Overlooking the calm blue waters of Biscayne Bay, this ornate Italian Renaissance-style villa and its formal gardens embody the fantasy winter retreat of their builder, Illinois entrepreneur James Deering. Vizcaya took 1,000 workers more than two yea..

Housed on the museum's second floor, the permanent exhibit "Tropical Dreams: A People's History of South Florida" recounts the area's colorful past via a wealth of artifacts and mixed-media presentations, including an early Tequesta Indian ..

This five-acre bayfront site preserves one of the last patches of tropical hardwood hammock in Coconut Grove, along with the 1891 home of Ralph Middleton Munroe, an accomplished sailor and yact designer. Nicknamed "the Barnacle" for its oct..

A limestone quarry that supplied building materials for the area's early homes forms the base of this whimsical municipal pool. Footbridges and striped light poles reminiscent of those lining Venice's Grand Canal adorn the free-form swimming area. To..

Named for plant explorer David Fairchild, the largest botanical garden in the continental US is set on 83 well-tended acres studded with a series of 12 man-made lakes. The garden boasts more than 2,500 species of tropical plants and trees from around..

Linked to the north side of Bayfront Park via sidewalk, this complex, composed of several buildings connected by plazas and open-air walkways, sits on the northeastern edge of downtown Miami overlooking the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay. The lower..

Dedicated to presenting international art of the post-World War II era, with an emphasis on art of the Americas, the museum stages several major shows a year in its two levels of gallery spaces and auditorium. The permanent collection, a small select..

A rainbow of vividly colored macaws perched inside the entrance greets visitors who come to view more than 1,100 exotic birds, including some 80 pink flamingos that frequent Flamingo Lake. Winding through lush tropical gardens, a pathway leads to a w..

Designed by architect Charles Gwathmey, the simple but elegant building on palm-studded grounds within the North Miami civic complex features a permanent collection of works by notables such as Dennis Oppenheim, Julian Schnabel, John Baldessari and J..

Known locally as Bayfront Park, the 32-acre greensward was dredged from bay bottom in the mid-1920s. A popular venue for many decades, the park fell into disuse in the 1970s. Isamu Noguchi, famed Japanese landscape architect, planned the park's $30 m..

Defined by the Miami River on the south and by Bayfront Park on Biscayne Bay, the vibrant 1.5sq mi quarter known as Miami's downtown exudes the bustling atmosphere of a Latin city. In recent years a large cluster of contemporary high-rise hotels and ..

One of Miami-Dade County's most striking buildings, the tower sits on the northern edge of downtown. The 1925 structure housed the Miami News, the city's first newspaper, for more than 30 years before it was transformed into a federal processing cent..

Immediately west of downtown, Little Havana is one of the city's liveliest and most exotic neighborhoods. Calle Ocho, or Eighth Street, vibrates with a spirited street life. Since the influx of Cubans escaping the Cuban revolution in 1959, Little Hav..

Named for a wealthy family who owned bayfront land south of the Miami River, Brickell Avenue is a broad, four-lane street that parallels the contours of nearby Biscayne Bay for its entire 2mi length south of downtown. By the early 1900s, elegant esta..

So designated by the City of Miami in the late 1970s to promote the district as a tourist attraction, the quarter stretches along Calle Ocho between S.W. 17th and S.W. 12th avenues. (The north-south portion of the quarter reaches from N.W. First to S..

For a glimpse of local color drop by this tiny plaza, named for the Dominican Republic-born Chief of the Cuban Liberating Army and known locally as Domino Park. As they have been doing since the early 1960s, Cubans, primarily elderly men, assemble he..

In the median of S.W. 13th Ave./Cuban Memorial Blvd. and S.W. 8th St. A hexagonal marble monument topped by a flickering eternal torch decorates this small square. Created in 1971 to honor those members of Brigade 2506 who lost their lives in the abo..

Miami's largest and one of its oldest (1913) burial spots, Woodlawn Park is the final resting place for thousands of Cuban refugees. The somber black marble wall commemorates the "Unknown Cuban Freedom Fighter" killed in the Bay of Pigs inv..

George Merrick's two-story boyhood home was added in 1906 to the modest frame cabin that existed on the land Merrick's father purchased in 1899. Designed by Merrick's mother, Althea, the house adapts New England architecture to the area's subtropical..