Showing 1-10 of 10 results
-
Bayfront Park
It's not just green space: it's teal too. Few parks can claim to front such a lovely stretch of turquoise (ie Biscayne Bay), but Miamians are lucky like that. Lots of office workers catch quick naps under the palms at a little beach that does you the favor of setting out 'sit and chill' chairs for watching water and not a hell of a lot else.
-
Crandon Park
This 2-mile beach is one of the city's best, all sand and seagrass beds concealing shrimp, crabs and a coastal marine ecosystem. Within the 1200-acre park you'll find the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center and Bear Cut Preserve. The latter is a nature study area with a mangrove boardwalk that leads to a fossilized reef overlook. Guided tram tours are available, as are daily cabana rentals with showers on a first-come, first-serve basis (around US$38 ); no overnight stays allowed.
-
Deering Estate At Cutler
The Deering estate is sort of Vizcaya lite, which makes sense as it was built by Charles, brother of James Deering (of Vizcaya fame). The 150-acre grounds are awash in tropical growth, an animal-fossil pit of bones dating back 50,000 years and the prehistoric remains of Native Americans who lived here 2000 years ago.
-
Fairchild Tropical Garden
If you need to escape Miami drivers, consider a green day in the country's largest tropical botanical garden. A butterfly grove, jungle biospheres and gentle vistas of marsh and Keys habitat, plus frequent art installations from folks like Roy Lichtenstein, are all relaxingly stunning. But Fairchild has a serious purpose: the study of tropical flora by the garden's more than 6000 members.
-
Hialeah Park
Hialeah is more Havanan than Little Havana (more than 90% of the population speaks Spanish as a first language), and the symbol and center of this working-class Cuban community is this grand but endangered former racetrack. Although Seabiscuit and Seattle Slew once raced here, the last race was held in 2001, and since then a fight's been raging to keep this gem from being paved over.
-
Kampong
If you speak Malay or Indonesian, yes, the Kampong is named for the Bahasa word for village. David Fairchild, Indiana Jones of the botanical world and founder of Fairchild Tropical Gardens, came up with the title, undoubtedly after a long Javanese jaunt. This was where the adventurer would rest in between journeys in search of beautiful and economically viable plant life.
-
Matheson Hammock Park
This 100-acre county park is the city's oldest and one of its most scenic. It offers good swimming for children in a closed tidal pool, lots of hungry raccoons, dense mangrove swamps, and (pretty rare) crocodile spotting. There are leafy walking and biking trails, a nice picnic area and a peaceful path edging Biscayne Bay.
-
Máximo Gómez Park
Little Havana's most evocative reminder of Old Cuba is 'Domino Park,' where the sound of elderly men trash-talking over games of chess is harmonized by the quick clak-clak of slapping dominoes. The jarring backtrack, plus the heavy smell of cigars and a sunrise bright mural of the 1993 Summit of the Americas, combine to make Máximo Gómez one of the most sensory sites in Miami.
-
Miami Beach Botanical Garden
More of a secret garden, this lush 4.5 acres of plantings flies under most people's radar. That's a shame, as the patch of green, operated by the Miami Beach Garden Conservancy, is an oasis of palm trees, flowering hibiscus plants and glassy ponds.
-
South Pointe Park
Closed for an overhaul when we visited, this small park at the southern tip of Sobe is getting a $22.3 million facelift into a kid-friendly promenade, with sand dune paths, arcing fountains, turtle-sensitive lighting that won't scare off nesting sea turtles and, ironically, a sculpture of an iceberg.
-
Advertisement
Showing 1-10 of 10 results
