722 Best Sights in Florida, USA

Of all Fernandina Beach beach access points, this is likely to be the most crowded—but it's also the most fun for kids and teens. Not only are there shaded playgrounds, sand volleyball courts, a beachfront playground, picnic tables, and a multipurpose court at the park itself, but there's old-school fun to be had at the adjacent skate park and vintage miniature-golf course, whose concession stand sells cold drinks, ice cream, and snow cones. A casual restaurant and bar are right on the beach. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (seasonal); parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

It will take several flights of stairs to reach the starting point of this ride, one that pairs you up with as many as five others on a rafting adventure. After settling in, a little push is all it takes for gravity to take over and water to wash you into a humongous enclosed tube for a short stretch before you are spat out into the daylight and into a massive basin where your forward motion sends you up toward the rim (but not over it). From here, you wash back down again and slide into another tube before the cycle repeats, taking you through another tube followed by a circular tour of another basin before finally flowing into a calm pool. For people with disabilities: There's a lift to the right of the main queue area; wheelchair users must be able to transfer to the raft unassisted or with help from a member of their party.

For cruise-ship passengers, this is the disembarkation point for an attack on Key West. For practically every visitor, it's the requisite venue for a nightly sunset celebration that includes street performers—human statues, sword swallowers, tightrope walkers, musicians, and more—plus craft vendors, conch-fritter fryers, and other regulars who defy classification. With all the activity, don't forget to watch the main show: a dazzling tropical sunset.

Consisting of both Gulf and Intracoastal Waterway frontage, this beach is best reached on foot from Caspersen Beach. By road, it's a lot less direct. Features include a boardwalk, boat launch, and picnic shelters. Amenities: showers; toilets. Best for: swimming; walking.

In the middle of Anna Maria Island, Manatee County Beach is popular with beachgoers of all ages. Paid parking is in the gravel lot next to the beach. Amenities: food and drink; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; swimming; walking.

Here you might glimpse Florida's most famous, yet often hard to spot, marine mammal. When Gulf waters drop to 68°F or below—usually from November to March—the sea cows congregate in these waters, which are warmed by the outflow of a towering nearby power plant. Pause at any of the three observation decks (the first nearest the outflow and last at the lagoon usually yield the most sightings, as does the fishing pier) and watch for bubbles. Hydrophones on the last deck allow you to eavesdrop on their songs. Periodically, one of these gentle giants—mature adults weigh an average of 1,000 pounds—will surface. Calusa Blueway Outfitters runs the visitor center/gift shop and offers kayak and canoe rentals, as well as clinics and tours to paddle the canals and get a closer look.

Marco Island was once part of the ancient Calusa kingdom. The Key Marco Cat, a statue found in 1896 excavations, has become symbolic of the island's prehistoric significance. The original is part of the Smithsonian Institution's collection, but a replica is one of the items on display that illuminate the ancient past at this museum. Three rooms examine the island's history with dioramas, artifacts, and signage: the Calusa Room, Pioneer Room, and Modern Marco Room. A fourth hosts changing exhibits focusing on the settlement history of the island. Outside, the yard was built to look like a Calusa village set atop a shell mound with a water feature and chickee structure.

Make sure a visit to Wynwood includes a stop at The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse. Martin Margulies's collection of vintage and contemporary photography, videos, and installation art in a 45,000-square-foot space makes for eye-popping viewing. Admission proceeds go to Lotus Village, a local facility for unhoused individuals and families.

Orchids make up nearly a third of the 20,000 species of flowers and plants here. You can stroll through the Tropical Display House, home of orchids and colorful bromeliads gathered from rain forests, and wander the garden pathway past plantings of bamboo, ancient banyans, and mangrove forests along Little Sarasota Bay. Although spring sees the best blooms, the greenhouses make this an attraction for all seasons. A bonus is a spectacular view of downtown.

There are rotating exhibits of botanical art and photography in a 1934 restored Southern Colonial mansion. Enjoy lunch at the Selby House Cafe. The Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey is home to the region's only butterfly experience.

One of America's most cherished authors found inspiration in this out-of-the-way hamlet about 20 miles outside of Gainesville. The 90-acre park, set amid aromatic citrus groves, has a playground for kids and short hiking trails, where you might see owls, deer, or Rawlings' beloved "red birds." But the main attraction is the restored Florida Cracker–style home, where Rawlings wrote classics such as The Yearling and Cross Creek and entertained the likes of poet Robert Frost, author Thornton Wilder, and actor Gregory Peck. The house is guarded closely by spirited roosters, and access to its interior is only available by guided tours.

Kids love the gentle waves and warm (albeit often murky) waters of this beach in Coral Gables suburbia, near the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. But the beach is only part of the draw—the park includes a boardwalk trail, a playground, and a golf course. Plus, the park is a prime spot for kiteboarding. The man-made lagoon, or "atoll pool," is perfect for inexperienced swimmers, and it's one of the best places in mainland Miami for a picnic. Most tourists don't make the trek here; this park caters more to locals who don't want to travel all the way to Miami Beach. The park also offers a full-service marina. Amenities: parking (fee); toilets. Best for: swimming.

This 460-foot slide in bright-yellow inner tubes is the longest and bumpiest of the three falls. It's a long trek up—even higher than that at Keelhaul—but the increased speed and longer descent are worth the climb since the watery route slips through caves, slides under bridges, and skims past thundering waterfalls before splash down. This ride isn't appropriate for guests who are pregnant or who have heart, back, or neck problems.

 While you're in the neighborhood, ride Keelhaul Falls, too.

Majestic royal palms, some planted by Thomas Edison, line one of the city's most scenic streets and are the root of its "City of Palms" moniker. The boulevard runs from downtown to Summerlin Road, which takes you to the barrier islands.

Disguised as a teetering-tottering ship that's moored on the edge of Toon Lagoon, this fantastic, three-story playground has, from bow to stern, dozens of climbing and other activities to keep kids busy. Toddlers enjoy crawling in Swee' Pea's Playpen, and with high-powered squirt guns, older children and their parents can take aim at unsuspecting riders twisting through the rapids over at Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges ride. The most excited participants are small kids, who can't get enough of the whistles, bells, tunnels, and ladders. Check out the view of the park from the top of the ship. For people with disabilities: The playground area is wheelchair accessible. Come in the morning or around dinnertime.

The park's main pool is a 1-acre oasis that's constantly fed by "melting snow" waterfalls. The man-made waves are positively oceanlike. If you're not a strong swimmer, stay away from the far end of the pool, where the waves originate. You can get temporarily stuck in a pocket even if your head is still above water. If you prefer to stay beached, there are plenty of recliner chairs around the bay. This is where moms and dads often relax and watch their kids swim in the lifeguard-protected waters. For people with disabilities: Guests using water-appropriate wheelchairs can enjoy shallow waters here. Get an inner tube if you plan to venture to deeper waters, and arrive early if you want to find a shady spot (the giant umbrellas are limited).

The preshow of "the world's first ride-through video game" provides the storyline: to earn membership in MIB, you must round up aliens that escaped when their shuttle crashed on Earth. On board your vehicle with a few others, you enter the backstreets of a city where aliens pop out from windows, trash cans, and doorways. Fire at them with that laser gun mounted to your futuristic car, and since there's no limit to the number of shots you can take, blast away. Even though the gun's red laser dot is just a pinpoint, an onboard scoreboard helps you keep track of what you've hit. Aliens fire back at you, and if they score a hit, it'll cause your car to spin out of control. Depending on the collective score, your ride will wrap up with one of 35 endings, ranging from a hero's welcome to a loser's farewell.

All in all, it's pretty exciting, though the spinning nature of the cars might cause dizziness. Use caution if you're prone to motion sickness, and don't ride if you have heart, back, or neck problems. For people with disabilities: Equipped for assisted-listening devices. Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. In summer, waits can be up to an hour. Come first thing, or plan to use Express Pass.

Just over 30 miles east of Panama City, along scenic U.S. 98, is Mexico Beach, known for seclusion and a slower pace than its neighbors to the west. Although there aren't a lot of attractions, there is at least one of everything—gas station, grocery store, restaurant—so the comforts of home aren't too far away. Plus, it's a rare delight to see the Gulf unobstructed by houses and hotels. Although the town itself was destroyed in 2018 after a direct hit from Hurricane Michael, it has made quite a comeback and welcomes visitors with completely rebuilt or refurbished amenities, including several accommodations whose boat docks provide easy to access Gulf waters. In addition, the 5 miles of Gulf beaches along U.S. 98 have been fortified, and new dune walkovers are in place, greatly expanding beach access. Amenities: parking. Best for: solitude; swimming.

This Arquitectonica-designed museum, both imaginative and geometric in appearance, is directly across the MacArthur Causeway from Jungle Island. Twelve galleries house hundreds of interactive, bilingual exhibits. Children can scan plastic groceries in the supermarket, scramble through a giant sandcastle, climb a rock wall, learn about the Everglades, and combine rhythms in the world-music studio.

This classic family attraction promotes environmental education and raises conservation awareness yet stages shows with sea lions, dolphins, and other marine animals (including killer whales). Discovery Bay, an endangered-mangrove habitat, is home to sea turtles, alligators, herons, egrets, and ibis. You can also visit a shark pool, a tropical reef aquarium, and West Indian and Florida manatees. A popular interactive attraction is the Stingray Touch Tank, where you can touch and feed cownose rays and southern stingrays. Another big draw is the Dolphin Interaction program, including the quite intensive Dolphin Odyssey ($219) experience and the lighter shallow-water Dolphin Encounter ($159).

On the site of a 17th-century Spanish mission and Apalachee town, this 63-acre living-history museum and archaeological research project showcases life in the late 1600s, when this and three nearby villages had a population of more than 1,400. Several buildings have been reconstructed to give a sense of how the Spaniards and Apalachee coexisted. Particularly impressive is the Native American Council House, a five-story, 120-foot-diameter, palm-thatched structure. Guides in period dress act as the mission's 17th-century residents, and the state-of-the-art visitor center displays artifacts from the site and has a gift shop.

The joke's on everyone at this interactive attraction starring Mike Wazowski, the one-eyed hero from Disney-Pixar's hit Monsters, Inc. In the 400-seat theater, you can interact with an animated Mike and his sidekicks in the real-time, unscripted way that the character Crush from Finding Nemo performs at EPCOT in Turtle Talk with Crush at The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Here, the premise is that Mike realizes laughter can be harnessed as a power source, and Mike's new comedy club is expected to generate power for the future. The more the audience yuks it up, the greater the power produced. You can text-message jokes from cell phones to the show's producer; they might even be used in the show. For people with disabilities: Wheelchair accessible. Sign language is available some days. Equipped for assisted-listening and video-captioning devices.

Local and national artists are highlighted in this lovely art center, which grew out of the annual arts festival. The center is a focal point for the community, serving as headquarters of the arts festival, a gallery, a gift shop, and a place to take art lessons. A new facility is in the works.

The oldest public green space in the county is, unbelievably, across the road from the West Palm Beach airport; but the planes are the last thing you notice while walking around and relaxing amid the nearly 14 acres of tropical trees, rain-forest flora, and butterfly and water gardens. The gift shop contains a selection of rare gardening books on tropical climes. Frequent plant sales are held here, and numerous plant societies with international ties hold meetings open to the public in the auditorium. Experts in tropical edible and ornamental plants are on staff.

This behemoth museum's displays range from expansive collections of Cuban and American art to Coca-Cola and Americana items. Other highlights include a rare Napoleonic exhibit and a complete (and eye-popping) skeleton of a giant ground sloth that's 130,000 years old. Kids love the Charles and Linda Williams Children's Museum, which features interactive science, engineering, and physics exhibits; a nature preserve with ½ mile of boardwalks and nature trails; and a state-of-the-art planetarium with daily shows. Florida art dating back to the 18th century is featured in the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, a freestanding, 26,000-square-foot Florida Cracker–style addition. Artists represented include John James Audubon, Thomas Hart Benton, and N.C. Wyeth.

Bordering the Stetson University campus, the museum's main hub houses five galleries that display rotating exhibits and a permanent collection that includes ceramics, watercolor, mixed media, and photography, including a haunting portrait by photographer Jack Mitchell of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken just weeks before Lennon's death. Another satellite downtown location, just a mile away, has three more galleries and the museum store.

There are dozens of interactive exhibits here to entertain children—and adults—through the wonders of science and Florida's delicate ecosystem. The state-of-the-art 7D theater takes guests on a virtual tour of aviation technology, while the EcoDiscovery Center comes with an Everglades Airboat Adventure ride, resident otters, and an interactive Florida storm center. The 300-seat AutoNation IMAX theater is part of the complex and shows mainstream and educational films, some in 3D, on the biggest screen in South Florida with a rare high-tech laser projection system.

A gorgeous, Mediterranean-revival structure houses outstanding collections of Asian, African, Native American, European, and American art. Although American artists such as Hassam, O'Keeffe, Bellows, and Morisot are represented, the museum is known more for its pieces by French artists, including Cézanne, Monet, Rodin, Gauguin, and Renoir. In addition, photography exhibits draw from a permanent collection of more than 14,000 works. Docents give narrated gallery tours, and you can grab lunch at a café that has a beautiful bay view.

The history of the sport of kings is displayed in a time line here, with other exhibits focusing on polo ponies, star players, trophies, and a look at how mallets are made. It provides a great introduction to the surprisingly exciting, hoof-pounding sport that is played live on Sunday from January to April in nearby Wellington.

MOSH, as it's known locally, is home to the Bryan-Gooding Planetarium, one of the largest single-lens planetariums in the United States, where the resolution of the shows (an additional $6) is significantly sharper than that of the biggest HDTV on the market. The planetarium also presents 3D laser shows to accompany its ever-popular Cosmic Concerts ($12).

MOSH itself has a variety of interactive exhibits and programs that include Health in Motion: Discover What Moves You, where you'll gain a better understanding of your body in motion, as well as health and nutrition; JEA Powerplay: Understanding our Energy Choices, where you can energize the future city of MOSHtopia as you learn about the science of energy and alternative power sources; the Florida Naturalist's Center, where you can interact with northeast Florida wildlife; and the Currents of Time, where you navigate 12,000 years of northeast Florida history. Atlantic Tails: Coastal Creatures of Northeast Florida has a life-size sculpture of a right whale and an intertidal touch tank. Nationally acclaimed traveling exhibits are also featured.  Before visiting, be sure to purchase your timed-entry tickets online.

At this state-of-the-art facility near the University of South Florida's main campus, you learn about weather, anatomy, flight, space, and more by seeing and by doing. Explore a lunar colony in Mission: Moonbase, a NASA-funded exhibit. Challenge yourself on the multilevel, 36-foot-high Sky Trail ropes course. Discover innovative technologies not yet on the market at ConnectUs, or get creative in the Idea Zone makers space. The virtual-reality simulator lets you experience everything from spacewalks to run-ins with prehistoric creatures, and the 23-seat Saunders Planetarium has daily shows featuring astronomy experts.