Miami Beach Sights & Attractions

Miami Beach Sightseeing

As well as the very long beach and amazing nightlife options, Miami Beach is full of old neighbourhoods, such as Little Havana and Española Way, as well as quirky mansions, museums, parks and waterways to keep you fully entertained.

Here are just a few highlights to get you started…

Oleta River State Park

This beautiful subtropical 418ha park is located just across the Intracoastal Waterway from Haulover Beach Park.

Go swimming from the man-made beach or kayaking in the calm waters of Biscayne Bay. Hike or bike the numerous trails, looking out for native wildlife including egrets, manatees, bald eagles and fiddler crabs.

The park is accessed at 163rd Street along North Miami Beach.

Bass Museum of Art

Miami's most progressive art museum (with outdoor sculpture garden) offers permanent collections from the 15th through the early 20th centuries, including works by Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Bass Museum of Art is located in Collins Park on South Beach.

Wolfsonian-Florida International University

Ponder some of the 70,000-plus items of modern propaganda and advertising art amassed by Miami native Mitchell Wolfson, heir to a private fortune.

This eclectic collection includes Nazi propaganda art and King Farouk of Egypt's match collection, as well as works from artists such as Charles Eames and Marcel Duchamp. Located at 10th Street on South Beach.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)

See works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Larry Rivers and Duane Michaels, among others. MOCA is located at 125th Street on North Beach, Miami.

Holocaust Memorial

Pay your respects at this iconic bronze memorial sculpture that depicts concentration camp victims clinging to a giant hand stretching 12m into the air.

A surrounding courtyard is lined with photographs and the names of concentration camps and their victims who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Miami Beach was once home to the second-largest community of Holocaust survivors in the country. The Holocaust Memorial is located at Dade Avenue, South Miami Beach.

Spanish Monastery Cloisters

See the (allegedly) oldest building in the United States. Dating from 1133, the Spanish Monastery Cloisters were first erected in Segovia, Spain.

Centuries later the cloisters were bought by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who then brought them to America in pieces.

The carefully numbered stones sat in storage for years until they were finally reassembled in 1954, on the present site at 167th Street on North Miami Beach.

Venetian Pool

Go swimming or sunbathe beside fountains, waterfalls and three-storey Spanish porticos at Miami's most beautiful swimming pool.

Dating from 1923 and listed in the US National Register of Historic Places, the unusual free-form lagoon pool is hidden behind pastel stucco walls and fed by underground artesian wells.

The pool is filled with more than three million litres of fresh spring water every day and features coral caves, grottos and two waterfalls.

Facilities include toilets, showers and changing rooms as well as a restaurant and two French-style cafés. The Venetian Pool also offers swimming lessons, lifeguard training and scuba diving certification courses.

The Venetian Pool is located on De Soto Boulevard, Coral Gables, around 12km from Miami Beach.

Eco

Join an adventure eco-tour around the region hosted by the Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation Department.

Choose from guided nature, adventure and historic tours involving biking, hiking, kayaking, snorkelling and bird watching.

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Latest update Miami Beach honeymoon destination: 9 September, 2024

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