com orOcean Drive and Lincoln Road, art districts like Wynwood or museums like the Perez. But there are also corners a little further away, even in neighboring counties, which tourism almost does not reach. For those travelers who are always looking beyond the traditional circuits, here are ten proposals as atypical as interesting.
1. Indians and crocodiles
Hardly 50 minutes from the international airport is one of the entrances of the Everglades National Park, silent natural paradise where they live from frogs to panthers, passing through the characteristic crocodiles. All loose, without bars.
The access in question is called Shark Valley and offers a paved turn of 20 kilometers bordering a river where crocodiles live (technically, they are alligators for being freshwater). At the end there is a gazebo. You can travel walking, cycling (rented for US$ 9 an hour) or in a Tourist tram with guide. Alligators are steps away sunbathing on the shore. They look like props, but… care.
The Park opens 365 days a year, although it is advisable to go in winter: there are More animals in sight and no mosquitoes. They even do bicycle rides nocturnal with full moon.
To the Side of the park is the village of the aborigines Miccosukee, with a population of 640 people. The same community offers rides in the so-called airboats, boats powered by a huge fan, but there are also demonstrations of wood carving, patchwork, doll making and handicrafts. There are guides who conduct tours about their culture and way of life.
The restaurant Miccosukee serves typical dishes: frog legs and crocodiles, and Also more traditional American food. In the area, everything carries the Colors of this community: yellow, black and red. A little before the village there is a hotel and casino controlled by the Miccosukee, which from 26 December they celebrate their great annual festival.
Where? Mile Marker 36, US Highway 41, Miami.
2. Little River
Neighborhoods also become fashionable. Wynwood, Midtown or the Design District, in Miami, flourished each in turn thanks to those pioneers who usually go out in search of new corners to establish their art galleries and signature restaurants. “Local artists continue to fish for economic properties outside the bubble. That’s how Little River was born,” says Silvina Pico, founder of El Otro Miami, a firm that offers tourist trips to original corners of the city.
Little River is located between NE 62nd and 79th Streets, east of Biscayne Blvd. Pico highlights several restaurants and bars such as Blue Collar, The Anderson, Winewood. “It’s an area of old recycled route hotels. Many galleries and studios in Wynwood are moving there to avoid high prices,” he says.
In Little River still prevails modest homes and neighborhood businesses. Among others recommended is Ironside, with 65 designer showrooms, art galleries, Architecture studios and creative services. In the center has its piazza, a huge inner courtyard with two fragments of the Berlin Wall repainted by the street artist Thierry Noir, famous for having painted caricatures on the Wall original when I lived in Germany. His house overlooked this structure and ensures that He began to paint it so as not to go crazy, “tired of the monotony of the gray.”
It also houses Miami’s only cathedral, Saint Mary, built in 1929.
Where? 7610 NE 4th Ct, Miami.
3. Old Spanish monastery
A twelfth-century monastery in a city barely a hundred years old? In the middle of the urban bustle of North Miami Beach is a medieval European piece: a Spanish monastery that transports its visitors centuries ago.
His History is very particular. Construction began in Sacramenia, Segovia, in 1133. The work took eleven years. It was occupied by monks for the next seven centuries. Until in 1830 it was sold and converted into a series of stables.
In 1925, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst visited the monastery. He fell in love with the ornate cloisters and bought them for later transportation to North Miami Beach.
The 800-year-old structures were dismantled stone by stone. Each of they were numbered, packed in straw and shipped to the United States at 11,000. boxes. At that time, however, there was an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Spain and the Department of Agriculture, upon arrival of the cargo in New York, for fear that The hay carried the disease, opened the boxes and burned all the hay.
The pieces returned again to the boxes – not always to the corresponding ones – and were stored in a Brooklyn warehouse for 26 years. With a new owner, it took 19 months to send the boxes to Miami and rebuild the cloisters. Times magazine called the rebuilding effort “the biggest puzzle in history.”
All About the monastery has a medieval air. The lamps on the roads of the garden. The statues and fountains. Stained glass. The ceilings worked, columns and arches. There are colorful coats of arms adorning the Wooden cloisters and safes. Worked ceilings, arches and columns.
There it is He teaches Mass in English and Spanish. There are tours every day from 10 to 16.30. The Admission costs US$ 10, for adults. It is convenient to look at the web as it closes to sometimes as a film set or even for weddings.
Where? 16711 Dixie Hwy, North Miami Beach; www.spanishmonastery.com
4. Brickell Key Park
There are many sites in Miami with panoramic views. One of the best known is South Point Park, the southern tip of Miami Beach that looks towards the skyscrapers and the harbor. From Brickell Key Park you can enjoy similar views although this park is only known by locals.
The only unbuilt site on Brickell Key, an exclusive artificial island of 2900 inhabitants just two blocks from downtown Miami, this green space is a public park overlooking the bay, the Port of Miami, downtown and the Miami River. Located at the southern tip of this triangular island, it has a walkway that many choose to jog or walk their dog, under palm trees, with benches, games for children and sculptures. You can circulate the whole island, approximately 1.7 km.
Brickell Key is frequented by residents. It has no tourist attractions except for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where another jewel lives, this time for the stomach: the La Mar restaurant of Peruvian food. Their prices explain the level of their good food and the privileged location on the water.
It is reached by car (sometimes it is difficult to get parking) or on foot from downtown, crossing the 230-meter Brickell Key bridge.
Where? South of Brickell Key Dr, Miami, FL 33131
5. Brewery and vineyards of… tropical fruits!
We are not in Nappa Valley, California, but in Miami, but wines are also made here. Only instead of grapes, exotic fruits such as guava, mango or lychee are used. Peter Schnebly, who for years grew fruit on his farm, decided to produce wine. Absurd? So thought many who went to try it as a novelty. But the winery began to win awards and recognition. People from Miami began to travel to Schnebly Redland’s Winery to taste those flavors that were initially offered inside a trailer. Then he expanded the facilities, offered tastings and tours of the plantations.
In 2011, seeing that some visitors did not drink wine, the artisanal manufacture of beer also began. Thus was born Miami Brewing Company, the first brewery in this area.
Today it not only has different flavors and a modern atmosphere. It is one of the leaders in South Florida’s young craft beer market. The drinks have a tropical touch such as coconut or star fruit and there are always new flavors depending on the season. “Two visits are never the same,” they say from the distillery.
The estate has a restaurant, where you can taste the wines and, further back, a huge shed with smoothed cement floors and sheet metal walls, with four steel tanks, picnic and pool tables. The visitor can taste the most emblematic beers: Big Rod (with coconut, caramel and vanilla), Shark Bait (mango), Miami Vice (citrus and herbs) and Gator Tail (coffee and chocolate).
Offers a beer menu (US$ 14) and there are tours on weekends (US$ 8) 40 minutes by the farm every hour from 13. In addition to learning about the History of the place, the visitor witnesses the whole process for the Manufacture of wine and beer. On Fridays there are usually free classes of Country music dancing. Women go with cowboy boots and shorts without Import age or weight, including many Americans from nearby farms.
Where? 30205 SW 217th Ave, Homestead, FL 33030
6. No Name Harbor, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
Bill Baggs Park, at the tip of Key Biscayne , is best known for its beach and lighthouse, which you can climb to appreciate the view. They say it is the oldest structure in Miami Dade County. In 1996 it was completely restored, but its appearance remains that of 1855.
Bill Baggs, however, hides a treasure within the park. If you walk along the Beach to the southern tip, a path allows you to continue bordering the turn of the peninsula. There are little docks dotted every 300 meters where to find some fisherman appreciating the calm. After walking 15 minutes opens a lagoon called No Name Harbor, like a large pool of Clear water swimming where boats and boats take refuge from the wind.
This Former pirate hideout has a seafood restaurant, Boater’s Grill, with Reasonable prices. A walkway goes all the way around the small lagoon. And for Back to the beach you can also take paths between the trees. The park It has a total of 400 hectares and has picnic areas with grills and Another restaurant on the beach.
Where? 1200 Crandon Blvd, Key Biscayne, FL 33149.
7. The Coral Gables Villas
George Merrick, the creator of Coral Gables, laid out the city with meticulous detail. Streets outlined by rows of trees, Mediterranean-style buildings, Venetian pools, the Biltmore Hotel and the coral arcades at the entrances of the main streets.
But he also went further with his creative appetite and imagined themed villas that gave Coral Gables an unusual air. Although a collapse of the real estate market prevented them from doing all the things they had planned, today you can see seven villas, including Italian, French, Dutch colonial and Norman. They are grouped together in one or two apples at most. But undoubtedly the most unique style is the block of Chinese houses with typical roofs and details, such as yellow, red and gold tiles.
Where? Riviera Dr, between Castaña and Sansovino Ave.
8. Coffee 27
This place embodies in its purest essence the motorcycling spirit. It’s on the outer edge of civilization, at least of this area, facing the Everglades, it’s rustic and absolutely massive. To find it, you must take Okeechobee Avenue, leave Miami Dade County until few cars pass by, and the skyscrapers have changed for a plain of reeds.
Some 200 bikes are parked outside on weekends, including the most unbelievable that I have never seen. The entry already shows that it is a place Different: a sign hanging from the outer fence warns: Absolutely It is forbidden to enter with firearms. There are two cabins with drink bars and rich food (including crocodile), plus many gazebos to cover people of the sun. Jackets, boots, studs and rock abound: the most important days Crowded are those where the bands play. Thursdays from 19 and Saturdays and Sundays at 14. Even if you go by car and don’t have a look Particularly hard, everyone is welcome.
9. The Yard Marketplace
In Fort Lauderdale, along a street of old, gray and bland houses, hides in the background a colorful apple heart, which is difficult to find even for the inhabitants of this neighborhood, Wilton Manors. It is known as Mercado del Patio, and has the floor painted in colorful waves, casual restaurants, flea market, and colorful murals signed by artists. On weekends there is a small fair with a few tables, as well as an airstream, a completely shiny silver old motor home that sells designer clothes.
The Alquimista is the busiest café, with bohemian spirit decorated in wood and veneer, and its menu on a blackboard. There are a few tables to sit at Inside, but the nicest thing is to do it outside under its pergolas and umbrellas. It sells everything from salads to waffles. One of the classics is the avocado sandwich with cilantro, onion, garlic, lemon and green vegetables. In general their menu is below US$ 10.
Next to it there is La Mexicana, also in bright colors with a nailed wooden sign Handwritten advertising “Free Tacos Tomorrow.” Lola’s Market is the Flea market in the background, there are also artists there selling paintings (with white lecterns for the visitor to paint their own), vinyl records or Hand reading. His murals are ideal works of art to climb to Instagram.
Where? 2430 NE 13th Ave, Wilton Manors, FL 33305
10. Dr. Von Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park
South Florida is full of parks, but few have as many attractions as this one. In addition to the beach with tables and grills in the shade, it has a semi-covered restaurant that overlooks a canal. BG Whisky Creek Hideout does not owe its name to the sale of alcoholic beverages, which there are also, but to the canal that divides the park in two.
To Few steps from the sea, the tongue of water runs parallel to the coast and has a descent From sand to land where paddleboards, kayaks, and boats run aground to spend the day. To the north there is a fishing sector (you need to get a online permission), and with any floating medium can be entered in small veins of water between mangroves. There are places for biking, picnicking and snorkeling in the sea.
Parking is $6 for the whole day and from here you can see the Port of Fort Lauderdale and moored cruise ships nearby. Open 365 days a year.
Where? 6503 North Ocean Dr. Dania Beach FL 33004.
Fountain: https://www.lanacion.com.ar/turismo/viajes/diez-lugares-lejos-del-miami-clasico-nid2228708