Date Night Ideas in Tampa

Setup.No booking, no gear. Bayshore Boulevard runs along the bay in South Tampa; park near any cross street and start walking in either direction.

1. Arrive about an hour before sunset and pick a direction along the water.
2. Walk at whatever pace keeps you both talking rather than watching a fitness tracker.
3. Find a bench or a stretch of seawall and sit for the last twenty minutes of light.
4. Walk back the way you came, or loop up one of the side streets into Hyde Park for a change of scenery.

Talk about:What is a view from somewhere else you have lived that you still think about?

Setup.Board the TECO Line Streetcar at any downtown stop; it runs on tracks between downtown, the Channel District and Ybor City, and there is no fare to ride it.

1. Catch the streetcar downtown and ride it into Ybor City.
2. Get off and walk Seventh Avenue, the historic district's main street, named one of America's ten great streets in 2008.
3. Wander the side streets to see the old cigar factory buildings and the small worker cottages called casitas.
4. Ride the streetcar back to downtown whenever you are ready.

Talk about:If you had to learn a trade the old fashioned way, apprenticed to someone, what would you want it to be?

Setup.The museum sits on the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, on the Riverwalk between Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and the Straz Center.

1. Start at whichever wing has the show you are less sure about, so you have something to argue over.
2. Take the ancient antiquities slowly, they are the collection's anchor.
3. Finish outside on the Riverwalk if the rain has let up, and see the building's lit exterior if you stay past dark.

Talk about:Which piece would you actually want hanging in our home, and where would it go?

Setup.Start anywhere along the Riverwalk in downtown Tampa; the path runs between Water Works Park in Tampa Heights on the north end and the Convention Center area to the south.

1. Pick an end and start walking; Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and the Tampa Museum of Art sit roughly in the middle.
2. Keep going north past the Straz Center toward Tampa Heights and Water Works Park, or south toward the Convention Center.
3. Turn around whenever the conversation gets more interesting than the next block.
4. If you started after dusk, watch for the stretch that changes color; it is lit differently depending on what is happening in the city that night.

Talk about:What is a walk we have taken together that you would want to do again, exactly the same way?

Setup.Plant Park surrounds Plant Hall on the University of Tampa campus, across the river from downtown. Bring a blanket and something to eat.

1. Walk the grounds and take in the minarets, cupolas and domes from a few different angles.
2. Spread out on the lawn along the riverfront side of the park.
3. If the timing works, step into the Henry B. Plant Museum in the building's south wing for the Victorian era interior.
4. Walk back across the river into downtown to close the evening out.

Talk about:If we built a ridiculous, over the top house together, what is the one feature we would insist on?

Setup.An antiquarian or used bookshop in a literary city. Cash for small purchases. A budget.

1. Each picks the section they would never otherwise visit.
2. Spend 30 minutes there. Pick one book.
3. Reveal at the till.
4. Read at a café for 30 minutes before walking on.

Setup.An omakase sushi counter. Booking required for most.

1. Sit at the counter, not a table.
2. Eat each piece in two bites max, within a minute.
3. Tip in cash if you can.

Setup.A national/state park with cabin or camping. Booking essential, many fill months out.

1. Drive Saturday morning, set up by lunch.
2. One real hike. One real meal at camp.
3. Coffee at sunrise Sunday before driving.

Setup.A baseball, basketball, hockey, or football game. Cheap seats, they are cheap for a reason and that's fine.

1. Get there 30 minutes before first pitch.
2. Hot dog and a drink each.
3. Stay through the seventh-inning stretch.
4. Walk to a bar near the stadium afterwards.

Setup.A beach with a surf school. Reef-safe sunscreen, swimwear, a change of clothes.

1. Group lesson on land first, listen carefully.
2. Whitewater only, do not chase real waves first time.
3. Lunch at the beach café afterwards.

Setup.A loud cart-style yum cha or dim sum place. Cash for the bill.

1. Stop the first three carts that pass. Take one of each.
2. Order tea, jasmine, oolong, or pu-erh.
3. Stop ordering ten minutes before you think you should.

Setup.A pumpkin patch (October only). Boots, it gets muddy.

1. Walk the whole patch before picking.
2. Hayride if available.
3. Carve at home that evening.

Setup.A pub with a weekly quiz night. Most pubs run them, usually free entry.

1. Order food before the quiz starts. Eating mid-quiz is hard.
2. Pick a team name. Submit it confidently.
3. Argue every contested answer.
4. Stay for the prize round even if you cannot win.

Setup.A country whose food is unfamiliar, Georgian, Ethiopian, Filipino, Peruvian, Burmese.

1. Pick one dish that defines the country. Read three different recipes.
2. Source ingredients the day before, substitute what you cannot find.
3. One person reads the recipe out loud, the other cooks.
4. After eating, look up the next two dishes you would try.

Talk about:If we had to live in this country for a year, what would we miss most from home?

Setup.A fringe or off-off theatre. Cheap tickets, usually under $20.

1. Read the synopsis at the door, not before.
2. Stay for the whole show even if it loses you.
3. Drink at the theatre bar afterwards. Most fringe places have one.
4. Walk home rating it on a scale of "great" to "great in a different way".

Setup.A wholesale market that runs in the early morning. Comfortable shoes, a thermos of coffee.

1. Wake at 5:30am. Coffee on the road.
2. Walk slowly. Each takes 10 photos max.
3. Buy one small thing, fruit, flowers, fish.
4. Breakfast on the way back at a local spot.

Setup.A long-form game. Snacks pre-ordered for halfway. Two glasses of something.

1. Set up the game completely before either of you sits down, no shortcuts.
2. Phones in another room. Music low.
3. Pause for food when it arrives, eat, do not play.
4. Loser does the dishes.