Miami-Dade County is in the Florida Gold Coast region of Florida.
Cities
- 1 Miami - The core city of the Miami (South Florida) metropolitan area.
- 2 Miami Beach - The main destination for tourism, beaches, and partying. It is a separate city from Miami, on an island off the coast.
- 3 Coral Gables - Has some nice museums and parks.
- 4 Florida City
- 5 Hialeah
- 6 Key Biscayne
- 7 North Miami Beach
- 8 Palmetto Bay
- 9 Sunny Isles Beach
- 10 Surfside
Other destinations
Understand
Get in
Get around
See
- 1 Zoo Miami, 12400 SW 152nd St, ☏ +1 305 251-0400. Daily 9:30AM–5:30PM. Largest and oldest zoological garden in Florida. It houses over 1,200 wild animals and is a free range zoo. Its climate allows it to keep a wide variety of animals from Asia, Australia and Africa like no other zoo in the country.
- 2 Frost Art Museum, 10975 SW 17th St (FIU-Maidique Campus), ☏ +1 305 348-2890. Tu-Sa 10AM-5PM, Su noon-5PM. At Florida International University, the Frost Art Museum has a large variety of 1960s and 1970s American photography, pre-Columbian artifacts dating back from 200 to 500 AD, ancient African and Asian bronzes, and a growing number of Caribbean and Latin American paintings and artwork.
- 3 Homestead Bayfront Park, 9698 SW 328th St, ☏ +1 305-230-3033. Sunrise-sunset. A natural atoll pool and beach next to Biscayne National Park. It has a full-line snackbar, picnic pavilions, grills, fishing area and a large playground. Boat launch and boat services.
- 4 Coral Castle, 28655 South Dixie Highway, ☏ +1 305-248-6345. An odd complex of stone structures, built with enormously heavy stones, and allegedly by one man, without the help of modern equipment.
Do
- 1 Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition. This fair is ranked one of the largest and most successful fairs in the nation and attracts nearly 700,000 visitors each year. Typically held in late March and early April, the 18-day event offers close to 100 rides, nearly 170 food vendors, 50 games, souvenir and gift shops and the World Agriculture competition. Not to be missed is the daily Mardi Gras parade.
- 2 Hard Rock Stadium, 2269 Dan Marino Blvd (in Miami Gardens) (Northwest 199th St), ☏ +1 305-623-6100 (TTY +1 305 623-6266), fax: +1 305 625-6403, DS@dolphinstadium.com. This football stadium hosts the Miami Dolphins (NFL), Miami Hurricanes (college), and Orange Bowl (college), and from 2019 will become the main venue for the Miami Open, one of the biggest tennis tournaments outside of the Grand Slam events. The stadium has been renamed 8 times since its opening in 1987 (most recently in August 2016 from New Miami Stadium to Hard Rock Stadium). For stadium tours, contact rheard@dolphinstadium.com or call +1 305-623-6286. Tour prices are $3 for children under 14, $5 for those 14 and older and $4 for senior citizens. Check website for individual phone numbers for tickets to Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes games, the Orange Bowl, and the Miami Open.
- 3 Sky Zone Doral. - located in Doral
- 4 Sky Zone Cutler Bay. - in Cutler Bay
- 5 Homestead-Miami Speedway, 1 Speedway Blvd. NASCAR track in the Greater Miami area. The track plays host to Ford Championship Weekend, the final races of the season in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. These races are sponsored by Ford Motors, taking the names Ford Ecoboost 400, Ford Ecoboost 300, and Ford Ecoboost 200, respectively.
Fruit picking
- 6 Robert is Here Fruit Stand and Farm, 19200 SW 344th St, Homestead, FL 33034, ☏ +1 305-246-1592, fax: +1 305-242-4122, fresh@robertishere.com. Daily 8AM–7PM including holidays; closed September and October. This fruit stand and farm is popular with tourists and local residents. It offers many of the most sought after varieties of locally-grown tropical fruits and vegetables as well as widely-acclaimed smoothies, ice creams, and other prepared foods. It also features a petting zoo and is located only minutes from one of the main entrances to Everglades National Park as well as an alligator farm.
- 7 Fruit and Spice Park, 24801 S.W. 187th Avenue, Homestead, Florida 33031, ☏ +1 305-247-5727. Daily 9AM-5PM, except Christmas. This park features a vast assortment of fruits, spices, and other foods of interest that can be grown in Florida's subtropical climate. The park is also famous for getting a few items to grow that normally can't be grown even in Florida (e.g. mangosteen, cacao, jaboticaba, etc.). After an orientation, visitors are allowed to pick and eat whatever is available at the time of their visit. This park is relatively close to "Robert is Here" Fruit Stand and Farm. $8 adult, $2 child 6-11, and children under 6 are free.
Events
- FedEx Orange Bowl Football Game, ☏ +1 305-341-4700. Hard Rock Stadium. Held in early Jan around New Year’s Day. A major bowl game, which hosts a semifinal of the College Football Playoff every three years. In other years, the game features top teams from around the country, with one being from the Atlantic Coast Conference (depending on the year, Notre Dame, which isn't in a football conference but is in the ACC for other sports, may fill the ACC slot).
Eat
It's not a well-known fact that the Miami area is the area where Burger King has its headquarters. Aside from fast food, Miami-Dade County is really deep in Hispanic culture. it won't be an abnormal sight to see tacos, picadillo, or other cultural dishes served on the streets.
- El Toro Taco, 1 S. Krome Ave, ☏ +1 305-245-8182. Tu-Su. Mexican food. It's bring your own booze (BYOB). They will supply you with the bucket and ice.
- South Gardens Chinese Restaurant, 45 N Homestead Blvd, ☏ +1 305-246-0108.
Drink
Buy
- Aventura Mall, 19501 Biscayne Blvd (near the Dade/Broward County line), ☏ +1 305-935-1110. M-Sa 10AM-9:30PM, Su noon-8PM. This mall, spanning 2,800,000 square feet (260,000 m2), has nation-wide chains such as JCPenney, Macy’s and Abercrombie and Fitch. It also has Rainbow Valley Playground, a play spot for children. The other notable landmark of this mall is its 24-screen movie theater. *
- Dadeland Mall, 7535 North Kendall Dr (in Kendall), ☏ +1 305-665-6226. M-Sa 10AM-9:30PM, Su noon-7PM. Dadeland is one of the United States’ first malls. Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue are some of the stores now represented at Dadeland.
- Dolphin Mall, 11401 Northwest 12th St, ☏ +1 305-365-7446. M-F 10AM-9:30PM, Sa 10AM-9:30PM, Su 11AM-7PM. In addition to Off 5th (a Saks Fifth Avenue outlet store), Marshall’s HomeGoods and Burlington Coat Factory, this mall has a movie theater and many busy restaurants.
- Bal Harbour Shops, 9700 Collins Ave (on 97th Street in Bal Harbour), ☏ +1 305-866-0311. M-Sa 10AM-9PM, Su noon-6PM (Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue are open from noon-7PM). Several designer labels fill up the spaces of Bal Harbour Shops, including Chanel, Cartier, Fendi and Gucci among others. $5 parking fee.
- 1 The Falls, 8888 Howard Dr (in Kendall), ☏ +1 305-255-4570. M-Sa 10AM-9PM, Su noon-7PM. Shops including Brooks Brothers and Pottery Barn adorn this mall and its tropical waterfalls.
- 2 Sunset Place, 5701 Sunset Dr, ☏ +1 305-663-0482. M-Th 11AM-10PM, F Sa 11AM-11PM, Su 11AM-9PM. In addition to nationwide chains such as the Gap, Urban Outfitters and Victoria’s Secret, this mall has a Niketown store, as well as a large movie theater.
- 3 Miami International Mall, 1455 NW 107th Ave, ☏ +1 305-593-1775. M-Sa 10AM-9PM, Su 11AM-7PM. 120 stores including Macy's, Dillard's and JCPenney.
Sleep
- Holiday Inn, 1111 So Royal Poinciana Blvd, Miami Springs, ☏ +1 305-885-1941.
- Holiday Inn Express, 5125 Nw 36th St, Miami Springs, ☏ +1 305-887-2153.
Learn
- Barry University, 11300 North East Second Ave (in Miami Shores), ☏ +1 305-899-3100, fax: +1 305-899-2971, admissions@mail.barry.edu. This Catholic university, 20 miles outside of Miami, has majors such as biomedical and forensic photography as well as the very popular nursing, education and liberal arts majors. The university is co-ed with close to 10,000 students enrolled.
- Florida International University, ☏ +1 305-348-2863, fax: +1 305-348-3648, admiss@fiu.edu. University Park. With over 40,000 students enrolled in this public co-ed university spread out over two campuses, Florida International University is one of the largest universities in Florida and the 11th-largest university in the U.S. With over 280 majors in 26 schools in colleges including its top-ranked College of Business, School of Architecture, College of Engineering, College of Law, and College of Medicine, it is one of Florida's top universities.
- Florida Memorial University, 15800 Northwest 42nd Ave, toll-free: +1-800-822-1362, fax: +1 305-625-4141. A largely African-American student body can be found on this private Baptist co-ed college campus (formerly known as Florida Memorial College). The university has over 1,950 students and majors such as business administration, commerce management, elementary education and criminal justice studies.
- Johnson & Wales University—North Miami Campus, 1701 Northeast 127th St (in North Miami), ☏ +1 305-892-7600, fax: +1 305-892-7020, admissions@jwu.edu. One of Johnson & Wales’ many campuses across the country, this co-ed, private university offers majors in the culinary and baking and pastry arts, business and hospitality. This campus is also one of Johnson & Wales’ largest after the original school in Providence, Rhode Island, with 2,500 students enrolled.
- University of Miami, ☏ +1 305-284-4323, fax: +1 305-284-2507, admission@miami.edu. Coral Gables, Over 16,000 men and women are enrolled in this private college. Business, communication, medicine and biology majors are popular here.
Stay safe
Go next
- Broward County - north
- Monroe County - south and west
- Collier County - northwest