Miami Beach Botanical Garden: Free Entry, Hours and How We Fit It Into a Stay

What the garden is

The Miami Beach Botanical Garden is a 2.6-acre public garden owned by the City of Miami Beach, open since 1962. It's one of the places we keep on our own short list for guests who want green rather than sand. In 2011 the landscape architect Raymond Jungles reworked it around native Florida plants: palms, cycads, bromeliads and orchids.

The part we'd head for first is the Japanese garden. A red lacquered bridge crosses a quiet pond with water lilies, and stone lanterns stand among the plantings. Beyond it there's a native garden and a run of water gardens, including a small wetland with mangrove and pond apple trees.

The ground has a past. It was a golf course once, and the garden sits on the old Collins Canal, which John S. Collins dug in the early 1900s to move mangoes and avocados by boat. It's a small detail, and the kind we like.

Hours and admission

Entry is free. The garden is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9am to 5pm, so Monday is the day to plan around. Hours shift for private events and upkeep, and we'd check mbgarden.org the morning you go.

How we'd fit it into a stay with us

The garden is at the south end of the island, across from the Miami Beach Convention Center. We're up at 7418 Harding Avenue in North Beach, so it's a ride down rather than a walk. Our front desk is staffed around the clock, and we're glad to help you sort the trip.

We'd go at opening, while the paths are still cool. It's a small garden, and an unhurried hour covers it. Then come back north for the afternoon: The Courtyard Pool is open sunrise to sunset, and the sand is a few minutes from our gate. This is the slower Miami.