Dog Friendly City Guide: Tampa, Florida

The first cigar ever rolled in Tampa came out of Ignacio Haya's factory, Haya y Sanchez, in the district that became Ybor City. More than a century on, a hotel on 7th Avenue carries his name, raised behind the old façade of Las Novedades, and when a dog checks in, the staff bring out treats, a bed and a pair of bowls. A short ride away, downtown wraps around the Hillsborough River, and south of it a sidewalk runs for miles beside Tampa Bay. The city keeps a list of eighteen dog parks and beaches, every one fenced or bounded by water.

Coming From Overseas

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America's federal health agency, decides which dogs come in, and its rules turn on where the dog has been over the last six months. If the answer is only rabies-free or low-risk countries, the list is short: six months old or more, a microchip any universal scanner will read, and proof of a completed CDC Dog Import Form, free and fine to finish on the morning of the flight. Tampa's airport then works like any other port of entry. Time in a high-risk country brings a longer list, set out in our piece on taking a dog abroad.

Where to Stay

The Barrymore Hotel Tampa Riverwalk stands at 111 West Fortune Street, on the downtown stretch of the Riverwalk, with 331 rooms and an outdoor pool deck looking over the Hillsborough River. Gaudin Kitchen and Bar runs straight off the lobby, a cocktail-led restaurant lounge with an American and European menu and a late menu that runs to midnight from Wednesday to Saturday.

There is a pet gift waiting at check-in, the room comes with food and water bowls and free treats, and staff point you to the walks. The hotel's own page sends you across the river by the Fortune Taylor Bridge to the dog parks on the far bank, or fifteen minutes on foot to the dog run in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. The fee is $75 for the stay, however long it lasts, there is no weight limit, and the dog can be left in the room while you are at dinner. On rochdog.com the Barrymore is ranked B, and our review of the Barrymore goes through it in detail.

In Ybor City itself, Hotel Haya has 178 rooms on East 7th Avenue, among the revived casitas and brick storefronts of the old cigar district. Its history page tells the Ignacio Haya story, and the name honours the cigar makers who built the neighbourhood. Flor Fina serves brunch and dinner and cocktails each invented by one of its own bartenders, and Café Quiquiriquí starts the morning with Cuban coffee and a warm pastelito.

Its FAQ promises treats, cosy beds and bowls on arrival, takes two pets to a room, and charges $100 a pet at check-in. Our Hotel Haya review has the detail.

Eat and Drink

Ybor City has a brewery on 8th Avenue, a few blocks from Hotel Haya. Tampa Bay Brewing Company brews hop-centric IPAs and expressive sours, in its own words, for the Florida lifestyle, and keeps pilot beers and seasonal releases turning over on its taps. The streetcar stops at Centro Ybor next door, and the brewery's own FAQ answers the dog question in one line: dogs are welcome on the patio, leashed and under control.

Across town on West Spruce Street, Cigar City Brewing has been brewing since 2009 in the building where the first batches of Jai Alai IPA were made, and it still pours more than twenty taps there, many of them beers you can only drink in that taproom, with a full kitchen behind them. Its FAQ welcomes dogs on the covered patio outside, which in a Florida summer is the seat you want anyway.

Downtown on Channelside Drive, Sparkman Wharf is a dining garden of food counters on the waterfront, with live music some evenings, and its park rules let pets in on a lead, picked up after. Take a plate outside and the dog can come and sit with you.

Walks and Parks

The Tampa Riverwalk runs 2.6 miles along the Hillsborough River through the middle of downtown, past the parks, museums and restaurants on its banks, and it is the walk the Barrymore sits on. Along the way, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park draws over a million people a year and keeps a fenced dog run of its own.

North of the University of Tampa, Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park spreads over 25 acres of riverfront with a boathouse, sports courts and a dog park, and Water Works Park, on North Highland Avenue, keeps Queenie's Dog Park. The full list, with addresses, is on the city's dog parks page.

For distance, there is Bayshore Boulevard. The sidewalk starts at Columbus Statue Park on Platt Street and runs without a break to Gandy Boulevard, 4.5 miles with Tampa Bay on one side all the way, one of the longest continuous sidewalks in the United States. Start early and turn back whenever the dog says so.

For a run on grass, Al Lopez Park on North Himes Avenue has space to walk, run or cycle, a nature trail and the James Urbanski Dog Park.

Then there is the water, and two of the city's beaches are made for dogs. On Davis Islands, the Davis Islands Dog Park and Dog Beach at 1002 Severn Street has both, a dog park and a dog beach in one place. Picnic Island Park, at 7409 Picnic Island Boulevard, keeps a dog beach alongside its main beach, with a fishing pier and a canoe launch in the same park. A dog that has spent a morning swimming at Picnic Island sleeps well that night.

Driving on to Orlando? Our Orlando guide picks up the trail inland.

Good to Know

Dogs are not allowed on Tampa's city beaches unless the beach is a designated dog beach, and Davis Islands and Picnic Island are the two. Outside a dog park, a city ordinance keeps dogs on a lead, including in the car park on the way in and out, and a dog that barks on and on is asked to leave. Three parks close for maintenance each week: Curtis Hixon from 2pm to 4pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Al Lopez dog park on Thursday mornings until noon, and Queenie's at Water Works on Tuesdays from 6am to noon.

At the breweries, dogs stay outside. Cigar City keeps them to the covered patio, and Tampa Bay Brewing to its patio.

At The Barrymore, Gaudin's bar and restaurant are kept for people, while the terrace and lounge are open to dogs. At Hotel Haya, the bar and restaurant are kept for people, a dog cannot be left by itself in the room, and the hotel takes dogs up to 75 pounds.