Attractions in Miami
1) Forst Art Museum: The Patricia and Phillip Forst Art Museum (simply known as the Frost Art Museum) is a museum located on the Modesto A. Maidique campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. The Frost Art Museum’s Permanent Collection includes nearly 6,000 objects from several distinctive collections: the General Collection, the Metropolitan Museum, and Art Center Collection, and the Betty Laird Perry Emerging Artist Collection.
2) South Beach: South Beach is known for its beaches and the glamorous scene around its happening nightspots and celebrity-chef eateries. Chain stores and indie fashion shops line pedestrian shopping strip Lincoln Road Mall. On Ocean Drive, known for its well-preserved art deco architecture, outdoor cafes offer a ringside view of the scene. Museums include the Wilsonian-FIU, which has a collection of modern art and objects.
3) Little Havana: Little Havana is Miami’s vibrant Cuban heart, with Latin American art galleries and busy restaurants. Cafes with walk-up windows sell Cuban coffee to cigar-smoking patrons. On Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street), locals discuss politics over dominoes at Maximo Gomez Park, dubbed Domino Park by locals. The historic Tower Theater screens independent and revival films, while the area’s clubs host live Latin music.
4) Coconut Grove: Hugging the shoreline of Biscayne Bay, Coconut Grove is an upscale, leafy neighborhood with relaxed sidewalk cafes and chic shops in and around the Coco Walk mall. The area’s several green spaces include bay-front Barnacle Historic State Park, home to a mangrove forest, and the iconic Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, centered on a lavish Italian-style villa. Sailing clubs and marinas dot the waterfront.
5) Miami Seaquarium: The Miami Seaquarium is a 38-acre (15 ha) oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States and is located near downtown Miami. Founded in 1955, it is one of the oldest oceanariums in the United States. In addition to marine mammals, the Miami Seaquarium houses fish, sharks, sea turtles, birds, reptiles, and manatees. The park offers daily presentations and hosts overnight camps, events for boy scouts, and group programs. Over 500,000 people visit the facility annually. The park has around 225 employees, and its lease payments and taxes make it the third-largest contributor to Miami-Dade County’s revenue.
6) Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, previously known as Villa Vizcaya, is the former villa and estate of businessman James, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida. The early 20th century Vizcaya estate also includes: extensive Italian Renaissance gardens; native woodland landscape; and a historic village outbuildings compound. The landscape and architecture were influenced by Veneto and Tuscan Italian Renaissance models and designed in the Mediterranean Revival architecture style, with Baroque elements. Paul Chalfin was the design director.
7) Lincoln Road: Lincoln Road Mall is a pedestrian road running east-west parallel between 16th Street and 17th Street in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Once completely open to vehicular traffic, it now hosts a pedestrian mall replete with shops, restaurants, galleries, and other businesses between Washington Avenue with a traffic-accessible street extending east to the Atlantic Ocean, and west to Alton Road with a traffic-accessible street extending to Biscayne Bay.
8) Key Biscayne: Key Biscayne is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies south of Miami Beach and southeast of Miami. The key is connected to Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway, originally built in 1947.The northern portion of Key Biscayne is home to Crandon Park, a county park. The middle section of the island consists of the incorporated Village of Key Biscayne. The southern part of the island is now protected as Bill Bags Cape Florida State Park, adjacent to Biscayne National Park, one of the two national parks in Miami-Dade County.
9) Ocean Drive: Ocean Drive is mostly known for its Art Deco hotels and restaurants/bars, many of which have been prominently featured in countless movies and media. Among the most popular is the Colony Hotel, known as the most photographed art deco hotel, a 1939 boutique-inspired hotel that has made cameo appearances in scores of movies and TV shows including Dexter. The Sunray Apartments were featured in the movie Scarface (1983) and the Carlyle Hotel served as the exterior for the Birdcage drag club in the 1996 comedy Birdcage. The 2002 video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City also based the look of its eponymous city off Miami and has a replica of Ocean Drive with exactly the same name. Ocean Drive is also the location of the famed Casa Casuarina, the residence of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace (now a boutique hotel), one of the most photographed houses in North America. Another popular art deco hotel is Clevelander Hotel, aside from its hotel services, it consists of an indoor sports lounge as well a dance floor and pool area on the ground floor and a complimentary roof-top lounge.
10) Key West: Key West, a U.S. island city, is part of the Florida Keys archipelago. It’s also Florida’s southernmost point, lying roughly 90 miles north of Cuba. Famed for its pastel-hued, conch-style houses, it’s a cruise ship stop also accessible from the mainland via the Overseas Highway. It’s known more for its coral reefs – destinations for diving and snorkeling – than for its beaches.
