Time Magazine names Tampa as one of the World's Greatest Places

TIME Magazine has named its World's Greatest Places for 2023 and it features many iconic destinations from around the world including Barcelona, The Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, the French Polynesian Islands, Brisbane in Australia, Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, and the much closer to home, Tampa!

The magazine describe Tampa as "a city eager to earn permanent status on travelers’ lists of sunny, accessible escapes worthy of a weekend stay, as a cutting-edge, multi-billion-dollar landmark development project redefines its downtown."

TIME highlighted the Water Street project which includes the city’s first true five-star hotel, The Tampa EDITION (there are currently only five in the US, including one in Miami), with Michelin-starred chef John Fraser at the helm.

Backed by Bill Gates and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, the project has already seen the Verge, its main pedestrian promenade, mushroom with restaurants like Boulon Brasserie, with spectacular interiors by a Montreal designer and ridiculously good escargot, and The Pearl, a stylish oyster bar across the street, as well as lifestyle hotels and residences including ROOST Apartment Hotel.

The neighborhood was recently named the world’s first WELL-certified City District, too, thanks to its focus on sustainability and livability, and rentable electric scooters make it easy to zip around downtown.

The development is at the crux of a downtown renaissance that’s seen Tampa finally take full advantage of what’s been here all along–water, water, everywhere, between the Hillsborough River and Tampa Bay.

TIME also commented that Tampa was an entrepreneur- and millennial-magnet, with bleisure a way of life at spots like Sparkman Wharf, where top chefs proffer light bites and cocktails from within shipping containers astride a busy shipping canal, and Armature Works, a chic food hall inside a restored trolley warehouse along the 2.6-mile Tampa Riverwalk.

Here is the complete list of Time's World's Greatest Places 2023

• Dominica

• Barcelona

• Torres del Paine National Park in Chile

• Ladakh, India

• Churchill, Manitoba

• Aarhus, Denmark

• Roatán, Honduras

• Aqaba, Jordan

• Kyoto

• Musanze, Rwanda

• Luang Prabang. Laos

• Sylt, Germany

• Willamette Valley, Oregon

• Budapest

• Mayurbhanj, India

• Yosemite National Park in California

• Giza and Saqqara, Egypt

• Medellín, Columbia

• Isan, Thailand

• Freetown Peninsula, Sierra Leone

• Naples, Italy

• Kangaroo Island, Australia

• Vienna

• Bozeman, Mont

• Mexico City

• Dakar, Senegal

• Jeju Island, South Korea

• Berat, Albania

• Pantanal, Brazil

• Rabat, Morocco

• Loango National Park, Gabon

• Phuket, Thailand

• Dijon, France

• Tampa, Florida

• Rio Grande, P.R.

• Tucson, Ariz.

• Washington D.C.

• Vancouver

• Pantelleria, Italy

• St. Moritz, Switzerland

• Timisoara, Romania

• Brisbane, Australia

• Guadalajara, Mexico

• Ollantaytambo, Peru

• Nagoya, Japan

• Chyulu Hills, Kenya

• The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

• Jerusalem

• Sharjah, UAE

• Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesisa

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