Hillsborough County is in West Central Florida.

Cities

• 1 Apollo Beach
• 2 Brandon
  • 3 Valrico
• 4 Gibsonton – circus sideshow freak town
• 5 Plant City
• 6 Riverview
• 7 Ruskin
• 8 Sun City Center
• 9 Tampa – the largest city in the county, home to Busch Gardens
  • 10 Temple Terrace

Understand

As the most populous of the three counties in the Tampa Bay Area, Hillsborough County is home to one of the state's most important cities, Tampa. This city is a principal city in the third largest important metro area in the state, after Greater Miami and Greater Orlando. The county is in the northeast corner of the Tampa Bay and, having a fairly small land area, is dominated by Tampa and its eastern suburbs. Across the bay, to the west, is Pinellas County and to the south is Manatee County. The county is a little overshadowed in tourism by the other two counties in the region, which both have extensive beach resorts.

The suburbs of Tampa are not marketed toward tourists. Although Brandon and Riverview have decent populations and appear on the map, as part of the Tampa metro area they are little more than this. Most Floridians have hardly heard of these suburbs, particularly Riverview. The points of interest to visit are in Tampa, including commerce, entertainment, a museum and universities.

Get around

By bus

• Hillsborough Area Transit (HART) Public Transportation in Tampa and in the surrounding areas within Hillsborough County.

See

• 1 Tampa Electric's Manatee Viewing Center, 6990 Dickman Rd., Apollo Beach, ☏ +1 813-228-4289. Nov 1 - Apr 15, 10AM-5PM daily (closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter). Manatees are attracted to the waters in this area because it is warmed through the hot water released by nearby power plant. There are also viewing towers, devil rays touch tank and education building in this complex. Free. (updated Dec 2024)

Go next

• Pasco County - north
• Polk County - east
• Hardee County - southeast corner
• Manatee County - south
• Pinellas County - west