Recreation

Miami is blessed with year-round mild weather and unparalleled ocean access, which makes it one of the favorite recreation destinations worldwide. An entire range of outdoor activities are available in Miami at several public and private locations. Miami offers tourists from all over the world some of the best golf, tennis and sporting facilities. Other recreational activities consist of skiing, boating, fishing, nature walks, canoeing, bicycling, and horseback riding. You can also enjoy hiking, camping and playing basketball, softball, handball, and racquetball to your hearts content.

Miami-Dade County presents above 20 public golf courses. Virtually 500 tennis courts situated in many parks and recreation areas all over Miami and are available for play during the day as well as in the evenings. A majority of the hotels also have their own tennis facilities.

The widespread public park system in Miami was referred to as ‘one of the most innovative systems in the country' by the National Recreation and Parks Association. There are above 300 parks and nature centers, two of which are national parks named Everglades and Biscayne.

Miles of sandy coasts in Miami draw a lot of tourists every year and provide for numerous recreational activities. You can go jet skiing in Biscayne Bay or even opt sailing in Miami Harbor. On almost every beach in Miami, you will find water skiing facilities. In some of the major beachfront resorts down Collins Avenue, you will witness professionals teaching parasailing, and many have Jet Skiing, windsurfing and other sports facilities lined up as well.

Different places in and around Miami have very different surroundings for water sports. For example, for windsurfing, Biscayne Bay off Rickenbacker Causeway has winds that typically blow side-onshore, and the water remains quite shallow. You can windsurf towards Key Biscayne and sites such as Hobie Beach, where operators like Sailboards Miami would help you if you are a novice, and it will cost you about $70. You will find the largest assortment of rental outlets for jet skis at Virginia Key on the way to Key Biscayne.

One of the major locations for all types of water sport activities on the Key is at Crandon Park; a two-mile beach, which has its own full service-marina and restaurants are a short drive away. This Park is also a popular site for various kayaking and snorkeling trips arranged by Miami-Dade Park and Recreation Department. On a few of these trips, you can go kayaking to a variety of marine preserves and wreck sites off the Key. You can go snorkeling, to discover the varied aquatic life that inhabit the dense seabeds, sand flats and ruins. Here, you can see the spotted leopard rays, gray angelfish and bottle-nosed dolphins and the huge Pufferfish amongst many other varieties of fish. You can also go on kayak and snorkeling excursions that take you into fossilized mangrove reef regions or into the artificial reefs, on the offshore.

Miami also offers tourists plenty of scuba diving options, due to the large amount of man-made reefs. You can opt for arranged weekend scuba dive trips to some selected artificial reef locations, together with exploration of a few offshore wreck sites. These trips are offered by a number of dive shops in and around Miami. One of the most well known trips for diving is to the Wreck Trek, which is situated off Miami Beach, north of the Art Deco District. Here, you can look at the 85-foot tug Patricia, an old radio antenna welded into 19 pyramids and the 100-foot steel fishing craft Miss Karline.

For those of you interested in surfing, though the coastal region of south Florida does not have the powerful waves and crosscurrents like those down the Pacific coast, there are still some places where surfing conditions are favorable. Towards the north of Miami Beach, you will find swells at Haulover Beach in Sunny Isles and South Pointe Beach that are the largest and most famous.

Fishing is another favorite recreational activity. Fresh water fishing permit, which is available at bait and tackle shops, is necessary for anyone between the age group of 15 and 65. In Miami, few of the famous spots are Tamiami Canal, from west Miami down U.S. 41, which is well known for pan fish and bass and Thompson Park fishing camp, close to Hialeah, which has three fishing lakes accessible only by campers. Minimum size and bag limits are applicable to salt water fishing, but no permit is required. Fishing docks are situated at Haulover Park, Baker's Haulover Cut, and South Pointe. Full-service rental boats and party boats for deep-sea fishing are obtainable at marinas.

Marinas:

Crandon Park Marina

Address

4000 Crandon Blvd.

Key Biscayne, Florida 33149

Phone No.: 305-361-1281

Miamarina

Address

Bayside Marketplace

401 Biscayne Blvd.

Miami, Florida 33132

Phone No.: 305-579-6955

Pelican Harbor Marina

Address

1275 NE 79th Street Causeway

North Bay Village, Florida 33138

Phone No.: 305-754-9330

Scuba Diving and Snorkeling:

Blue Water Sports

Address

P.O. Box 402412

Miami Beach, Florida 33140

Phone No.: 305-673-3225

VI. Shopping

Downtown Miami boasts of stylish boutiques, art galleries and a few of America's most excellent department stores. Miami is undeniably a very important center for shopping in Florida and the merchandise offered at many of its regions, make it a shopper's paradise. It provides tourists a huge selection of apparels, antiques, jewelry, home accessories and much more. A majority of the stores in Miami are open seven days a week. There are also a large number of shopping centers and departmental stores in and around Miami.

One of the excellent shopping malls in Miami includes the Bell Harbor Mall, which is the one of the best and most successful shopping malls in America. With many of its stores and boutiques selling top designer brands such as Dior, Cartier, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, you can find anything you want. Some stores deal in merchandise ranging from reasonably priced tops to handmade crystal ball gowns, which may cost a surprising price of US $ 200,000. In this shopping mall, you will even find a store that sells clothes for dogs.

Shopping malls in Miami houses articles such as Burdine's and JC Penny, in addition to loads of America's most well known chain stores, such as Banana Republic, Gap and others.

Miami has a comparatively low sales tax on retail priced products and as a result, shopping here is likely to be cheaper than many of America's larger cities, such as New York. In downtown Miami, South Beach, Miami's Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, are closely located and shopping around in these areas offers tourists a great diversity of items.

In Miami you will also find open-air shopping malls, which generally offer tourists designer brands such as Bulgari, Gucci and Prada. The Key West area of Miami is usually a more pricey deal for shoppers, chiefly when shopping for garments. However, a lot of the stores in the Key West region are worth visiting as they frequently offer more extraordinary goods, such as handmade swimsuits, cigars, and skin-care products. You will also find loads of stores selling paintings, statues and ceramics.

A few of Miami's indoor shopping malls are

Bal Harbor Shopping Mall

Address

9700 Collins Avenue,

Bal Harbor,

Miami,

Florida,

USA

Phone No.: +1 305 866 0311

Bal Harbor Shopping Mall is one of Miami's excellent malls that specialize in selling top designer brands such as Bulgari, Chanel, Cartier, Gucci, Prada, Tiffany and much more. This huge Miami shopping mall also boasts of Saks Fifth Avenue and Florida's biggest Nieman Marcus store.

Omni International Shopping Mall

Address

1601 Biscayne Boulevard,

Miami,

Florida,

USA

Phone No.: +1 305 374 6664

It is home to a number of specialty shops, a large food hall and a 10-screen AMC cinema theater; which makes it a famous location among shoppers. This mall remains closed on Sundays.

Some of Miami's outdoor shopping malls include

Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami

Address

401 Biscayne Blvd. R-106

Miami,

FL 33132

USA

Phone No.: 305-577-3344

The Bayside Marketplace shopping mall provides tourists with more than 150 retail stores, eating joints, lounges, together with the Pier 5 Market, Warner Brothers Studio Store, The Disney Store, and The Hard Rock Cafe. It is located on Miami's waterfront. This place also offers free nighttime entertainment, highlights of which comprise of street performers, boat trips and much more.

Coco Walk Shopping Mall

Address

3015 Grand Avenue,

Coconut Grove,

Miami,

Florida,

USA

Phone No.: +1 305 444 0777

The Coco Walk Shopping Mall is a huge, multistory semi-outdoor shopping mall, full of stores selling good and a verity of merchandise, cafés with terrace seating and a big, 16-screen cinema theater.

Streets of Mayfair

Address

2911 Grand Avenue,

Coconut Grove,

Miami,

Florida,

USA

Phone No.: +1 305 448 1700

This large town square is situated in the middle of Miami's Coconut Grove and has numerous first-rate outdoor cafes, eating joints, stores, theaters and lively Miami nightclubs.