Tampa
You're flying out of Tampa Airport, you have 90 minutes to kill, and you'd like to do better than a Pret. Good news: airport drinking has improved more in the last five years than the previous fifty. Pre-flight drinks at Tampa Airport range from chain reliability to surprisingly polished hotel-style bars in the airport hotels. This is barsforKings's editor-curated guide to drinking better at Tampa's airports.
Hyde Park · $$$
Tampa's most awarded cocktail bar.
Downtown · $$$
Cocktail bar with a Mediterranean-influenced menu and one of the city's tightest amaro lists.
Downtown · $$
Heritage dive bar from 1947.
St. Petersburg · $$$
St.
Want a real drink before flying? The fastest play is to get to airport hotels next door — most run polished bars that beat anything post-security. We list them at the bottom. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, see our shortlist of bars in Tampa proper at the end.
Plays for Tampa Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
Pre-flight drinks, hotel-bar reviews, and the openings we're watching across 176 cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Tampa? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.