Things to do in Florida
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Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
There’s dazzling art inside this handsome museum, includes newly-acquired Norman Rockwells and George PA Healy’s famous portrait of the city’s namesake close to death. Also look for antiquities and a really fun interactive kids’ exhibit. Draped with wisteria and shaded by a massive, mossy oak so large it needs supports for its limbs, the garden is a grand place to unwind after absorbing all the beauty inside. Both the museum and gardens are impressively accessible, including a number of braille and audio guides.
reviewed
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Dancing Avocado Kitchen
Fresh and healthful, a meal here makes you feel better…or is it just the fresh air flowing through the custom-made air filters? Yummy Mexican dishes like extreme burritos and quesadillas dominate the menu at this vegetarian-oriented café, but the signature dancing avocado melt is tops. There’s a juice and smoothie bar on-site, the salsa is made from scratch, and once a month all tips go to charity.
reviewed
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Sweet Tomatoes
Travelers have been known to make pilgrimages here for the most incredible salad-/pasta-/soup-/bread-/dessert-bar buffet ever. Only the freshest ingredients are used for superb selections such as nutty mushroom pasta, tomato chipotle bisque and pesto orzo salad with pinenuts; excellent for vegetarians.
reviewed
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Dry Tortugas National Park
Dry Tortugas National Park is America's most inaccessible national park. Reachable only by boat, it rewards you for your effort in getting there with amazing snorkeling, diving, bird-watching and star-gazing.
reviewed
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French Connection
This place features good service, big sandwiches, quiches, crepes, salads and a killer French onion soup. Outdoor tables and a friendly bar (with an eight-hour happy hour from 11:00 to 19:00) rounds out the appeal.
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10,000 Islands
One of the best ways to experience the serenity of the Everglades - somehow desolate yet lush, tropical and foreboding - is by paddling the network of waterways that skirt the northwest portion of the park. The 10,000 Islands consist of many (but not really 10,000) tiny islands and a mangrove swamp that hugs the southwestern-most border of Florida.
The Wilderness Waterway, a 99-mile path between Everglades City and Flamingo, is the longest canoe trail in the area, but there are shorter trails near Flamingo.Most islands are fringed by narrow beaches with sugar-white sand, but note that the water is brackish, and very shallow most of the time. It's not Tahiti, but it's fasc…
reviewed
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Ringling Museum Complex
Who doesn't love the circus? Well...people who are afraid of clowns. But a little coulrophobia isn't necessarily a deal-breaker at the Ringling Museum Complex. On the grounds of the 66-acre complex are three separate museums, all included in your admission and each one a worthy attraction on its own. Railroad, real-estate and circus baron John Ringling and his wife Mabel put down roots here, building a Venetian Gothic waterfront mansion called Ca d'Zan. You can wander the ground floor at your own pace, or take a guided tour - totally worth it - which grants you access to the upstairs bedrooms. Also on the grounds, the John & Mabel Museum of Art is an excellent art museum …
reviewed
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Clark's Fish Camp
It doesn't any get more Floridian than this. Absolutely worth driving 27 miles for, this restaurant, on a gator-filled lake, was originally a bait-and-tackle shop and now combines the art of taxidermy (hundreds of stuffed lions, tigers, leopards, you name it, proliferate indoors and out), with mind-boggling meals of fried or charred turtle, kangaroo, antelope and rattlesnake.
Work up your courage with a Swamp Fest platter of gator tail, soft-shell crab, frog's legs, conch, catfish and squid, plus two sides and hushpuppies. There's a rustic elongated timber bar with barrel tables, but the best tables are on the lakeside outdoor deck. From Jacksonville, take the I-95 south …
reviewed
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Lincoln Road Mall
Calling Lincoln Rd a mall is like calling Big Ben a clock; it’s technically accurate but misses the point. Yes, you can shop, and shop very well here. But this outdoor pedestrian thoroughfare is really about seeing and being seen, and there are few better places in Greater Miami for both. Morris Lapidus, one of the founders of the loopy, neo-baroque Miami Beach style, designed several buildings on the Mall, including the Lincoln Theatre, Sterling Building and Colony Theater, which looks like the sort of place where gangsters go to watch Hamlet. There’s an excellent farmers market (open 9am-7pm Sun) and an Antiques & Collectibles Market (open 9am-5pm every other Sunday f…
reviewed
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Satchel’s Pizza
Two miles east of downtown, this wacky place has the best pizza on Florida’s east coast (and a darn good salad, to boot). Here, you can sit surrounded by funky outsider art and savor steaming build-your-own gourmet pies served on mismatched crockery. Grab a seat at a mosaic courtyard table or in the back of a gutted 1965 Ford Falcon. Most nights there’s live music in the Back 40 Bar; there’s bocce ball and a head-scratchingly eccentric junk museum featuring various bizarro collections. Satchel’s doesn’t take credit cards; the fees from the on-site ATM go to charity. Skip Satchel’s and you miss Gainesville’s soul.
reviewed
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Animal Park
The first cageless drive-through safari in the country, this incredible animal park puts you in the cage (ie your car) as 800 creatures roam freely, staring at you. Equal parts conservation area and safari, the park’s 500 acres are home to bison, zebra, white rhinos, chimpanzees and, of course, lions. You tour the safari section in your car (unless it’s a convertible; short-term rentals are available), driving slowly, hoping the animals approach the vehicle. The best time to go is when it rains, because the animals are more active when it’s cool.
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Xixon
It takes a lot to stand out in Miami’s crowded tapas-spot stakes. Having a Basque-country butcher-and-baker-gone-hip interior is a good start. Bread that has a crackling crust and a soft center that fluffs your tongue, and delicate explosions of bacalao (codfish) fritters, secures your spot as a top tapas contender. The bocadillo (sandwiches), with their blood-red Serrano ham and salty Manchego cheese, are great picnic fare. This place is a few miles north of the central Coconut Grove area.
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Ski Rixen
Deerfield’s Quiet Waters Park is home to Ski Rixen, South Florida’s only cable water-ski system. Using an innovative cabling system suspended from towers surrounding a half-mile course, water-skiers (and wake-boarders) are pulled over a wake-free watercourse. Obstacles are available for advanced tricksters; otherwise, riders can perfect their water-skiing techniques without the hassle of a boat. Skiers under 18 must have a waiver form notarized and signed by their parents.
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Irish Kevin’s
One of the most popular megabars on Duval, Kevin’s has a pretty good entertainment formula pinned down: nightly live acts that are a cross between a folk singer, radio shock jock and pep-rally cheerleader. The crowd consistently goes ape-poo for acoustic covers of ’80s favorites. Basically, this is a good place to see 50 women from New Jersey do tequila shots, scream ‘Livin’ On a Prayer’ at the top of their lungs and then inexplicably sob into their Michelob. It’s more fun than it sounds.
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Café Solé
Conch carpaccio with capers? Yellowtail fillet and foie gras? Oh yes. This locally and critically acclaimed venue is known for its cozy back-porch ambience and innovative menus, cobbled together by a chef trained in southern French techniques who works with island ingredients. The memory of the anchovies on crostini makes us smile. It’s simple – fish on toast! – but it’s the sort of simple yet delicious that makes you feel like mom’s whipped up something special for Sunday dinner.
reviewed
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Prime 112
Sometimes, you need a steak: well aged, juicy, marbled with the right bit of fat, served in a spot where the walls sweat testosterone, the bar serves Manhattans and the hostesses are models. Chuck the above into Miami Beach’s oldest inn – the beautiful 1915 Browns Hotel – and there’s Prime 112. We just have to mention: during our research Enrique Iglesias, Anna Kournikova, Alonzo Mourning, LL Cool J, Mike Piazza and the King of Jordan all ate here. On the same night.
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Wannado City
It’s worth a short day trip to the nearby City of Sunrise for this kids’ theme park, which asks children, ‘Whatchya wanna do?’ Get it? Never mind. Kids get to experience our crushing day-to-day as something fun and exciting in a series of little villages, costumes and games that lets them act as circus ringmaster, perform surgery, investigate a crime scene and, of course, have mom and dad buy plenty of souvenirs. Daily hours vary by season; call for more info.
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Florida Room at the Delano
‘Wanna buy me an eight-dollar beer?’ asks an out-of-towner, gazing awestruck at the sheer mass of model-types packed into this den of iniquity. The Florida Room is as exclusive as they get, plus a popular dancehall/samba piano lounge for local scenesters who eschew the tourist trap megaclubs further down the beach. Show up before 11pm or be on the list (or be Lenny Kravitz – who helped design this place) to get in.
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Loxahatchee Everglades Tours
Ten miles west of downtown, Wild Lyle’s Loxahatchee Everglades Tours offers hourly ecoexplorations of the Everglades on one of eight custom airboats (a boat using a fan instead of a propeller to push it over the water). Guests enjoy an adventure ride through swampy marsh, around papyrus and hurricane grass, past long-winged birds and turtles and gators sunning themselves.
reviewed
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Mai-Kai
This old-school Polynesian joint is pure kitsch – with some good food and amusing entertainment thrown in for grins. Las Vegas–style shows (additional $10.95) follow the meals, which range from Hawaiian chicken and seafood with noodles to the massive oak-roasted filet mignon Madagascar for two ($60). Don’t miss the froofy cocktails, including the potent ‘mystery drink.’
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Andiamo!
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Pizza
It looks like a ’50s drive-through (it’s actually an old car wash), but Andiamo! isn’t old fashioned. This airy eatery breaks ground with award-winning pizza and toppings that range from goat cheese to white tuna. You can get creative or settle for excellent interpretations of classics such as the Vesuvius: salami, hot peppers and olives, mmm.
reviewed
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Cafe Tu Tu Tango
An explosion of color and artwork cram the adobe walls of this fun Spanish eatery. Food is served 'tapas-style' (small portions), and dining is often interrupted by spontaneous performances of salsa dancing or magic shows. Chicken Cajun eggrolls and oriental steak skewers are the favorites - and don't forget a huge pitcher of luscious sangria.
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Arabian Nights
Combine dinner with a show and you usually end up with some lesser version of both; however, a lot of people find the combination fun enough that they don't mind. (Hint: you probably already have a pretty good idea if you're a dinner show type of person or not.) Good choices include the equestrian delight Arabian Nights.
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Mango’s Tropical Café
- Miami, USA
- Entertainment › Bar
Cuba meets Coyote Ugly Saloon in this tourist hotspot, where a staff of gorgeous and/or ripped bodies (take your pick) dances, gyrates and puts some serious booty on the floor. Of course, you’re here for anthropological reasons: to study the nuances of Latin dance. Not to watch the bartender do that thing Shakira does with her butt.
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