Pasco County occupies the Gulf coast of central Florida, north of Tampa. It is one of the quieter stretches of the state's west coast, offering a glimpse of Florida before the theme parks and resort towers took over. The landscape is flat and green, dotted with lakes and laced with rivers that wind out to the Gulf of Mexico.
The county seat, Dade City, is a charming small town with a well-preserved downtown of antique shops and local restaurants set among brick roads and early twentieth-century buildings. Along the coast, New Port Richey has fishing charters and waterfront dining, while Zephyrhills is known to skydivers for its busy drop zone. The county's nature trails and flatwoods offer easy hiking through the kind of scrubby, palm-studded Florida wilderness that is increasingly rare closer to the cities.
