20 Top Miami Family Vacation Ideas
Sun, Sand, Science, Spice — Bienvenidos a Miami!
By Sascha Zuger | Published on January 05, 2026
Discover the best family vacations in Miami. Some of Florida’s best beaches for families are minutes from PortMiami. Wildlife parks and nature preserves are only topped by one of the most important eco-areas in the country, the Everglades. Add meaningful Miami museums and cultural attractions to your list of things to do in Florida.
If the spicy sun-soaked city isn’t your scene, nearby charming coastal towns and islands along Florida’s shores are perfect for pre- or post-cruise stays. Simply put, this easy-to-get-to city packed with as many family-friendly activities as palm trees is the perfect place to plan your next family cruise vacation.
Read on for 20 family vacation ideas for your next trip to Miami.
Best Miami Area Beaches for Families
It's undeniable — planning a is one of the best family activities in southern Florida and the key to any great Miami family vacation. Make the most of your sand, salt and sea adventure at these perfect-for-pint-sized-visitor shores.
1. Crandon Park
This 800-acre Key Biscayne park features a 2-mile beach with calm, shallow water for swimming with little ones. Its seagrass beds and fossilized mangrove reefs offer natural habitats for birds and sea turtles, with guided eco-tours possible.
Sporty kids will love Crandon Golf championship course on Biscayne Bay and the world-class Tennis Center at Crandon Park. There's also a marina for boaters and non-motorized watersports. With hiking, biking, birdwatching, kayaking, snorkeling, a historic carousel and nature center, there's enough to fill a full day.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 10 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
2. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
No need to BYOB (I'm talking bicycles, of course), as bike rentals are available by the hour. There are also quad bikes seating four to six riders at nominal fees so you can cruise the paved path to a historic lighthouse. If your Miami family vacation includes renting a boat, you can even anchor overnight and use the park’s facilities and covered picnic tables. Bill Baggs boasts some of the best shoreline fishing with eight platforms for anglers. Canoe or kayak to spot manatee or eagle rays in the clear sea. Beach wheelchairs and an accessible playground ensure a great time for all.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 14 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
3. Surfside
This pedestrian-friendly beach town sports white sand beaches, walking trails and the “Turtle Walk” public art installation inspired by its marine life. Parks and playgrounds, a farmers market, a downtown bustling with cute cafes, ice cream shops and quirky boutiques equal an easy breezy day out with the family.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 14 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
Wildlife Adventures in Miami
The club-thumping, beach beats “wild life” you might think of when you picture Miami doesn’t hold a candle to this city’s real wildlife charms. One of the best things to do in Florida is to immerse yourself in nature-driven activities to boldly bond with your kids.
4. Well, I’ll Be a Monkey’s Jungle!
Kids go bananas at 1935 wildlife park Monkey Jungle, where over 300 primates roam freely throughout the subtropical forest environment. It’s a reverse zoo concept where the humans observe free-range primates from within an enclosed cage pathway.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 31 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
5. These Miami Dolphins Always Take The Trophy
The Dolphin Research Center in Marathon Key is a non-profit research and rehab for injured and non-releasable marine animals, with educational animal encounters, dolphin swims and an “Ultimate Trainer for a Day” program.
Stay closer to the ship to spot pods of Spinner and Atlantic Bottlenose on a breezy boat trip from Key Biscayne.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 107 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
The Keys To A Great Miami-Area Family Vacation
The Florida Keys are a chain of tropical islands just south of Miami. The single breathtaking road that runs through the Keys is the scenic Overseas Highway US 1, a series of bridges (including a 7-mile arc!) connected by a road snaking through islands so narrow you can often see both sides of the water at once. Traffic can get crazy, but Key Largo’s position closest to Miami is ideal. Jimmy Buffett tunes, salty sea breeze, swaying palms and the smack of snorkel and divers’ fins hang heavy in the air.
6. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
The first undersea park in the US is a must-see, with boating, camping, mangrove paddling, hiking and, of course, snorkeling and diving. Jacques Cousteau named the coral reefs teeming with sea life one of the world’s best. As a scuba divemaster, I fell so in love with this area that I got married underwater on these reefs!
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 68 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages to enjoy nature, 10+ for diving.
7. Learn to Dive as a Family
Key Largo’s warm, shallow, clear waters are perfect for new divers with over 100 dive sites to choose from. Kids as young as 10 can get their bubble on. Horizon Divers offers excellent one-day Discover Scuba programs with a brief lesson in a local pool and an underwater ocean tour. Communing with all those fish is bound to get you hooked, so you can extend that experience into a full lifelong certification at this PADI Five Star operation.
Professional, passionate, patient instructors are this shop’s secret recipe — after diving with their staff, I chose Horizon to certify my teenage niece.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 68 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages to enjoy nature, 10+ for diving.
8. Baker’s Cay Resort Key Largo
This gorgeous resort sweeps you away to an upscale Caribbean paradise. We brought the kids and loved the family-friendly scavenger hunts, lawn games, silent discos, outdoor movie nights and a family pool (adults have their own, so the kids can be kids). A Tropic Ocean Airways seaplane tour over Key West was a highlight. Resort rituals included a group champagne toast to the sunset and bonfire s'mores — they even had a tiki bar boat you could rent as a family.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 68 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages to enjoy nature, 10+ for diving.
9. Key Lime Pie and Conch Fritters — Flavors of The Keys
Conch (rhymes with “honk”) is king in fritter bites throughout the Keys, with hotly contested “who fried it best” bragging rights at stake. Taste the tart of classic Florida dessert made with Key lime juice and condensed milk in a graham cracker crust. Try both at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen or The Fish House, both family-friendly local institutions. The latter is covered in Christmas lights, buys from local fishermen and can even cook your catch.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 68 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages to enjoy nature, 10+ for diving.
Nature’s Best in Miami
Although Miami has the reputation for slick scenes and a glittering celeb-spotting vibe where yacht-core and club influencers of every type thrive, the real showstoppers are those with a more natural energy.
10. Everglades National Park
This critically important subtropical wetland ecosystem and UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to the Okeechobee-fed “River of Grass.” The Florida panther, manatees, alligators and a massive collection of bird life call the cypress swamps, mangroves and sawgrass marshes home. Airboat tours skimming over the marshy waterways and hikes are the way to spot them.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 39 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
11. Key Biscayne Nature Trails
Combine the best of southern Florida’s ecosystems by exploring mangrove forests, fossil reefs and waterways. Try Jetty Trail in Biscayne National Park or the 1.5-mile loop of Cape Florida Trail at Bill Baggs.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 8 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
12. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
This tropical oasis includes Wings of the Tropics butterfly house, Children’s Garden and Expedition Discovery hunts. Slightly less purist, the garden gets a showy refresh during NightGarden, a tech-driven nature experience with pizazz via immersive light experience complete with nightly dance parties and a joke-cracking Talking Tree.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 11 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
Miami Floats Everyone’s Boat
The sparkling waters of Miami beckon beachgoers and sunseekers to this sizzling southern Florida city. Dipping a toe in from the shore is nice, but take to the seas for serious family fun. You have permissions to come on board these Miami H2’oh-yes winners — all departing from within a 15-minute drive from PortMiami:
13. Little Ones — Glassbottom boat tours offer a safe marine life experience.
14. Big Kids — Snorkel trips or sunset sails by catamaran or speedboat.
15. Teens — Get their pulse pounding on jet skis, parasailing, wakeboarding and tubing.
16. Fishing families — Bonefish flats fish for tarpon or hit the high seas for sport fishing.
Boardwalks Where You Can Bond
Down on the boardwalk, you’ll be having some affordable Miami fun while sightseeing with the family.
17. Virginia Beach Key
Once only reachable by boat, this 1896 stretch of beach with Civil Rights-era history reopened in 2008 with a historical miniature train ride through the wetlands and an antique carousel by the sea. A nicely paved bike path and a mile of palm-shaded white sand and shallow water complete the picture of a great family day.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 1 mile.
- ● Ages: All ages.
18. The Park at South Pointe Beach
This popular 17-acre urban park has a fishing pier perfect for panoramic selfies of your cruise ship, the ocean and the Miami skyline. Playgrounds and an interactive splash pad with plenty of grassy picnic space are only topped by a soft sand beach and stroller-friendly paths through the park to enjoy the scenery.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 6 miles.
- ● Ages: All ages.
19. Miami Museum and Cultural Activities
Add a dose of local connection to Miami's culture and see what makes southern Florida so special at a variety of science and marine-life-centered learning experiences. Spend a great day with your mini-mes at Miami Children’s Museum, interactive kid-focused activities at Perez Art Museum Miami, Frost Science Museum and Planetarium and Miami Aquarium.
- ● Cruise Port: PortMiami.
- ● Distance from Port: 15-30 minutes from PortMiami.
- ● Ages: All ages — most have student pricing and “4 and under” free policies.
20. Inspired Miami Hotels for Families
Plan the Perfect Miami Family Getaway
- ● Packing layers is always the safest bet — whether the temps drop at night or overzealous AC-fans try to compensate for sizzling summer weather, keep your kids comfy and happy on the go.
- ● Rashguards are a good way to bypass forced sunscreen reapplications and work well against chafing for watersports. If venturing into the Everglades, insect repellent is a must.
- ● Consider local events and decide whether you want to go with the crowd or avoid it. Formula 1 Races, Art Basel and FIFA Games are a few to check out.
- ● Royal Caribbean sails to The Bahamas, Mexico, the Caribbean and to private island experiences Perfect Day CocoCay and Perfect Day Mexico from PortMiami. Adding a land adventure to a Miami-based Royal Caribbean cruise makes this one of the best family-friendly destinations in Florida.
- ● Royal Caribbean offers the best family cruise vacation at sea, with included entertainment for every taste, complimentary world-class kids clubs for young sailors from 3-17, dining for days serving 23 different international cuisines to thwart even the pickiest of eaters and itineraries that hit the best of the Caribbean from convenient PortMiami.
