Things to Do in South Miami

Bike and Roll equips locals and tourists with eco-friendly transportation to explore the Magic City. Mounted on roving Segways and pointing out historical facts as they ride, guides swing tourists past such iconic locations as the Miami River, the eclectic Miami Beach Architectural District, and South Pointe Park at sunset. In addition to daily tours, Bike and Roll offers rentals of Trek bicycles for recreation or transportation and in-line skates for carving figure eights into the city's asphalt ice rinks.

As you stroll across Fruit & Spice Park's grassy fields, an occasional piece of fruit falls from a neighboring tree. But it’s not an apple or a berry you can easily find in a local supermarket—rather, it may be a specimen native to the Caribbean or South America, its shape foreign to your teeth, which want so badly to bite into its juicy flesh but aren’t sure how. At Fruit & Spice Park, seasoned gardeners grow abundant specimens from tropical areas around the world, including 70 kinds of bamboo, 15 types of jackfruit trees, and edibles such as Fiji longan and jaboticaba across 39 acres.

Visitors meander freely through banana groves and African baobab trees, and they can also follow a guide during tours commencing daily at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3 p.m. to learn more about plant species and which fruit seeds bear an uncanny likeness to Abraham Lincoln’s silhouette. Throughout strolls, guests may help themselves to any of Mother Nature’s home cooking that has naturally fallen to the ground, including mangoes, dragon fruit, and papayas, or venture to the tasting table at the entryway to sample the season’s bounty.

Park staffers also gather visitors for a range of events such as stargazing, outdoor festivals, and plant-use tutorials, where they divulge helpful information such as which plants are medicinal and how to play dead during tree attacks. During regular park hours, chefs at the Mango Café pile plates with casual fare, often using the park's own fruit and vegetables, and the gift shop lets guests bring home harvest jams and aromatic teas.

Miami Golf pairs a technologically refined training center and a vast selection of golf gear to help golfers hone their game year-round. Rather than attempting to craft their own wedges by taping doorstops to the end of fishing poles, golfers can visit the retail section, which sells clubs, clothing, and equipment from top brands such as Adidas, Ben Hogan, Momentus Golf, and TaylorMade. Miami Golf's practice studio offers game-grooming lessons and services that enlist swing-tracking technology, video swing analysis, and launch monitors, which use Doppler technology to record variables such as spin, ball speed, and the likelihood of indoor thunderstorms. Students can further enhance their swings with custom club-fitting services, which measure swing profile and body dimensions to pair players with their optimal set of clubs. Club technicians also provide repairs and adjustments for broken shafts or players who need an experimental grip to start putting with their feet.

Since 1989, The Miami Symphony Orchestra has mimicked Miami’s cultural diversity with concerts and events that act as a melting pot of musical influences. Music director Eduardo Marturet, a Venezuelan composer and conductor, helms many of the concerts, encouraging the musicians to unleash their inner Beethovens or Bachs—former members of the ’80s hair-metal band Skid Row.

Inside Jump A Roos' 19,000-square-foot inflatable fun house that boasts eight inflatables and five party rooms, kids 12 and younger can bounce, slide, and wiggle through a variety of supervised play areas. Eight inflatable obstacle courses stand beside slides and bounce houses in the open-play area. In nearby adult seating areas, guardians can watch TV or use free WiFi, comfortable in the knowledge that kids are enjoying activities that are as safe and engaging as a game of Duck, Duck, Naptime. For special occasions, the center's five party rooms anchor birthday party and playdate packages, both of which include open-play access and a plethora of food options.

From its humble beginnings in 1949, the Miami Science Museum has expanded into a sprawling facility that includes informative exhibits, the Planetarium, and the Wildlife Center. Many current exhibits teach kids about scientific principles using interactive elements. Visitors literally light up the dance floor at the Energy Tracker exhibit— boogying down helps power neon lights underneath the glass floor. At Moving Things, youngsters can learn about the physics of moving objects by dropping objects of different shapes into flowing water, or they can challenge their spatial reasoning skills by packing blocks into perfect cubes.

The four-story dome at the Planetarium has a daily schedule of stargazing shows. Some of these take audiences on informative expeditions through the solar system and various constellations they might not typically see, such as the elusive Medium Dipper.

The Wildlife Center, meanwhile, is dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of raptors; here, guests can encounter an owl, falcon, and eagle.