All Access

All-Access Weekly Digest

Tampa Bay

Tampa Members

Axios Tampa Bay Deep Dive

Axios Tampa Bay Thought Bubble

Picture of the Tampa Bay skyline with TPA written across it.

Get smarter, faster about what’s happening in your backyard with local reporter Ben Montgomery.

Axios Tampa Bay

👋 Shane Savitsky here, deputy managing editor of Axios Local — and fresh off a trip to your corner of the world to visit Ben and Selene.

State of stay: I bunked in downtown St. Pete this time after choosing downtown Tampa last May, so I was all primed to write a hot take comparing the two. But I'll just ask a simple question instead:

Are you deliberately hiding St. Pete? Do you not want us folks from up north to know that it's really, really cool? Maybe you want the "God's waiting room" thing to persist so your real estate market doesn't turn even more insane.

I've been to a few Axios Local cities now, and I'm not sure there's a cooler street than Central Ave. (Worth noting: I'm writing this from South Congress in Austin, so TBD.)

My ideal day was book browsing at Tombolo, dinner at Wild Child, dessert at Plant Love and a nightcap at Green Bench. How can you beat that?

The big picture: Ben and Selene made sure I saw the full breadth of your wild, weird country. We drove from Clearwater to Sarasota (shoutout Mahuffer's), but I sure was glad to head back to St. Pete.

❓ Where should I go on my next Tampa Bay visit? Email me and tell me what I missed.

Tampa Bay takes from a non-local

Silhouette of Shane taking in the sunset at Lido Beach

Shane takes in the sunset at Lido Beach. Photo: Ben Montgomery/Axios

<p>👋 Shane Savitsky here, deputy managing editor of Axios Local — and fresh off a trip to your corner of the world to visit Ben and Selene.</p>

Things to Do

Axios Tampa Bay, anchored by Ben Montgomery and Selene San Felice, is here to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news and developments unfolding in their own backyard.

Shane Savitsky

Featured stories

Tampa Bay takes from a non-local