Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Egmont Key Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located in Hillsborough County. Its construction was completed in 1858 and it has been under National Park Service protection since in 1998. The lighthouse stands at an impressive 71 feet tall and provides a unique ambiance to the beaches of the area, where locals and tourists explore its ruins for a glimpse into the past. Even after its decommissioning in 1958, this Lighthouse continues to serve as an iconic symbol of Hillsborough.

North Beach at Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County, Florida is a destination for beach lovers from around the world. This unique beach offers a range of activities that are perfect for both families and solo travelers. The most popular activity is swimming in the clear, shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Visitors also enjoy sunbathing on the powder-soft white sand, fishing off the pier, or exploring nearby trails and kayaking through mangrove tunnels.

Fort De Soto Park is the perfect location for a variety of outdoor activities. Not only does the park provide picnicking areas and playgrounds, but it also has miles of trails for hiking, biking, and kayaking. Visitors to the 1,136-acre coastal paradise can relax along seven miles of white sand beaches or explore the shores by swimming or fishing from two large piers. Traveling further inland reveals freshwater ponds and salt marshes filled with birds and other local wildlife.

Fort De Soto Park is a tropical paradise to explore with numerous attractions. Spanning over 1,050 acres, the park offers miles of picturesque shoreline perfect for swimming around the artificial islands and fishing off the piers. Visitors can also go kayaking or canoeing around the estuaries. Other great activities include camping, canoe races, bird watching tours and history discovery runs.

A cable-stayed bridge spanning the Lower Tampa Bay connecting St. Petersburg, Florida to Terra Ceia. The current Sunshine Skyway opened in 1987 and is the second bridge of that name on the site.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is an iconic symbol of Hillsborough County Completed in 1987, this bridge stands across a four-mile span of Tampa Bay and is a beautiful sighting at sunrise or sunset. A cable-stayed bridge with several concrete piers, it also boasts a unique curved shape with fans for extra support, making it a creative engineering masterpiece as well as an eye-catching structure.