If you intend to visit Ybor City I suggest that when you get there you first go on a bus tour. These are provided on buses, mini buses and shuttles and are usually called something like “Ybor City the Cigar Capital of the World”. The tour will include seeing the Ybor Visitor' s Center, museum store, a Cuban bakery as well as the Art gallery.
I believe although we have never been on one that there are also Walking Tours. These tours explore the many layers of history that make up Ybor City.
Ybor City is centrally located just northeast of the Downtown Tampa on I-4 at Exit 1 and can be reached easily coming into Tampa from any direction. There is a City Parking Garage between 15th and 16th Streets on 5th Avenue located in the middle of the Historic District. This is only a short walk from our Visitor Information Center in the Centro Ybor entertainment complex. If you want to do a tour around Ybor yourself first visit the Visitors Information Center located at 1600 East 8th Ave and ask for a Walking Map & Guide.
Ybor has been Tampa’s Latin Quarter for over a century and it is a fantastic blend of aromas, flavours, sights and sounds. You can enjoy the scent of roasting Cuban coffee early in the morning and still hear the rhythms of Latin music late into the night,
Ybor City was originally founded by Vicente Martinez as a cigar-manufacturing centre and is today is one of only two National Historic Landmark Districts in Florida. It has beautiful red brick buildings with wrought iron balconies and its narrow brick streets give it an old-world charm that is a lovely change form the beach and surrounding malls. You will enjoy exploring its cafes, cigar bars, restaurants and shops. You can browse eclectic shops and art galleries or visit one of the museums. It is exciting to see a “hand-rolled cigar” being made or just relax with a cup of Ybor’s famous cafe con leche.
You will be spoilt for choice with the variety of restaurants. Just by just by strolling down La Setima the main street of the Historic District you will find Spanish, Cuban, Italian, Greek and French cafes and restaurants. Here you can share authentic tapas and a pitcher of Spanish sangria in a café atmosphere much like that of a Mediterranean village.
If you are there in the evening you can listen to the music of the night - jazz, blues, salsa, reggae and even hip-hop coming from a selection of pubs, patio bars and nightclubs.
Once you visit Ybor City you will not forget it.