by PETER GREENBERG

The opening draw to the triumvirate of Florida’s Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater is straightforward: sunny days, fine white sand beaches and fresh seafood. Add a vibrant arts scene and the opportunity to sample Greek, Cuban and Thai culture and food—spread along 64 kilometres of seashore—and the Gulf Coast area makes a great year-round destination.

In Tampa, a great food stop is the Columbia Restaurant, decorated with thousands of hand-painted terra cotta tiles and known as Florida’s oldest restaurant. Founded in 1905, the restaurant has been family-owned and operated for five generations. The “1905” Salad is mixed at your table; the Paella “a la Valenciana” is a family recipe and the restaurant’s signature dish. My favourite is the Ybor City Devil Crab Croquettes.

To experience a bit of Asia, plan your trip to include a Sunday visit to Wat Mongkolratanaram, or Wat Tampa for short. Enjoy an open-air riverfront brunch that you build yourself with items from the dozens of Thai food vendors at this Buddhist temple’s 30- year-old weekly market. Bring cash and arrive early to grab a picnic table and to avoid the lines for pad thai, fried bananas and mango sticky rice.

St. Petersburg is home to collections of the works of two famous artists, Salvador Dalí and Dale Chihuly.

The Dalí Museum contains the largest collection of the Spanish surrealist’s work outside of Europe, and includes the melting clocks of his masterpiece, The Persistence of Memory. Be sure to go in the morning to catch the light coming off the water through the Enigma, a geodesic bubble made up of 1,062 triangular pieces of glass.