FAMILY ATTRACTIONS

For residents of Williams Island, our perfect central location provides endless possibilities for family adventure and entertainment. And phenomenal weather, spectacular beaches, and family fun make life on Williams Island a treasure year round.

With Miami's Children's Museum, the sensational Miami Seaquarium, the ever-popular Miami Science Museum and Planetarium, and the Miami Metro Zoo, which happens to be one of the top 10 zoos in the U.S., this sun-soaked city gives children and adults alike the chance for adventure around every corner. Whether you are reconnecting with nature on a family eco-adventure or visiting Jungle Island in the morning and the Everglades Alligator Farm in the afternoon, your children will enjoy an incredible educational experience.

And for those children who are sand-and-sun enthusiasts, Miami's dazzling beaches are plentiful and promising year-round. Several Miami beaches offer family-friendly features such as lifeguards, concession stands, pavilions, and showers. Key-Biscayne's Crandon Beach Park has a playground and carousel, making it an exceptional spot for young children. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park hosts a lighthouse; Haulover Beach Park sports a kite-flying area; and many other Miami beaches offer fantastic fun diversions such as kiteboarding, windsurfing, fishing, snorkeling, diving, swimming, bicycling, sailing and picnicking. To familiarize yourself with the distinguishing features of Miami's many different beaches and parks you should review those sections of our website.

Besides outdoor recreation, Miami has no shortage of family-oriented festivals and special events. Spring, summer, and winter are all host to impressive spectator sports, carnivals, fairs, fiestas, and celebrations. All ages enjoy festivals year-round such as the Junior Orange Bowl Parade in December; the Miami-Dade County Fair, which takes place in March-April; Little Havana's Calle Ocho, also a spring-time event; and the Miami Book Fair International in November. Summers are jam-packed with festivals like the Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival and the Tropical AG Fiesta, both in June, and the International Mango Festival hosted by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's in July.

Food enthusiasts enjoy the areas delicacies during the annual Miami Spice Restaurant Month in August-September, when Miami's most superb restaurants spotlight three-course meals at reduced prices. Wine and food connoisseurs delight in such exquisite events as the Miami International Wine Fair in September, and the Biltmore International Food and Wine Weekend, a distinguishing feature of the highly acclaimed South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February. And spirits run high during the holidays when kids and grownups alike delight in Santa's Enchanted Forest - a seasonal carnival and theme park that is open from late November until early January.

Miami also gives families who are sports fans plenty of opportunity to enjoy premier events. Highlights of the local sporting action include Miami Dolphins football, NASCAR racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Florida Marlins major-league baseball, Miami HEAT basketball, and University of Miami and Florida International University college athletics. The area also hosts the PGA TOUR's World Golf Championship-CA Championship at Doral, and the Sony Ericsson Open tournament, featuring some of the globe's foremost professional tennis players.

And for those children with a passion for the arts, Miami packs its calendar with events such as the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in February, and Art Basel Miami Beach in December, which is art show of international prominence. In August-September dance aficionados can relish in some of the most graceful and innovative prima during the International Ballet Festival of Miami, and movie fans wait for March with much anticipation for Miami's International Film Festival.

Famous for its gourmet restaurants, multicultural cuisine, and celebrity chefs, Miami also has an endless array of dining experiences that will satiate the youngest or most refined appetite. Serving everything from hot dogs and hamburgers to Italian cuisine, Oriental fare, and beyond, Miami offers an abundance of eateries.

So whether your family is taking a day to carouse at one of Miami's festivals or sporting events, Miami's natural wonders, fantastic watersports, historic sites and super amusement parks, the family appeal of life on Williams Island is unmistakable. And with Williams Island's central location, visiting a planetarium or zoo, or other Miami attractions is virtually effortless.