Five Reasons is a regular feature, where I outline the reasons why a destination is hot right now. If you’d like to run Five Reasons in your publication or on your website, contact me at chris@caroundtheworld.com.

This week, I’m covering Tampa/St. Petersburg, where I spent New Year’s weekend with a college friend. As with most of the country, the area was in the middle of a cold snap, and our weather alternated between chilly and rainy. So there went our plans for beach time and Busch Gardens!

We did end up finding plenty of things to do, so consider this a guide in case you run into nasty weather on your Tampa-area vacation. The area is a Mecca for spring training baseball lovers, but with Florida’s humid climate, you gotta plan on a washout once in a while.

1. Swim with the fishes. Every year, the Florida Aquarium throws one heck of a New Year’s shindig called Aqua-Eve. But the Aquarium, located right near Tampa’s cruise terminal and Channelside shops, is worth a visit during regular daytime hours too. Commune with whale sharks, watch the penguin promenade or check out the jellyfish under the funky glow of black lights. If you’ve got kids with you and it’s raining, I’d make this a priority stop.

2. Step back in time. Ybor City, a planned community for immigrant workers built by Vicente Martinez-Ybor, was once the cigar capital of the United States. At night, it has an iffy reputation, due the proliferation of tattoo shops and icky chain bars (yep, that’s really a Coyote Wild in that historic building). But if you go during the day, particularly on a Saturday morning, the neighorhood’s authentic charm shines through. The Ybor City Museum is worth the $4 admission, if only to watch the excellent documentary that examines the melding of Cuban, Italian, Jewish and Spanish immigrants in an area that was once one of the biggest havens for emigres in the country. After watching it, you may even pony up for one of those hand-rolled cigars ubiquitously sold in shop windows.

3. Keep warm with spicy food. Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City is such an institution that it even has its own museum next door. It’s been around since 1905 , in a gorgeous Spanish-influenced building that takes up an entire city block. Yeah yeah yeah, you say – so how’si the food? Surprisingly delicious, we found. The Cuban sandwich, made of smoked ham, pork, salami, Swiss cheese, dill pickle and mustard pressed on hot Cuban bread,  tasted authentic, as did the Spanish bean soup I ordered with it. And my friend’s chicken served with yellow rice and beans was outstanding (as were the prices: Our lunch entrees were all under $10. It’s more expensive at night, but you get a flamenco show with that). Not hungry? At least order a sangria – not too tart, not too sweet – at the long, historic wooden bar.

4. The Surreal life. St. Petersburg’s Salvador Dali Musuem is moving into new digs next year on 1/11/11. But that doesn’t mean the current location isn’t worth a stop. Filled with donations from art collectors Reynolds and Eleanor Morse, who had a personal relationship with Dali and artist’s wife/muse Gala (gotta wonder what those dinner parties were like), the museum has  several master works, including The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and the Hallucingenic Toreador, as well as the famous Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory. My fave: Dali’s illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

5. Shop for antiques and cool stuff on St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue. Ok, so you might get wet as you troll this long strip of antiques/flea market/thrift stores. But you never know what you might find: on my last trip here, I found old red metal wind chimes that grace my porch to this day. Gas Plant Antique Arcade is the largest collection of dealers 0n Florida’s west coast. Let the thrill of the hunt warm you up.

Read previous 5 Reasons columns: St. Kitts; Naples, Fla.

Read more about Tampa/St. Petersburg: Breakfast at Skyway Jacks; Outback Bowl 2010