While we were in Florida over the summer we spent three nights in Tampa. We chose to stay in the Embassy Suites Airport Westshore hotel in Tampa. We chose this hotel for many reasons, first and foremost because we always love to stay in Embassy Suites hotels because they are perfect for our family of six in terms of space and amenities. For this vacation I also chose this hotel for it’s location because we needed a hotel that was not too far from our sight-seeing destinations we had planned for the weekend. We needed a hotel that wasn’t going to break the bank and would put us in a location within easy driving distance of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Maderia Beach. The Embassy Suites Tampa Airport Westshore met all of these needs and then some!
The Embassy Suites Tampa Airport Westshore had a fantastic staff, from the friendly valets to the helpful manager who gave us tips on where to dine to the cooks who made us some awesome omelets in the morning. The hotel is very clean, the staff is always on hand to help, and I loved the decor in the lobby that felt very artsy yet comfortable. Our suite was very roomy and we were able to spread out and have fun without being on top of each other at all times. They also offer a gym and have a really cool outdoor pool that the kids LOVED. The Embassy Suites Tampa Airport Westshore hotel is a little more dated than some of the Embassy Suites we have visited in the past, but I’ve heard they are in the midst of some renovations and updates.
My favorite things about EVERY Embassy Suites stay though is the complimentary Happy Hour each evening and breakfast buffet each morning. They sure know how to pamper their guests! The breakfast buffet was awesome on this trip because I could fuel up the family for free before spending a day touring around. And their chefs at the Embassy Suites Tampa Airport Westshore were some of the best I’ve seen in any of our hotel stays. They whipped out mouthwatering omelets and kept the line moving so you didn’t have to wait forever for them. My kids love the buffet because it’s a smorgasbord of all of their favorite foods (they would eat breakfast every meal of the day if allowed). The buffet offered everything from dry cereal to fruit to the aforementioned omelets and the list goes on and on. And Happy Hour is perfectly timed at the end of the day so that when we returned to the hotel each evening drained from sight seeing we were delighted to have cocktails and snacks awaiting us. The complimentary breakfast and happy hour were really a treat for our wallets.
As I mentioned we did not have much time to explore Tampa while we stayed there because our planned activities were outside of the city. I’m hoping to return for another visit sometime when we can devote more time to exploring Tampa. Something we did do in Tampa though was EAT and DRINK. Yes we had the awesome free breakfast at the hotel, but for dinner we tried out a few places around town. I had a huge list of places to try, and due to limited time we only visited a couple…so I’m tucking the list away for our next trip. Feel free to leave comments below of places we should check out the next time we are in the Tampa area!
Dinner at La Teresita’s:
We arrived in Tampa right around dinner time after a very long drive from Kentucky and asked around for recommendations on good food and the valet at the hotel recommended La Teresita for authentic Cuban cuisine. The restaurant was only minutes from our hotel so we headed there. The food was really good and the portions were huge! And the prices were just right. It was a very filling meal after a long day of eating fast food.
Dinner at Cigar City Brewing:
First, let me say that during our time in Florida we tried many of the beers from Cigar City Brewing and I didn’t meet one that I didn’t like. They are an awesome brewery with a great selection of craft beers. The brewery is family friendly and they often have food trucks on site. The night we visited the brewery Renny’s Oki Doki Food Truck was there serving up some delicious Japanese-inspired dishes. Truth be told, the food was so good if we had more evenings in Tampa I might have stalked this food truck and eaten their cuisine every night! So if you make a trip to Tampa and love beer be sure to visit the Cigar City Brewery, and find out where Renny’s Food Truck will be and visit them!
Do you have any recommendations for future trips to Tampa? Please leave comments below, we’d love to go back!
Florida Vacation 2015: For our Summer Vacation 2015 we spent ten days in Florida, exploring the Tampa Bay and Gulf area with our family. There was an unusual amount of rain while we were there, but fortunately for us there’s plenty of fun to be had indoors. We spent quite a bit of our trip exploring museums, an aquarium, breweries, restaurants and more!
I’ll be sharing our Florida vacation adventures in a series of posts in the hopes that they will inspire you to plan a trip to Florida for your family! Many thanks to my friends at the St. Pete’s & Clearwater Visitor’s Bureau for helping me plan this trip. So many memories were created while we were there!
For more posts about things to do in Florida visit my Florida Travel Archives.
The Embassy Suites is located at: 555 North Westshore Boulevard,Tampa,Florida
La Teresita is located at: 3248 W Columbus Drive, Tampa
Cigar City Brewing: 3924 W Spruce Street Tampa
