Things to Do in Miami, United States: Walking Guide

Looking for things to do in Miami? The city brings together Cuban and Haitian heritage, contemporary art, historic architecture, archaeological sites and Biscayne Bay landscapes. From Downtown Miami and Brickell to Coconut Grove and Little Havana, its most interesting places reveal a history shaped by different communities and periods of change. Neywo also offers a free audio guide for Miami with 39 narrated places.

What to See in Miami

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

In Coconut Grove, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens occupies the former winter villa of businessman James Deering. Built between 1916 and 1925, the estate combines a Mediterranean Revival mansion with Baroque touches, Italian Renaissance-inspired gardens, native woodland areas and a historic village of outbuildings.

The architecture drew on models from Veneto and Tuscany. Today, the estate is a museum and public garden offering a glimpse of early 20th-century opulence on the shore of Biscayne Bay.

Miami Circle

The Miami Circle in Brickell preserves traces of an ancient Tequesta settlement. Carved into the limestone bedrock, the site forms a 38-foot-wide circle with 24 larger basins and hundreds of smaller postholes.

Discovered in 1998, the circle is estimated to be between 1,700 and 2,700 years old. It may have marked a structure that belonged to the Tequesta, possibly even their capital. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009.

Freedom Tower

Freedom Tower is one of Downtown Miami’s historic landmarks. Designed by Schultze and Weaver, its silhouette was inspired by the Giralda tower in Seville, Spain, and it was once the tallest building in the city.

The tower has a particularly important place in the history of Miami’s Cuban community. During the 1960s, the U.S. government used it to process and assist Cubans fleeing the communist revolution, providing health services and paperwork for new arrivals. Today, it houses a contemporary art museum and serves as a central office for the arts programs at Miami Dade College.

Pérez Art Museum Miami

The Pérez Art Museum Miami, or PAMM, stands in Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami. Its permanent collection includes more than 1,800 works from the 20th and 21st centuries, with a focus on art from the Americas, Western Europe and Africa.

The building was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. PAMM moved to its current location in 2013, the year it adopted its present name, and shares the park with the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science.

Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science combines a science museum, planetarium, aquarium and nature center in Downtown Miami. Its facilities also include the Weintraub Observatory for stargazing.

The museum first opened in Coconut Grove in 1960, opposite Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. After more than five decades there, it moved to Maurice A. Ferré Park in 2017. Its former name, the Miami Science Museum and Space Transit Planetarium, reflects its long-standing interest in space and astronomy.

History Miami

History Miami explores the history, culture and community of Florida. The museum is the largest in the state devoted to these subjects and is a Smithsonian affiliate.

Its facilities include four permanent galleries, rotating exhibitions, an Archives and Research Center, the South Florida Folklife Center, an Education Center, a city tours program and a non-circulating library. The museum began in 1940 as the Historical Museum of Southern Florida and has been based at the Miami-Dade Cultural Center since 1984.

American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora

The American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, also known as The Cuban, preserves and shares the history and culture of Cubans who left their homeland after the rise of communism. Its exhibits present Cuban heritage through art and highlight anti-communist leaders from Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere.

The permanent exhibition The Cuban Experience includes artifacts, photographs, videos and immersive installations. It addresses the Cuban Revolution, Operation Peter Pan and the experiences of people who fled Cuba and built new lives in the United States.

Bay of Pigs Museum

In Little Havana, the Bay of Pigs Museum—also called the Brigade 2506 Museum and Library—is dedicated to remembering the Bay of Pigs Invasion’s Brigade 2506. The museum preserves the brigade members’ story and pays tribute to them for future generations.

Haitian Heritage Museum

The Haitian Heritage Museum focuses on the art, culture and heritage of Haiti. Its collection and programming present Haitian culture through paintings, sculptures, artifacts, music, films and literature.

Rubell Museum

The Rubell Museum in Allapattah is a private contemporary art museum with works from around the world. It began in 1993 as the Rubell Family Collection in a warehouse in the Wynwood Art District before moving to its current, larger Miami campus in 2019.

The museum presents works connected to the Rubell family’s influence on the international contemporary art market, including large-scale installations and rotating exhibitions.

Kaseya Center

The Kaseya Center stands on Biscayne Bay and serves as the home court of the Miami Heat. The arena also hosts concerts, family shows and other events.

Opened in 1999 as the American Airlines Arena, it later became the FTX Arena and then the Miami-Dade Arena before taking its current name in 2023. The venue can be reconfigured for different types of events and includes the Waterfront Theater, described as the largest indoor theater in Florida.

Venetian Way

Venetian Way, also known as the Venetian Causeway, links mainland Miami with the barrier island of Miami Beach. The route crosses Biscayne Bay by way of bridges and man-made islands created from material dredged from the bay.

Its history goes back to the Collins Bridge, a wooden 2.5-mile structure built in 1913 by John S. Collins and Carl G. Fisher. The causeway was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and rededicated in 1999 after a restoration.

I. and E. Greenwald Steam Engine No. 1058

On Shipping Avenue, the I. and E. Greenwald Steam Engine No. 1058 is a historic stationary steam engine, also known as a mill engine. Its rope-drive pulley transferred power to lineshafts.

The engine was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and removed from the register in 2018, illustrating how preservation decisions can change over time.

Explore Miami with a Self-Guided Walking Tour

A Miami self-guided walking tour is a practical way to connect the city’s landmarks without joining a group. Neywo has three walking tours and one bike route:

• Downtown Miami: Atmospheric Theatres, Ancient Circles and Pei’s Tower — 3.27 km, 95 minutes and 9 narrated stops.
• Biscayne Bay Culture: Freedom Tower to Museum Park — 3.76 km, 92 minutes and 7 narrated stops.
• Historic Overtown: Black Miami’s Stage and Pulpit — 1.43 km, 40 minutes and 4 narrated stops.
• Coconut Grove to Little Havana: Playhouse to the Cuban Museum — a 9.5 km bike route lasting 48 minutes, with 2 narrated stops.

The routes include places such as Miami Circle, Freedom Tower, History Miami, Kaseya Center, PAMM, the Frost Museum of Science and the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora. They offer a way to experience a free walking tour in Miami while keeping your own pace.

Download the Neywo Miami Audio Guide

Download Neywo to explore Miami with 39 narrated places, three walking tours and one bike route. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.

Miami is part of Florida, in the United States. If you are continuing through the state, you can also discover Key West, Key Largo, Naples, Fort Myers or Ocala.