10 Best Day Trips from Miami

You can experience the rich and diverse ecosystem of the Everglades both on foot and on the water through an Everglades National Park nature walk and airboat ride tour. Start your morning off with a dry walk through the Everglades National Park, accompanied by a naturalistic guide who will point out the local flora and fauna. 

Your guide will also teach you the heritage of the Miccosukee Tribe, who used to live on a tropical hardwood hammock island. This is truly a tour for the adventurous.

On a Key Largo butterfly peacock bass fishing trip, you’ll climb aboard a 21-foot (7-metre) boat and take a ride along the Keys to the tip of the Florida mainland. Your captain will then find you the best fishing spots to bind butterfly peacock bass. Sit back and enjoy the sun before the fish never stop biting. 

This tour is accommodating of both first-time fishers and experts and will handle all preparations and equipment. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a relaxing, and rewarding fishing experience around this island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago that’s also the largest of the Keys.

On a Key West express tour, you’ll enjoy a fun day that’s filled with museums, historic landmarks, shops, restaurants, and bars. The best thing is that you can enjoy it all at your own pace and in your own order. This day trip picks you up from your hotel and takes you on a scenic drive down the Overseas Highway and across the Seven Mile Bridge, before delivering you to Key West for a full day of activities at your leisure. 

The drive over the historical highway itself is a scenic treat, with boats passing under the route 113-mile route and over the calm blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Be sure to bring a camera!

Sightsee Key West on a glass-bottom boat tour, especially if wish to venture further afield. This trip takes you out into the waters around the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Hop aboard a glass-bottom boat and get an up-close view of the third-largest reef in the world, along with all the wildlife that inhabit it. 

You've still got free time to explore the city, from the historic sites like Duval Street to Ernest Hemingway’s house, or to relax on the white-sand beach and splash around in the sun. This fun day out is a great way to enjoy Key West’s beaches, nature and a bit of its history.

Hop on a high-speed ferry and lounge on the sundeck as you make your way to an island paradise. The high-speed ferry crossing lets you visit Bimini, which is only a stone’s throw away from Miami, 57 mi (92 km) to be exact. It takes 2 hours to cross, with plenty of sea breeze and views along the way. 

Take advantage of the included day pass to The Hilton at Resort World Bimini, where you can lounge at the beach, take a spa day, play a round of golf, and learn to surf. Simply put, a trip to the tip of Florida wouldn’t be complete without a day in the Bahamas and this is the perfect way to get there.

On a Florida Keys eco-adventure, you’ll accompany a marine biologist on a kayak or stand-up paddleboard to the spectacular Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Enjoy lunch in the old-growth Mangrove ecosystem and practice your paddling surrounded by stingrays, nurse sharks, and sea turtles. 

If you’re feeling especially adventurous, you can take a dip into the clear, blue waters of the Gulf and snorkel alongside your guide as they help identify the variety of colourful coral and fish species in their natural habitat. This is a great option to learn about the distinct ecosystems of the Florida Keys and soak up the warm Southern sun at the same time.

Jungle Island is an eco-adventure park that was established back in 1936 as Parrot Island. This park takes you on an epic journey through nature, animal discovery, and adventurous experiences. It’s a one-of-a-kind eco-adventure destination for Miami, where families can have a great time out. 

Within Jungle Island, you have many different activities to enjoy. Among them, take a behind-the-scenes VIP tour, experience outdoor skydiving at a permanent vertical wind tunnel, slide down a 60-foot (18 m) water slide at a waterpark, attend daily animal shows, and interact with lemurs or slow-moving sloths. This jungle island has an adventure for everyone.

The exciting Everglades airboat and Biscayne Bay cruise combines sightseeing and thrills through nature. You’ll start your day off with a morning visit to the beautiful Florida Everglades, which is home to abundant wildlife. You’ll take an airboat ride through 1 million acres (405,000 ha) of preserved wildlands, alligator-flecked swamps, and grassy bayous. 

Throughout your excursion, you’ll admire the trees draped in Spanish moss and even take the opportunity to hold a baby alligator! At the end of your exciting day out, relax on a cruise of Biscayne Bay and witness Miami skyline from the water – beat the heat with a cold beverage at hand.

You need only bring yourself for this Key West excursion – all equipment and guides are included and ready. Spend your morning exploring Key West’s landmarks, beaches, and shops, then set sail aboard a catamaran cruise and discover the underwater coral reef as you dive into the warm tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Snorkelling around the warm waters of Key West mostly offers excellent visibility. Home to many fish and plants, the third-largest reef in the world is a perfect place to experience aquatic life up-close and personal. Snorkellers here often have themselves friendly dolphin encounters on their trips.

It’s one thing to hear about the moon landing, and quite another to see all the equipment that took those astronauts there and back with your own eyes. A visit to the historic space centre shows you the home of some of NASA's most ambitious ventures, including the Apollo moon missions and the Space Shuttle. 

See the Saturn V rocket up-close and watch an IMAX film with footage of outer space taken by astronauts and the Hubble Space Telescope. After you’ve had your fill of history, hop back on the bus and spend the rest of the afternoon at a Miami-area outlet mall before heading back.