65 Best Tourist Things to do in Miami FL in 2023

Intro

Whether you are coming down for the Miami nightlife, the Miami beaches, or you are a big fan of Miami Vice (yeah Don Johnson); there are many reasons to visit Miami, Florida and thousands of reasons that will keep you coming back for more. Many people barely scratch the surface of the city and never truly peal back the layers of this culturally rich and diverse city. You can dance until the sun comes up at one of the cities many clubs. You can sunbathe or parasail from the miles of white sand beaches. You can see a ton of different wildlife at one of the many parks or zoos (legit so many different places to see animals: Zoo Miami, Miami Seaquarium, Jungle Island, Dolphin Harbor, Monkey Jungle, Butterfly World, the Everglades, or even at the many botanical gardens or strolling the beach). Miami has something to offer everyone, around the clock.

History of the City of Miami

I spent much of my 20s living in and exploring the Magic City and I was excited to be going back last weekend for the first time in almost 10 years to explore my old stomping grounds. Even after living in Miami for over four years, I had no idea the city was founded in 1890 by Julia Tuttle when she moved her family down there from Ohio. This being the only major city in the United States to date, that was founded by a woman. (Grabbed this fun fact from Wikipedia). In the US, Miami has the 9th largest population, the 3rd tallest skyline (just behind NYC and Chicago), and 2,431 square miles in Miami/Dade County which makes rush hour in this vehicle focused city super fun. (Wikipedia is filled with tons of great Miami facts). South Florida has become a melting post from Central and South America countries as well as the Caribbean and snowbirds trying to avoid the harsh winters of the northeast United States.

My History

I would like to tell you that the feminist in me brought me to Miami, but Miami wasn’t actually the first time I had moved away from my tiny town in New Jersey. Prior to relocating to Florida in 2009, I had lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco for six months each. I had also studied at a university in upstate New York. All were very different experiences, partially due to the circumstances and partially due to the cities. When I had lived in LA and SF in 2008, I was in each city for barely six months a piece, so while I explored and met new people, it wasn’t enough time to scrape away a city as a local. It felt more like an extended holiday where I got to see the highlight reel of the city and have some fun.

I joined AmeriCorps in May of 2009, which is what brought me down to South Florida; my post was a non-profit in downtown Miami - situated between Little Havana and Bayfront Park on Biscayne Bay. I had only applied to assignments in places completely different than my hometown in New Jersey, which isn’t hard to do as most places are very different than New Jersey. My final two choices came down to a tiny town in Alaska where I would have to take a prop plane, while in darkness half the year and Miami. While both areas are quite different than where I am from, I ultimately chose Miami because I wanted some place I could enjoy my 20s in and avoid cold winters. I knew Alaska would be beautiful and an amazing experience, I just didn’t know how I would handle that many months of mostly darkness and bitter cold.

When I first moved to Miami, I moved to the suburb of South Miami and spent my first year in this neighborhood. South Miami is close to Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, which is most notable for housing the University of Miami, which is one of the best universities in the area with some great sports teams. While living in South Miami, I would spend my Saturday mornings having a coffee at the Barnes and Noble or catching a movie at AMC in the Shops at Sunset Place. When I visited recently, the mall Sunset Place was virtually a ghost town. It still housed the AMC and Barnes & Noble, but there was not much else going on there. With that said, there was a coffee house called Tea & Poets on the ground level of the mall. It was virtually empty when I went in, but to be fair it was 11am on a Thursday and they had just opened. I wished this place was in business when I lived there. It had trendy coffee and tea but also was a store with bohemian clothes and jewelry as well as hosted open mics. This part of my day trip to Miami really brought back some nostalgia. When I first moved to South Miami, I was young, excited about being in a new city, excited about the road ahead, excited about all the new friends I made, and just excited. With age, that simple joy and excitement can dwindle, but being back here brought me right back to the feeling. I stayed for awhile, taking in the new surroundings in my old surroundings, before heading on my next leg of the journey.

In my first year or so in Miami, my Friday and Saturday nights were mostly spent exploring new bars and clubs from Dadeland, to Aventura, South Beach, and everything in between. However, the hotspots that we frequented the most were typically the South Beach clubs, bars in Brickell, Wynwood art galleries, or grabbing food on Calle Ocho. After the novelty of Miami died down, we usually steered clear of Ocean Drive, which is mostly gimmicky bars geared towards tourists. My remaining three years living in Miami, I mostly went out on the bayside of South Beach, downtown and midtown Miami, or in the suburbs like around the Aventura Mall area. During my visit I drove past the Wynwood walls, art deco historic district, Bayside Marketplace, the Adrienne Arsht Center, and the American Airlines Arena, all of which I spent much time visiting and wandering around while a resident. So much so, I could probably give a very informative guided tour. It is a short drive between all of these places…that is, depending on the traffic.

One of the best places to visit in Miami if you want to see great beaches, natural beauty, and have a more mellow vibe than South Beach would be to visit Key Biscayne. It is not one of the Florida Keys by Key Largo or Key West, it is a very tiny Key close to Downtown Miami. This is also where the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne is situated, if you are looking for a nice hotel. There is a restaurant called the Rusty Pelican there that I went a few times for work and also took family to for special occasions, like my Dad's birthday. The Miami Seaquarium is right after the Rusty Pelican restaurant if you want to make a day of it on the little island. Also, if you are looking for beauty in Miami, check out the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Vizcaya is in the north section of Coconut Grove, just across the Rickenbacker Causeway from Key Biscayne. The grounds and gardens are gorgeous, but one of the best things about this area and these few sights are the views of the bay. Vizcaya is a great place to wander around and take in the scenery or attend one of the many special events hosted on the groups. If you are in search of different gardens in Miami, also check out the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden a little ways south of Vizcaya, in the South Miami section of town. The best way to get there from the Key Biscayne area would be to take Old Cutler Road or Dixie Highway down. There is a train that runs parallel to the Botanic Garden but you would either need to take a bus or ride-share the rest of the way.

Due to the Miami heat (the weather, not the basketball team), a main tourist attraction in Miami is the Venetian Pool, it is a popular place to stop by with the family. The pool is right down the road from the University of Miami and the Biltmore Hotel, which might be one of the most historic buildings in Miami or at the very least a well known hotel in the area. Coral Gables is one of the best neighborhoods in Southern Florida. It has a bunch of shops, restaurants, and bars on Miracle Mile, which is just under three miles from the UM Campus. For first-time visitors, they should keep in mind how spread out Miami is. It is very similar to Los Angeles County, which is a huge area that does not have the best public transit systems, so depending on how much time you have in the city or the sights you want to see, you may be very heavily reliant on a vehicle or ride-share for the most efficient way to get around.

If exotic animals is what you are after. Miami also is home to many different types of zoos such as Jungle Island and Zoo Miami. Jungle Island is close to downtown Miami, off of Biscayne Boulevard headed towards South Beach. On the opposite end of things is Zoo Miami, which is going down towards Homestead Florida. If you are headed down that way for the Zoo, you should also check out Coral Castle and the James Deering Estate, these two sights are about 15-20 minutes away from the zoo. If your Miami experience is one with children and want it to gear the trip towards kid friendly activities, there is a couple other museums to check out such as the Patricia Frost Museum of Science, the Perez Art Museum, and the Miami Children's Museum in additional to all of the other zoos mentioned at the beginning of my blog.

If you have come to Miami with your friends or significant other for the nightlife, Miami Beach and downtown Miami is where it’s at. Downtown Miami is a straight shot from Miami International Airport and South Beach is just a few more miles beyond downtown. There is easy access to the beach off of the 195 or 395 causeways. If you want the traditional South Beach experience, take the 395 causeway across and make a pitstop at South Pointe Park for the views of the Atlantic Ocean before heading up Washington Avenue or Collins Avenue for the bar scene. You can go from laying on the beautiful beaches, water sports, and cruising on the bike paths by day to a walking tour to learn about the deco architecture and then round out the evening with a stroll past bars with some of the best latin music around.

I left Miami in 2013 when I realized that I was not taking advantage of and appreciating the city as I once had. This by no means is a statement of me seeing everything the city has to offer or not loving the city anymore, as much as it served its purpose and was time for a change. I always had my sights set on living in Los Angeles. When I took the assignment down in Miami, I thought I would only be living in the city for a year before making my way out west, but like Miami doesn’t to so many people, it entranced me and I wound up staying for four years.

The Miami area has no shortage of things to do. Whether you are looking for live music, lush green spaces with tropical plants, catching a glimpse of wild animals in the everglades national park, partaking in water sports on the sandy beaches before a stroll down Lincoln Road Mall for a drink and a meal, or a short drive up north Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale for the views. These are some of the most popular places in South Florida that are worth your time.

For a quick reference to some of the best places (by categories) to visit in Miami, check out the below lists.

Malls

Since the pandemic and the surge of ecommerce stores, like seen at the Shops at Sunset Place - there is a decline in physical shops in many of these malls. But if you of the breed that likes to shop in person or you need an activity to get you out of the South Florida heat, check out the below malls around Miami/Dade County.

Parks

There are no shortage of views or greenery in Miami. For being in a major metro area, the below parks are some of the most serene and relaxing places around the city, with fabulous views to boot.

Bars

This is one of the main reasons many people come to Miami for. My list of bars derived from tasty places I visited during my recent trip, popular tourist attractions, or places that stood the test of time since living in Miami 10 years ago.

Tobacco Road (the exception to the above note, I needed to make mention of the bar I spent the most time at while living in Miami - RIP)
Blue Martini
Blackbird Ordinary
El Tucan
Vista Restaurant
The Broken Shaker
Wet Willie’s
Fat Tuesday’s
Clevelander
Living Room Bar at the W South Beach
Bar Collins at the Loews Miami Beach

Restaurants

Similar to the bars I listed, I put together this restaurant list from delicious places I visited during my recent visit, popular tourist attractions, or restaurants still around since 2014.

K-Poppin Korean Fried Chicken
CVI.CHE 105
Dolores Lolita
Balan’s
Candela
Moon Thai
Sakura
Sandbar
Sushi Maki
Monty’s
Sushi Sake
Andiamo’s
Last but not least, please find a local Cuban restaurant close to where you are visiting for breakfast, you will find the tastiest and most reasonably priced breakfast around! Also, try the Cuban Coffee.

Best Beaches

Like I mentioned above, after year one I tended to steer clear of the touristy areas of South Beach. Below is a list of a few beaches in the area that are just as beautiful but a little more relaxing than South Beach (if that’s what you’re going for).

South Beach (north of 17th Street)
North Beach
Oceanside
Fort Lauderdale
Matheson Hammock Beach
Crandon Park Beach

Kid Friendly Activities

Miami isn’t necessarily the city you think of to take your kids to on vacation but it is actually a really kid friendly city. To start off with, it has an amazing beach with a lot of water sports and not too big of waves. But it also has a lot of other outdoor activities like zoos, parks, and outdoor movies.

Sports

If you are a sports fanatic, there is no shortage of sports in the Magic City, many teams you might have heard of. But there’s also quite a few other sporting options past the typical baseball and basketball.

If you are road-tripping or checking out other areas in Florida, check out my posts on Tampa and St. Augustine.

Those of us who love to travel, sometimes forget to explore what’s in our own backyards. Check out some of the best sights in South Korea from a locals perspective in “The Most Instagrammable Places in Seoul” from Janice’s Lifestyle Blog.

Places mapped by Wanderlog, a trip planner on iOS and Android