tampa, with the Pier complex carrying Fresco's, Doc Ford's and Teak waterfront grills.
Tarpon Springs (Sponge Docks Greek) ★ 4.5
Tarpon Springs on the Greek sponge docks runs the largest concentration of Greek restaurants in the country, with Hellas, Mykonos and the bakeries.
Dunedin (Craft Beer Crawl) ★ 4.4
Dunedin on Pinellas has Tampa Bay's densest craft brewery row, with Dunedin Brewery, 7venth Sun Dunedin and Cueni Brewing in a Scottish-American village.
Plant City (Strawberry Capital) ★ 4.4
Plant City east of Tampa is Florida's strawberry capital, with Parkesdale Farm stand and a strawberry festival every March that pulls 500,000 visitors yearly.