Tampa Parks Guide: Riverwalk Parks, the State Park, Dog Parks and Repairs

The City of Tampa names four parks and four museums on the Tampa Riverwalk (City of Tampa, Tampa Riverwalk).

The four Riverwalk parks are Cotanchobee Park, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park and Water Works Park. The same Riverwalk page lists four museums along the walk: the Glazer Children's Museum, the Henry B. Plant Museum, the Tampa Bay History Center and the Tampa Museum of Art (Tampa Riverwalk).

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is the event lawn of the group. It sits at 600 N Ashley Drive, opens 7 am to 10 pm, and the city says it attracts over one million people annually to its special events (City of Tampa, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park). The park has two splash pads, a shaded playground built for children ages 2 to 12, and a fenced dog run; park administration answers at (813) 274-8615 (Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park).

Kiley Garden, the modernist plaza that also overlooks the Hillsborough River downtown, has its own guide. The Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park guide covers the lawn, the namesake mayor and the event calendar.

Hillsborough River State Park, at 15402 U.S. 301 North in Thonotosassa, opens 8 a.m. to sundown every day and charges $6 per vehicle for up to eight people (Florida State Parks, hours and fees).

Florida State Parks describes Class II river rapids, which are rare in Florida, and seven miles of nature trails at the Hillsborough River park, and lists the park phone as 813-688-9500 (Florida State Parks, Hillsborough River State Park). Florida residents 65 or older, and holders of the listed federal disability certificates, get 50% off the base campsite fee, though not the reservation or utility fee (hours and fees).

The Hillsborough River park reopened effective February 24, 2025, but the cafe, the recreation hall, several campsites, two pavilions, the Seminole trail and portions of the Rapids Trail are still listed as closed (Florida State Parks). Rentals run on a temporarily changed schedule from August 4, 2026: canoes, kayaks and bicycles go out Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday through Sunday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the last launch an hour before close. The same notice also says Tuesday and Wednesday are closed, which overlaps the Monday through Thursday line, so a call to the park before a midweek paddle is the safer plan. Fort Foster, the Second Seminole War post that guarded the river crossing from December 1836 through April 1838, is part of the park. The Hillsborough River State Park guide covers the trails, the rapids and Fort Foster tours.

The two fenced, off leash choices in this Tampa section are the Jim Urbanski Dog Park inside Al Lopez Park and the dog run at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park (City of Tampa, Al Lopez Park; Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park).

Al Lopez Park, at 4810 N Himes Ave., covers approximately 132 acres with a nature trail, freshwater ponds and a community center, and is open sunrise to sunset (Al Lopez Park). Its Jim Urbanski Dog Park has separate fenced, leash free areas for small and large dogs, with dog water fountains. Picnic shelters there are booked through the city shelter reservations line, (813) 274-8184.

The downtown Curtis Hixon dog run is smaller and has a rule worth knowing before a visit: one large dog, or two small dogs of 30 lbs. and under, per person at one time, and dogs must be at least 6 months old (City of Tampa, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park). At the county's Lettuce Lake Park pets are allowed on the grounds, but Hillsborough County bars pets and bicycles from the boardwalk (Hillsborough County, Lettuce Lake Park). The Al Lopez Park guide covers the ponds, the Hunt Center and the park's baseball history.

Lettuce Lake Park, the Hillsborough County park at 6920 East Fletcher Avenue in north Tampa, is open, but sections of its boardwalk are closed for repair and its observation tower and paddle launch are closed during reconstruction (Hillsborough County, Lettuce Lake Park).

The county notice, updated August 13, 2026, says sections of the boardwalk are closed for repair, shelters 5 and 7 are closed while that work goes on, the observation tower is closed during reconstruction, and the kayak and canoe launch is closed, with rentals suspended and private boats barred from the launch (Lettuce Lake Park closure notice). When it is open, the Lettuce Lake boardwalk runs 3,500 feet to a tower that looks over the Hillsborough River, beside a 1.25 mile paved exercise trail.

Entry costs $2 per vehicle, cash only, for up to 8 people. Hours are 8 AM to 7 PM in spring and summer and 8 AM to 6 PM in fall and winter, and the park answers at (813) 987-6204 (Lettuce Lake Park). The county price for a canoe or kayak, once the launch reopens, is $25 for up to four hours and $10 for each extra hour, tax included. The Lettuce Lake Park guide covers the cypress swamp, the visitors center and the park's history.

Kiley Garden is a 4.5 acre modernist plaza over a two level parking garage beside the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, completed in 1988 by architect Harry Wolf and landscape architect Dan Kiley (The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Kiley Garden).

The Cultural Landscape Foundation says Kiley used the Fibonacci sequence to set the plaza's checkerboard pattern, and that the plaza looks over the Hillsborough River and the University of Tampa from its place in the former NationsBank headquarters complex (The Cultural Landscape Foundation). The foundation lists the Tampa plaza as at risk. It records that reconstruction began in 2006, with structural, electrical and drainage repairs and the removal of the sabal palms and crepe myrtles. The Kiley Garden guide follows the design, the 2006 work and the restoration effort.

Ballast Point Pier in South Tampa is still closed after the fall 2024 hurricanes, and the City of Tampa has released a Request for Proposal to begin its restoration (City of Tampa, October 2025).

The city's October 2025 recovery review puts Parks and Recreation damage at about $9 million, enough to close several facilities for nearly a year, and says Joe Abrahams Community Center was the last of them to reopen, in September 2025 (City of Tampa hurricane recovery review). It describes the Ballast Point Pier as 970 feet long.

The Ballast Point Park page, updated February 4, 2026 and checked October 14, 2026, disagrees with itself. Its notice still calls the structure the 600-foot pier and says the pier and Joe Abrahams Fitness Center are closed as of Spring 2025 because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, while its fitness center section says the 2024 hurricanes took the center out for a year but it has come back, and lists hours of 6 am to 8 pm on weekdays (City of Tampa, Ballast Point Park). The rest of Ballast Point Park, at 5300 Interbay Blvd., is open 6 am to 8 pm, and its single lane boat ramp is open 24 hours but has only 4 spots for vehicles with trailers. Read together with the October 2025 recovery review, the fitness center closure line is the stale one; the pier closure appears on both pages, and the two give different pier lengths, 600 feet and 970 feet.

Five Tampa park guides sit under this hub, and each answers one main question, from the downtown Curtis Hixon lawn to the Hillsborough River State Park rapids upstream.

Three different owners run these places, which matters for fees and phone calls: City of Tampa Parks and Recreation runs Curtis Hixon, Al Lopez and Ballast Point (City of Tampa), Hillsborough County runs Lettuce Lake Park (Hillsborough County), and Florida State Parks runs the Hillsborough River park (Florida State Parks). Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County and Florida State Parks websites, park by park.