Everglades National Park
This is a U.S. National Park in South Florida that protects 20 percent of the original Everglades. It is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and is visited by approximately one million people each year. It is the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importance, one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists.
Biscayne National Park
This is another U.S. National Park that is located south of Miami. This park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and there is an extensive mangrove forest in the shore of its bay. The park covers 172,971 acres and includes Elliott Key, the park's biggest island and first of the Florida Keys, formed from coral reef that has been fossilized. The northern islands in the park are made of coral and sand. The offshore areas in the park include the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the biggest coral reefs in the world.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
This is a 83-acre botanic garden with large collections of rare tropical plants that include palms, cycads, vines and flowering trees. It is located just south of Coral Gables, Florida, and surrounded at the south and west by Matheson Hammock Park. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden has over 45,000 members and 1,200 volunteers, and it serves as a museum, laboratory, learning center and conservation research facility, but its main role is the preservation of biodiversity.
The Miami Children's Museum
This 56,500-square-foot facility, designed by Arquitectonica, includes 14 permanent galleries, pre-school classrooms, parent/teacher resource center, Kid Smart educational gift shop, and a 200-seat auditorium. The Miami Children's Museum also offers hundreds of bilingual, interactive exhibits which include programs and classes related to arts, culture, and communication.
Zoo Miami
This popular zoo (formerly known as Miami MetroZoo) is also known as the Miami-Dade Zoological Park and Gardens. It is the biggest and oldest zoological garden in Florida, and the only tropical zoo in the United States. It is located southwest of Miami in southern metropolitan Miami-Dade County. It houses over 2,000 animals on 740 acres, and its walking path is about 3 miles which includes over 100 exhibits.
Monkey Jungle
This wildlife attraction is a 30-acre park that was established in 1933. It was originally created for the exhibition and study of endangered monkeys in semi-natural habitats. Many projects have been conducted at the park, which has become a major tourist attraction in South Florida. Monkey Jungle has about 400 primates of 30 different species. Visitors walk through a series of tunnel cages, since its tagline is "Where the humans are caged and the monkeys run wild".
Jungle Island
This attraction (formerly known as Parrot Jungle) is an interactive zoological park in Watson Island, Miami. Home to nearly 3,000 animal, bird & plant species, this Florida attraction boasts a petting zoo & trails.
Miami Seaquarium
This marine facility is a 38-acre oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, near downtown Miami. Founded in 1955, it's the oldest oceanarium in the United States. In addition to their many marine mammals, the Miami Seaquarium also showcases fish, sharks, sea turtles, birds, reptiles, and manatees.
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum
This historical museum was founded in 1956 and is one of three Official State Railroad Museums in Florida. It became a Florida state railroad museum in 1984 when it received statutory recognition by the Florida Legislature. The Gold Coast Railroad Museum showcases historical trains and railroads.
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
This popular attraction offers tours of Miccosukee history, culture and lifestyle. Displays include woodcarving to patchwork, beadwork, basket weaving and doll making. Crafts range from Authentic Miccosukee patchwork and beadwork to Navajo silver jewelry, which are all available for purchase at the Miccosukee Gift Shop. By airboat, you can ride through the vast "River of Grass" and get up close to the Florida Alligator. The Miccosukee Restaurant features culinary delights such as Miccosukee fry bread, Everglades frog legs, "gator" and catfish.
Venetian Pool
This popular attraction is a historic U.S. public swimming pool located in Coral Gables, Florida. Completed in 1924, it was designed by Phineas Paist with Denman Fink. This pool occupies a shallow quarry displacing about 820,000 gallons of fresh water daily from artesian wells, making it the largest freshwater pool in the continental United States. The pool features a grotto, where natural water-filled caves stretch back several feet into the hillside. There is a sandy sunning area for sunbathers and also a cafe.
Coral Castle
This popular tourist attraction is a stone structure created by the Latvian eccentric Edward Leedskalnin (1887–1951) north of Homestead in Miami-Dade County. It showcases numerous megalithic stones (mostly limestone formed from coral). Coral Castle is known for legends surrounding its creation that claim it was built single-handedly by Leedskalnin using reverse magnetism and supernatural abilities when he moved and carved numerous stones weighing several tons.
Vizcaya
This luxurious estate, now named the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is the former villa of businessman James Deering, 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 includes extensive Italian Renaissance gardens, native woodland landscape, and a historic village outbuildings compound.
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