Tampa Museum of Art

The Tampa Museum of Art stands on the Hillsborough River at the edge of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, in the Cornelia Corbett Center at 120 W. Gasparilla Plaza, so a visit is as much a riverfront walk as a gallery trip. It keeps a growing collection and a rotating program, and the museum's rhythm is simple: open Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Thursday hours stretching to 8 p.m. and Art on the House, a pay-as-you-will window, on Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m. Adult admission is moderate, with discounts for seniors, military, Florida educators and professional artists, a low rate for K-12 students, and free entry for children 6 and under, college students with ID and SNAP EBT participants. There is no parking lot, but the museum is reachable by boat: Pirate Water Taxi stop 12 serves the park in front, and two free Riverwalk slips are available first-come, first-served. Plan an hour or two. It is the natural quiet counterpart to the Dalí Museum across the bay, and a short walk from the Glazer Children's Museum, the Riverwalk and downtown hotels.

The reason to include a city art museum in a bay itinerary is the pairing it makes. St. Petersburg has the Dalí, the Imagine Museum and the Chihuly Collection; Tampa's answer sits on the other side of the water, at the heart of the downtown Riverwalk. You can arrive at it by water taxi from the Channelside or Hyde Park side, step off at the Curtis Hixon stop and walk straight in, which is a more memorable approach than any garage.

Parking is in the William F. Poe garage (prepay at the pay-by-plate stations or through ParkMobile, zone 9913), the Royal Street Regional Lot (ParkMobile zone 9709 or credit card), or on the street at meters. Le Méridien hotel guests can receive complimentary general admission with an Unlock Art pass. For exhibition details, check the museum's schedule before you go, since the changing program is where the museum's energy lives.