Whether you fly, sail, or walk (yes, walk), Cuba's in easy reach

 Ready to make a quick hop to Havana? You can do it from Tampa Bay.

While South Florida usually gets all the attention when the subject of Cuba comes up, Tampa Bay's relationship with Cuba goes back to the 1880s. Tampa Bay had ties to Cuba before Miami even had people!

Tampa Bay's 130-plus-year business and cultural relationship with the Cuban people took a hit in 1962 when the Cuban Embargo was imposed. But things began to change in 2015 as the U.S. re-established diplomatic ties with the island. Today, you can make Tampa Bay your base for launching a day trip to Havana, hopping a cruise to Cuba or even discovering Cuban culture without a passport.

Book your ticket on Southwest Airlines' daily flight from Tampa International Airport to Havana -- $200, 70 minutes (one way), and your passport, and you can be sipping a mojito by the Malecon. Flights leave TIA at 6:30 a.m. and return about 12 hours later, arriving in Tampa at 7:25 p.m. -- making a run to Havana an exciting day-trip option for a Tampa Bay vacation.

Prefer something a little slower? Try the Royal Caribbean cruise to Cuba aboard the Empress of the Seas, which will make its first run from Tampa Bay on June 7. Carnival's Paradise sails from Tampa to Havana on a four-night cruise that includes an overnight stay in Cuba.

Before you go, you can get a preview of Cuban culture right outside the airport's gates in Tampa Bay.

• Take a walking tour of historic Ybor City. Tampa Bay's Latin Quarter was founded by cigar magnate and Cuban exile Vicente Martinez Ybor, who moved his cigar business there in the 1880s. In the following decades, Tampa Bay became a magnet for Cubans, building deep social and commercial connections between Tampa and Havana. Today's brick streets, iron balconies and strong cafe con leche hark back to those earlier days.
• Cuban torcedores still roll hand-made cigars along Seventh Avenue (La Séptima) as they did when Tampa Bay produced millions of cigars using tobacco grown in Cuba, making us the Cigar Capital of the World. Today, the tobacco comes from Central America, but the skilled hands are all Cuban. Sample a smoke over Cuban coffee and listen – or join in -- while the Spanish-speaking locals debate the issues of the day at a sidewalk café.
• The world famous Cuban sandwich has developed many permutations over more than a century. But the original was invented here at Ybor City's El Pasaje hotel to feed all those Cuban cigar workers. Don Vicente himself approved the final recipe. To wash those sandwiches down, Florida's first commercial brewery opened in Ybor City in 1897, shipping much of what it produced to thirsty residents of Havana.
• Step into Cuban without a passport when you visit José Martí Park. The oldest piece of Cuban-owned soil in the U.S. -- still officially international territory – the park commemorates the connection between el “hombre sincero” and Tampa Bay. The Cuban poet and freedom fighter found support for his 1890s revolution against Spain among Ybor City's army of cigar workers. Marti survived an assassination attempt in Ybor City and recovered with the help of local supporters. The José Martí Trail gives a self-guided tour via your smartphone.
• Striking silver minarets making downtown's former Tampa Bay Hotel and local icon. Now part of the University of Tampa, the historic Moorish-inspired building was the headquarters for the US military in the run-up to the Spanish-American War, which ultimately freed Cuban from Spanish rule. The invasion of Cuba launched from the Port of Tampa. Then-Lt. Col. Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders left an indelible impression on Tampa Bay.

So before heading off to Havana, take some time to sample Cuba right here in the U S of A -- in Tampa Bay.