While cultural and sporting attractions are a big part of Miami’s leisure offerings, natural attractions such as neighborhood parks are also a draw for city residents. Fortunately, Miami has city, state, and national parks within its boundaries, providing a rich mix of amenities.

Here are the neighborhoods where you’ll find them.

North Miami Beach

Oleta River State Park

As Florida’s largest urban park, Oleta River State Park offers a variety of recreational activities, including swimming, biking, and kayaking—although it’s best known for its off-road biking trails for both novice and experienced cyclists. For those who want to spend a few days at the park, there are 14 air-conditioned cabins with covered porches and picnic tables.

Just north of Oleta is the 265-acre Greynolds Park, which offers camping, golfing, hiking, and kayaking. Once home to the Tequesta Indians and later the Seminole Indians, the park offers guided nature walks and canoe trips. You can also rent picnic pavilions, so it’s a great park to host a birthday party or other celebration. Baby boomers and fans of the 1960s will enjoy the annual “Love-In, Party in the Park,” an event held in May meant to be reminiscent of the love-ins held in the ‘60s, where visitors can enjoy music from that era.

Homestead

Biscayne Bay National Park

Though the Downtown area is within eyeshot, Biscayne Bay National Park is a world all its own. Maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, it features a rare combination of aquamarine waters, emerald islands, and coral reefs. Visitors can participate in a range of activities, including boating, fishing, lobstering, guided eco-adventures, canoeing, and kayaking. The park also offers educational programs for students in grades 4-12, giving kids the chance to perform tasks that park scientists do such as microscopic analysis, seagrass seining, and inventorying wildlife. Due to its fairly remote location, you should make sure to give yourself plenty of time to get there by car.

Miami Beach

Lummus Park photo courtesy of Daniel Di Palma

Miami Beach has several parks, each of which has a personality all its own. For a more low-key experience, you can visit North Shore Open Space Park, which features biking and walking trails along with picnic tables and park benches.

Further south, you’ll find Lummus Park in South Beach on Ocean Drive from 5th to 15th Streets, making it part of the Art Deco District. While there are paved paths for walking or biking, the main attraction is the beach itself.

South Pointe Park is at the most southern part of the beach (1 Washington Ave). It’s both a local park and beach with walking paths, a food stand, and a miniature water park for kids.

Coral Gables

Matheson Hammock Park

Matheson Hammock Park is a 630-acre urban park on Old Cutler Road just south of Coral Gables. It features a beach, a marina, and a boat launch, and a manmade atoll flushed naturally by the tide. This park is especially known as a strong destination for kiteboarding, but you can also rent kayaks and stand-up paddleboards. Families with small children will appreciate the shallow water for swimming and cool ocean breezes. The park also has pavilions, nature trails, and a sailing and boating school. While there’s a $5 fee on weekdays and a $7 on weekends for cars, parking spots are usually easy to find.

Upper East Side

Morningside Park photo courtesy of Pietro

Morningside Park is a quintessential urban park designed to offer a quiet respite from its surroundings. Located in the neighborhood that bears its name, it runs five blocks along Biscayne Bay and features tennis and basketball courts, a playground, a baseball field, a municipal pool, picnic benches, and walking trees. It also has lots of trees that provide ample shade.

Key Biscayne

Aerial of the Crandon Park Tennis Center

Visitors to Crandon Park have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of natural features, along with a host of recreational activities in Key Biscayne. Naturalists will love the dunes, mangroves, coastal hammock, and seagrass beds, while outdoor enthusiasts can partake in eco-adventure tours, walk nature trails, or rent kite boards and kayaks.