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 200+ cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Tampa? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.