Tampa International Wins Best Large Airport Third Year Running
USA TODAY's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards crowned TPA the top large airport for a third straight year, while also naming it best for art and dining.
What travelers need to know
- What happened: Tampa International Airport (TPA) was named Best Large Airport in USA TODAY's 2026 10Best Readers' Choice Awards for the third consecutive year, and also won Best Airport for Art and Best Airport for Dining.
- Who's affected: Travelers flying through TPA, and airports it beat out including Nashville (BNA), Denver (DEN) and Salt Lake City (SLC) in the art category.
- Where: Tampa International Airport, Florida.
- When: Results announced , following a month of public voting.
- What to do: Travelers passing through TPA can visit the airport's art installations and try award-winning concessions like Cigar City Brewing and Bavaro's Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria.
Tampa International Airport has again come out on top in USA TODAY's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards, winning Best Large Airport for the third year in a row. The airport said the honor followed a monthlong voting period in which readers chose among ten large airports selected by an expert panel. USA TODAY credited TPA's win to its broad roster of nonstop routes, strong amenities and well-regarded concessions.
The airport didn't just win one category. TPA also took home Best Airport for Art for the second time and Best Airport for Dining, with two of its restaurants earning individual 10Best recognition. Cigar City Brewing landed among the top 10 Airport Sit-Down Restaurants nationally, while Bavaro's Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria was recognized in the Grab-and-Go Food category. Those wins reflect a concessions lineup that also includes local names like Columbia Restaurant, Ulele, Goody Goody and Café by Mise en Place, according to the airport.
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Art program beats out Nashville, Denver and Salt Lake City
In the art category, TPA edged out competitors including Nashville International (BNA), Denver International (DEN) and Salt Lake City International (SLC). The airport's public art collection has become something of an industry reference point, anchored by large-scale, site-specific works spread across its terminals and airsides.
- HOME by Matthew Mazzotta — a 21-foot-tall flamingo sculpture nicknamed Phoebe
- Copper Birds by Roy Butler — installed inside Airside A
- Final Boarding Call by Christopher Still — located at Airside C
- n + 1 by Ralph Helmick — displayed at the SkyConnect station in the Main Terminal
- Palimpsest by Nick Cave — housed in the airport's Rental Car Center
Three newer pieces have also joined the collection near the airport's Red Express Curbsides: Starfish Family | Dancing Algae by Claudia Comte, Cloud Ascent by Jason Bruges and On Memory and Plants by Janaina Tschäpe.
Award follows a top customer-satisfaction ranking last month
The 10Best sweep arrives weeks after another industry accolade. Last month, TPA was ranked number one in customer satisfaction among large airports in the J.D. Power 2026 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, a widely cited measure of traveler sentiment across the continent. TPA posted the highest score among large airports — defined in the study as those handling 10 to 32.9 million passengers annually.
That J.D. Power result continues a pattern for the Tampa airport, which previously topped the same large-airport satisfaction rankings in 2022 and 2023 before finishing second in both 2024 and 2025. The return to the top spot this year, paired with the fresh 10Best wins, gives TPA a strong run of recognition heading into the back half of 2026. For travelers planning trips through the airport, the dining and art honors offer a guide to what's worth seeking out between flights — from Phoebe the flamingo near the terminal to a sit-down meal at Cigar City Brewing before boarding.
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