Miami is two places joined by causeways: the city of Miami on the mainland, with downtown, Brickell, Little Havana, Wynwood and Coconut Grove, and Miami Beach on its barrier island, where South Beach holds the Art Deco hotels and the sand. The paddling trails at Flamingo, at the far end of the Everglades, and the sunset at Mallory Square in Key West are on the USA page; this page covers the city and the trips you can make from it in a day.
Plan by area. A day on Miami Beach takes in the beach, the Art Deco walk and stone crabs at Joe's; a day on the mainland joins Little Havana, Wynwood and the museums by the bay. The Everglades, Biscayne National Park and Key Biscayne each fill a morning or more, and they are easiest with a car.
Start the day on the sand at Lummus Park in South Beach
Lummus Park, Ocean Drive, South Beach
A morningFree
Ten blocks of palms, lawn and sand between Ocean Drive and the Atlantic, calm at sunrise before the heat.
What it is
Lummus Park is the ten-block strip of palms, lawn and sand between Ocean Drive and the Atlantic, from 5th Street to 14th Place, and it is the South Beach most people picture. The colourful lifeguard stands, designed in Art Deco style by the architect William Lane, are the landmarks.
How to do it
Come early: runners and cyclists take the Beachwalk path at sunrise, and the sand is calm before the heat. Chairs and umbrellas are rented on the sand, and the park has changing rooms and restrooms. For a quieter end, walk south to South Pointe Park and its 450-foot pier, facing the cruise ships of PortMiami.
Good to know
Miami Beach Ocean Rescue staffs the stands from 9 am to 7 pm and flies warning flags; swim near a stand, because of rip currents.
Walk the Art Deco district with the preservation league
Art Deco Welcome Center, 1001 Ocean Drive, South Beach
2 hoursBook ahead
The largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world: 960 historic buildings, mostly small 1930s hotels and apartment blocks.
What it is
South Beach holds the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world: the Miami Beach Architectural District, listed on the National Register in 1979, counts 960 historic buildings, mostly small hotels and apartment blocks from the 1930s. The Miami Design Preservation League, which fought to save them, runs a daily guided walk from its Art Deco Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive. It lasts two hours and covers about 1.5 miles, with groups of up to 20 on headsets, and steps inside hotel lobbies as well as past the pastel facades of Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival and Miami Modern.
How to do it
In 2026 it costs $50 for adults, $40 for seniors and $35 for ages 13 to 17; children 12 and under go free. Book online.
Good to know
If you prefer your own pace, the league's app-based audio tour comes in four languages.
Drink a cafecito and watch the domino players on Calle Ocho
Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street), Little Havana
Half a dayNo booking needed
Little Havana's main street, with a domino park, coffee windows and, once a month, Viernes Culturales from noon.
What it is
Little Havana's main street is Calle Ocho, SW 8th Street, and its busiest blocks lie around 15th Avenue. Máximo Gómez Park, known to everyone as Domino Park, opens from 9 am to 6 pm: the tables are for club members over 50, but the players do not mind an audience. Order a cafecito, a small, sweet Cuban espresso, at a ventanita, the walk-up coffee window.
How to do it
Start at the Little Havana Welcome Center, open daily from 10 am to 4 pm, for a free map; the park is a few steps away. For a full Cuban lunch, Versailles, a gathering place for the Cuban diaspora since 1971, is further west at 3555 SW 8th Street and only books for groups of 15 or more.
Good to know
On the last Friday of each month, Viernes Culturales fills Calle Ocho with music, artists and stalls from noon.
Billie Holiday and Count Basie played this 1935 bar, and its leafy back patio still has live music from midday.
What it is
Ball & Chain opened on Calle Ocho in 1935, long before the neighbourhood was Little Havana, and in the 1950s Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Chet Baker played there. Today it is a Cuban bar and kitchen with a stage on a leafy back patio and live music from midday. Thursday is the night for beginners: at 9 pm instructors line the crowd up for a free salsa class, no partner needed, and then a DJ plays until midnight. Saturday's La Pachanga runs from 9 pm to 3 am with live Latin bands.
How to do it
There is no cover charge, but after 6 pm it is 21 and over, so bring photo ID. It faces the Tower Theater at 1513 SW 8th Street; groups should book a table online.
Good to know
Come at 7 and eat on the patio first; happy hour runs from 4 to 7 pm.
See the murals of the Wynwood Walls and the streets around
Wynwood Walls, 2516 NW 2nd Avenue, Wynwood
1 to 2 hoursNo booking needed
Warehouses turned into canvases, painted by more than 130 artists from over 30 countries, with free murals on almost every wall around.
What it is
In 2009 the developer Tony Goldman began turning a group of Wynwood warehouses into canvases for street artists, and the Wynwood Walls became an open-air gallery whose murals change as new artists are invited; more than 130 from over 30 countries have painted here. In the blocks around it, murals cover almost every wall for free.
How to do it
The entrance is at 2516 NW 2nd Avenue, open daily from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm, with doors closing 30 minutes earlier. In 2026 tickets cost $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for ages 13 to 17, and children 12 and under go free. No Metrorail station serves Wynwood: ride the free City of Miami Trolley along NW 2nd Avenue, Monday to Saturday, or use the Wynwood Garage on NW 26th Street.
Good to know
Weekends and the second-Saturday Art Walk are the most crowded.
Visit PAMM, the art museum under hanging gardens by the bay
Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Boulevard
2 hoursNo booking needed
Art of the Americas, Western Europe and Africa in a building whose raised terraces borrow from the stilt houses out in the bay.
What it is
The Pérez Art Museum Miami, known as PAMM, opened in 2013 in a Herzog & de Meuron building in Maurice A. Ferré Park, on Biscayne Bay downtown. Its raised terraces and broad canopies borrow from the Stiltsville houses on stilts out in the bay, and Patrick Blanc's vertical gardens hang from the roof. The collection focuses on 20th-century and contemporary art of the Americas, Western Europe and Africa, with works by Kehinde Wiley, Purvis Young and Olafur Eliasson.
How to do it
It opens Monday and Friday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm and Thursday until 9 pm, and closes on Tuesday and Wednesday. In 2026 admission is $18 for adults and $14 for seniors, students and ages 7 to 18. The free Metromover stops at Museum Park.
Good to know
Entry is free on Thursdays after 5 pm, the best time to go.
Tour James Deering's bayfront villa and gardens at Vizcaya
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, 3251 South Miami Avenue, Coconut Grove
2 to 3 hoursBook ahead
An Italian Renaissance-style villa on Biscayne Bay, with formal gardens and a carved stone barge offshore as a breakwater.
What it is
Vizcaya was the winter home of James Deering, heir to the International Harvester fortune, who moved in on Christmas Day 1916: an Italian Renaissance-style villa on Biscayne Bay with furnished rooms, formal gardens and a carved stone barge offshore that acts as a breakwater.
How to do it
It opens every day except Tuesday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. While restoration work goes on, adult admission is cut from $32, to $25 from 1 November 2026 ($20 until then), and children 5 and under go free. Guided tours of the Main House are on hold, but the Vizcaya app has a free audio tour, and volunteers give short talks in the courtyard every hour from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm. Metrorail's Vizcaya station is a ten-minute walk away over the US 1 overpass.
Joe's Stone Crab, 11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach
Book ahead
Only the claws are taken and the crab goes back to the sea; here they come chilled and cracked, with mustard sauce.
What it is
Florida stone crabs are caught for their claws alone: claws of at least 2.75 inches are taken, and the crab goes back into the sea to grow new ones. The harvest season runs from 15 October to 1 May, the time to eat them fresh. Joe's Stone Crab, at 11 Washington Avenue near the southern tip of Miami Beach, began as a lunch stand in 1913 and first cooked stone crabs in 1921; they still come chilled and cracked, with mustard sauce.
How to do it
Book on OpenTable, or walk in and wait. Lunch is served Wednesday to Sunday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, dinner nightly from 5 pm, and after 4 pm the dress code rules out shorts, flip-flops, sportswear and hats. Joe's Take Away next door, open daily, needs no booking.
Climb 109 spiral steps inside the oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County to a balcony over the ocean.
What it is
At the southern tip of Key Biscayne, about 15 minutes' drive from downtown over the Rickenbacker Causeway, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park wraps more than a mile of Atlantic beach around the oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County. The Cape Florida Light was first built in 1825, and the present 95-foot tower was lit in 1847. The park is also on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, recalling people who escaped slavery from here to the Bahamas.
How to do it
Tours at 10 am and 1 pm, Thursday to Monday, climb its 109 spiral steps to a balcony over the ocean, Stiltsville and Miami Beach. Rent a bike for the 1.5-mile paved path, then eat at the Lighthouse Cafe by the ocean or at Boater's Grill on No Name Harbor, on the bay side, at sunset.
Cruise to Boca Chita Key in Biscayne National Park
Dinner Key Marina, Coconut Grove, to Boca Chita Key
3.5 hoursBook ahead
The largest marine park in the National Park Service, seen from a boat, with an hour ashore on an island with a lighthouse.
What it is
Biscayne National Park, the largest marine park in the National Park Service, is mostly the water of Biscayne Bay and the northernmost Florida Keys, so you see it from a boat. The Biscayne National Park Institute runs a Boca Chita Key cruise from Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, its departure nearest the city. It takes about three and a half hours: past Stiltsville and Soldier Key, then an hour ashore on Boca Chita, with its lighthouse, a short trail and a picnic pavilion.
How to do it
Boats leave at 9:15 am from November to May and at 1:30 pm from June to October, with an hour of beginner snorkelling added from June to August. In 2026 it costs $83 for adults and $49 for ages 5 to 12. Book ahead and arrive 30 minutes early.
Good to know
Nothing is sold on the island, so bring water and food.
Ride an airboat into the Everglades from the Tamiami Trail
Tamiami Trail (US 41) and Shark Valley, Everglades National Park
Half a day from MiamiBook ahead
Only three airboat operators may run inside the park; pair one with a tram loop to a 45-foot observation tower.
What it is
Only three airboat operators may run rides inside Everglades National Park, and all three sit on the Tamiami Trail (US 41) west of Miami: Coopertown, Gator Park and Everglades Safari Park. Rides sold elsewhere along the road run outside the park. Coopertown, in business since 1947, offers about 40 minutes on the water plus a 20-minute alligator presentation.
How to do it
Coopertown takes walk-ins from 9 am to 5 pm; the park adds $8 per person aged 16 and over without a park pass. Then drive 15 to 20 minutes west to Shark Valley, where the concessioner's two-hour tram tour follows a 15-mile loop to a 45-foot observation tower, $36 for adults in 2026. Non-US residents pay the $100 park surcharge there.
Good to know
From December to April the Shark Valley car park fills by 10 am. Taxis and Uber rarely come back for you.
Drive the Overseas Highway into the Florida Keys for a day
Overseas Highway (US 1), from Key Largo to Marathon and Pigeon Key
A full dayBook ahead
US 1 crosses 42 bridges from Key Largo to Key West, and for one day the middle Keys repay the drive.
What it is
The Overseas Highway carries US 1 for 113 miles from Key Largo to Key West across 42 bridges, and green mile markers count down from 127 near Florida City to 0 in Key West. For a day, the middle Keys repay the drive.
How to do it
From Miami, take Florida's Turnpike to Florida City; Key Largo is 22 miles on. In Marathon, between mile markers 47 and 61, the Turtle Hospital runs 90-minute guided visits every half hour from 9 am to 4 pm, best booked on its own site. Just west, the old Seven Mile Bridge, reopened to walkers and cyclists in January 2022, runs 2.2 miles to Pigeon Key.
Good to know
Key West is about 160 miles from Miami, roughly four hours each way without traffic, so a day trip there is very long; to see the sunset, stay the night. Turnpike tolls are cashless.
Miami International Airport (MIA) is about 6 miles west of downtown. The MIA Mover train links the terminals to the Miami Intermodal Center, where Metrorail's Orange Line leaves for downtown and Tri-Rail and Amtrak trains also stop. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL), 21 miles north, is the second gateway. Brightline trains run from MiamiCentral, downtown, to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando airport, about 3 hours 25 minutes to Orlando; check the timetable when you book.
Getting around
Miami is spread out, and the free services cover only parts of it. The Metromover, an elevated people mover, is free and loops around downtown and Brickell from 5:30 am to 10 pm, stopping at Museum Park for PAMM; upgrade works close some stations in late 2026. Miami Beach runs a free citywide trolley from 8 am to 11 pm, about every 20 minutes. Metrorail reaches Vizcaya, and the free City of Miami Trolley serves Wynwood. For the Everglades, Key Biscayne and the Keys, rent a car or book a tour; Florida's Turnpike tolls are cashless.
How many days
In must30's view, four days is a good first visit: one for South Beach, the Art Deco walk and dinner at Joe's in season; one for Little Havana and Wynwood; one for Vizcaya, PAMM or Key Biscayne; and one out of town, on an airboat in the Everglades or a boat to Boca Chita. Add a fifth day for the Keys, and better still a night in Key West, because the drive there and back takes about eight hours.
When to go
December to April is the dry, mild high season, when hotel prices peak and the Shark Valley car park in the Everglades fills by 10 am. Art Basel Miami Beach, from 4 to 6 December 2026, fills hotels across the city. From June to October it is hot and humid, with afternoon thunderstorms, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, busiest from mid-August to mid-October. Stone crab season, from 15 October to 1 May, is one more reason to come in the cooler months.
Where to base yourself
South Beach puts you on the sand and in the Art Deco district, with the free trolley running along the island, but it is the loudest area at night. Mid-Beach, further north, is calmer, with big beachfront hotels. Downtown and Brickell sit on the Metromover and the Brightline station, closer to Little Havana, Wynwood, PAMM and Vizcaya, and suit a trip with a car. Coconut Grove is leafy and quiet, beside the bay and the boats at Dinner Key.
Questions travellers ask
Can you do a day trip from Miami to Key West?
Yes, but it is a long day: Key West is about 160 miles from Miami down the Overseas Highway, roughly four hours each way without traffic. Coach tours do the round trip in a day; driving yourself, Key Largo and Marathon make easier day trips. To see the sunset at Mallory Square, stay the night.
How do you get from Miami to the Everglades?
Drive west on the Tamiami Trail (US 41). The three airboat operators authorised inside the national park, Coopertown, Gator Park and Everglades Safari Park, and the Shark Valley entrance are all on that road. There is no public transport, and the park warns that taxi and ride-hail drivers rarely come back for you, so rent a car or book a tour with pickup.
When is stone crab season in Miami?
Florida's stone crab harvest runs from 15 October to 1 May, and that is when restaurants serve fresh claws. Only the claws are taken and the crab is returned to the water. Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach is the classic place to eat them; book on OpenTable.
Do you need a car in Miami?
Not for South Beach, downtown and Brickell: the Metromover and the Miami Beach trolley are free, and Metrorail reaches Vizcaya. You do need one, or a tour, for the Everglades, Key Biscayne and the Keys. Tolls on Florida's Turnpike are cashless, so check your rental company's toll plan.
Is it safe to swim at Miami Beach?
At the guarded beaches, yes. Miami Beach Ocean Rescue staffs the lifeguard stands from 9 am to 7 pm and flies warning flags for rip currents and other hazards, so swim near a stand. Bill Baggs Cape Florida, on Key Biscayne, is a quieter beach but has no lifeguards.
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