South Florida

South Florida's Top Places

Miami, FL

Miami is southernmost major city in Florida, is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, and the most populous metropolitan area in Florida with over 6.1 million people in the area (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties).

The Greater Miami Area includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Hialeah, Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton and their respective counties. And together with the Everglades and Florida Keys, it is known as the Gold Coast, a reference to its wealthy and glamorous tropical lifestyle. Because the area is sandwiched between the Everglades and Atlantic Ocean, the Miami area is no more than 20 miles wide in most places, but stretches more than 100 miles north to south.

Miami is hub of culture, art, and tourism. The Art Deco District, Bayside Marketplace, Downtown Miami, Lincoln Road, South Beach... Miami's glamorous world of nightclubs, beaches, historic buildings, and shopping centers are recognizable throughout the world.

Miami is home to the MLB's Miami Marlins, the NFL's Miami Dolphins, and the NBA's Miami Heat. The NHL's Florida Panthers play in nearby Sunrise, FL.

Miami is also known as the Cruise Capital of the World. PortMiami is one of the largest ports in the US and the largest cruise ship port in the world.

West Palm Beach, FL

West Palm Beach is centrally located in South Florida on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, is the northernmost major city in the greater Miami area, is the county seat of Palm Beach County, and has a population of just over 100,000. It is located on the Florida mainland directly west of popular Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island right off the coast.

West Palm Beach is the oldest city in South Florida, officially designated a city two years before Miami in 1894. It has a number of historic districts, most developed in the 1920s, including Central Park, El Cid, Flamingo Park, Mango Promenade, Old Northwood, Prospect Park, and more.

West Palm Beach is home to a number of famous museums, theaters, and performing arts centers, including the Norton Museum of Art, the largest art museum in Florida. West Palm Beach is also home to SunFest, an annual waterfront music and art festival attended by almost 300,000 people. The festival attracts a wide range of performers from Snoop Dogg, Ed Sheeran, and Pitbull to Santana, The Beach Boys, and Billy Idol.

Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park is the largest tropical wilderness in the US, the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi, and the third largest National Park in the continental US.

While most national parks protect geographic features, Everglades Nation Park was the first created to protect an ecosystem.

Everglades National Park protects roughly 20% of Florida's Everglades, a unique ecosystem (not seen anywhere else in the world) of tropical wetlands that starts in Orlando with the Kissimmee River and travels south to Lake Okeechobee before finally reaching the Florida Bay.

Everglades National Park is home to more than:

• 350 species of birds
• 300 species of fish
• 50 species of reptiles
• 40 species of mammals

It is also home to the Florida Panther, American Crocodile, West Indian Manatee, and thirty-six more federally-protected, endangered or threatened species.

Everglades National Park offers bird watching, biking, boating, camping (including RV), canoeing and kayaking, guided tours, fishing, and hiking. It also features dark sky sites that are great for viewing and photographing the night sky, including the Milky Way.

South Florida Counties