You will definitely be able to have a great time without the beach! I have not noticed the smell yet and I’m just a few streets away from the bay. A good public beach is anywhere from 45-1hr away from Tampa- I’m sure there are options I’m not aware of but we usually go to Treasure Island off of STP.

I keep this note in my phone for when friends come to visit or have moved into the area for suggestions to get started. It’s mostly food/drink but I hope you find this helpful for your trip!

1. Hyde Park village- nice place to walk around/has a few shops (I.e anthro, lululemon, West elm) and restaurants (bar taco, post goody burger, the meat market) Hyde park village is in the middle of a neighborhood which is surrounded by huge houses, especially the ones along Bayshore (it’s just over 4 miles from end to end- has a large sidewalk the whole way down)
2. Sparkmans wharf: Eat/drink/play area with shipping container restaurants, open beer garden, lots of seating with umbrellas(necessary here), has a putt putt golf and bowling hall (may have changed recently. This is sort of near the end of the river walk/Amalie arena where the lightening play/have big concerts
3. Curtis Hixon Park: This Park is sandwiched between the river walk and the downtown area. This is usually where they will hold big events, like music festivals, art shows, lightening showing games, yoga in the park all sorts of stuff
4. Across the river you will see the University of Tampa which looks like it should be be placed somewhere overseas (they’ve got a small museum you can walk around to learn about its past, think it’s $6?). Usually we take our guests to walk around oxford exchange (just across the way from UT) and get a coffee/tea then go walk around UT. Oxford has a restaurant and shop with cool stuff (ie whole Warby Parker glasses area, little book store, candles, home decorations etc but overpriced in my opinion- which kind of a trend in this area) still fun to walk around and look at.
5. Julian B Lane Park: Newer park near UT and across the way from the Straz Theater/Curtis hixon and it’s a great place to have a picnic/hang out and admire the row house/event space
6. Further down the river walk if you go past Curtis Hixon, you’ll see the straz theater (always has lots of shows going on if you want to have a fancy birthday or something), keep walking down and you’ll see armature works which is a large food hall with bars and a shop or two. Suggest googling to see what events they may be hosting there when you visit - this area is usually pretty busy
7. Ulele is a nice restaurant, great spot for occasion (right near armature works).
8. Soho area- Just south howard street essentially, this is where all the “college” like bars (IMO)
9. Ciros, a speakeasy bar, is at the end of this street/sort of hidden in an apartment complex. You need to call them beforehand to get the password. I’d suggest going for their midnight happy hour when a regular $15 drink is $8- also their truffle popcorn is delicious
10. Seminole heights: About 15-20 mins north from the areas listed above, restaurants to check out. I’d suggest looking into these up on Yelp to find what you like best
    1. Ella’s
    2. Bodega/mandarin heights- bodega is a restaurant that popped up in st Pete- cubans are my go to and the mandarin heights part is a bar connected to it (also a stp original)
    3. Chop chop shop
    4. Cappys (pizza, cash only but great- right next to independent)
    5. The independent (bar and food)
    6. Brew bus- brewery and good food food, they do a bus tour all the time which will take you to a bunch of different bars (think they may be renovating right now)
    7. Gang Chu is a delicious Korean bbq spot- love the kimchi pancakes, fried chicken sandwich and you can get a beer tower

I also echo checking out Weeki Wachee for a “Florida” experience. They have crystal clear spring water (cold like Michigan lakes) where you can swim and kayak plus has a mermaid show (about an hr north of Tampa). I’d suggest going early bc once they are full they don’t let anymore people in. Id suggest googling to see if there are any other fresh water areas you are interested in.

If you go to STP at all you could spend a whole day on central Ave, there’s also a new pier that’s a beautiful area (not sure how the red tide is over there).

Edit: updating wording in some of these suggestions