Barnacle State Historic Site (floridastateparks.org/thebarnacle) in Coconut Grove, features the oldest house in Miami on five acres of manicured grounds. Wide porches and period furnishings show what life was like in pre-condo Miami. The Biltmore Hotel (biltmorehotel.com), in Coral Gables, offers tours of its 1926 building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nearby Venetian Pool (gablesrecreation.com), built in 1924 and also listed on the National Register, is a free-form lagoon that holds 800,000 gallons of water derived from underground wells.
The Bass Museum of Art (bassmuseum.org) has large permanent collections of European Renaissance and Baroque art, as well as frequent traveling exhibits of modern artists like Picasso and Frida Kahlo. The Museum of Contemporary Art (mocanomi.org) features works from 20th-century artists like Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Duane Michaels. The Miami Art Museum (miamiartmuseum.org) is also home to modern and contemporary works, and often has exhibits devoted to Latin American and Caribbean art.
The Miami Children's Museum (miamichildrensmuseum.org) has 14 galleries of interactive and bilingual exhibits on topics that range from pets to oceans. The museum also rents EduKits, themed collections of games, toys and manipulatives on various topics. The Holocaust Memorial (holocaustmmb.org), tells the story of the Holocaust through sculpture, photography and other media. The Miami Science Museum (miamisci.org) has permanent exhibits on subjects ranging from astronauts and mangrove swamps to heart health. The facility also has a planetarium and a wildlife center.
Bill Baggs State Park (floridastateparks.org/capeflorida), on Key Biscayne, has more than 400 acres of beaches, nature trails, bike trails, fishing piers and picnic areas. The park is also home to the Cape Florida Lighthouse, the oldest structure in South Florida. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (miamidade.gov/vizcaya), in Coconut Grove, showcase the 1916 European-style villa built by industrialist John Deering. The 70-room mansion is surrounded by 10 acres of formal gardens. The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (fairchildgardens.org) has more than 80 acres of exhibits, including a rainforest display and a marsh and mangrove area.