Miami Parks: City System, Courts, Pools, Marinas and Nearby Parks

The Miami parks section has one deeper guide, on Biscayne National Park, and this hub covers the City of Miami park system, its marinas, and the county and federal parks that Miami residents use.

Three governments run the parks around Miami. The City of Miami Parks and Recreation Department runs city parks, the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department runs county parks and Zoo Miami, and the National Park Service runs Biscayne National Park. Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the City of Miami Parks and Recreation and Marinas pages, the Miami-Dade County parks home page and the Biscayne National Park fees page.

The City of Miami Parks and Recreation Department counts more than 150 parks covering more than 1,400 acres, and its facility list adds 12 swimming pool facilities, 43 community centers and 4 gymnasiums.

The department also lists the Sandra DeLucca Developmental Center, the Little Haiti Cultural Center and Caribbean Marketplace, a Japanese Garden and Grapeland Water Park among its facilities, and says it is nationally accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (City of Miami Parks and Recreation). Events in a park are booked through the Reserve a Park (Parks Permit) link on the same Miami page, and the city menu also lists park equipment rental.

Programs run for every age group. The city offers free programs for active adults 55 and older at parks including Antonio Maceo, Coral Gate, Charles Hadley, Manolo Reyes, Rebecca Sosa, Roberto Clemente and Shenandoah, plus seasonal and afterschool camps for youth and services for persons with disabilities (Miami Parks programs).

A practical point for anyone arranging accommodations: the Miami parks page asks for 3 business days of notice for sign language interpreting, and accessibility requests go to the contact listed there at (305) 960-4962.

The City of Miami lists three natural areas designated as Natural Forest Communities: Simpson Hammock Park with its visitor center, a 32-acre hammock restoration and interpretive trail on Virginia Key, and the hammock at Alice Wainwright Park.

On Virginia Key, the City of Miami offers mountain bike trails, walking trails and beaches, and the Parks and Recreation Aquatics Division bases its Ocean Rescue section at Virginia Key Beach (City of Miami Parks and Recreation). Volunteers can join park beautification, invasive plant removal, habitat restoration and beach cleanups through the department volunteer form.

The Biscayne Bay islands are part of the same Miami conversation. On February 15, 2024, the Parks and Recreation Department and the Office of Resilience and Sustainability held a virtual Biscayne Bay Islands community workshop on conserving the islands (Miami Parks workshops).

The City of Miami lists pickleball courts at 10 park sites with set court hours, and runs 12 aquatic sites, 6 of them year-round pools and 6 seasonal.

Woodside Park at 3701 SW 1st Ave and Buena Vista Park at 5250 NW 2nd Ave also have courts, Buena Vista from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday (City of Miami pickleball sites). The Miami parks page says to contact the park facility directly for more information, and it lists a September 5, 2023 Pickleball Master Plan Workshop on plans for more public courts.

Learn to Swim registration in Miami is first come, first served through EventBrite, with sessions at Grapeland Water Park and the Hadley, Shenandoah, Jose Marti, Gibson and Athalie Range aquatic facilities (Miami Parks aquatics).

Not right away: the City of Miami says the slips and racks at its marinas are currently full, so boat owners apply to a waitlist, while short-term or transient dockage is arranged by calling a marina directly.

The Marinas Division of the city General Services Administration owns and operates more than 1,300 wet slips, dry racks and mooring buoys in the City of Miami (City of Miami Marinas). The largest is in Coconut Grove: the Dinner Key marina and mooring field counts 587 wet slips plus 250 moorings, after a three-year, $22 million restoration that finished in October 2021. Downtown, Miamarina at Bayside has 125 wet slips and had its piers and electrical systems upgraded in 2021.

Waitlisted slips are filled first come, first served as space opens, depending on boat size. The Miami marina lines are Dinner Key Marina (305) 329-4755, Miamarina at Bayside (305) 960-5180 and Marine Stadium Marina (305) 960-5140, with the main marinas office at 305-329-4754 (Miami marina contacts). The city also posts a marina hurricane plan and rates for each marina on the same page.

Miami-Dade County runs its own park system, including Zoo Miami and Deering Estate, and the National Park Service runs Biscayne National Park, which charges no entrance fee.

The Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department says Zoo Miami houses more than 2,000 wild animals and the only zoo in a subtropical climate, and lists daily tours at Deering Estate, county beaches, dog parks and fitness zones (Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces). These are county facilities, separate from the City of Miami park system.

At Biscayne National Park, boats docking for the day at Boca Chita or Elliott Key pay $25.00, a fee charged Friday through Monday and on federal holidays, and overnight camping and docking costs $60.00 a night for up to two tents and six people (Biscayne National Park fees, NPS). Slips and campsites are first come, first served, reservations are not accepted, and fees are paid through the recreation.gov app, which the park says has to be downloaded before arriving. The Biscayne National Park guide covers hours, directions and boat trips from Miami.

The City of Miami is working from a parks master plan, ReImagine Parks Miami, and has held community meetings on master plans for Margaret Pace, Roberto Clemente, Melrose and Legion parks.

The meetings ran from October 1, 2024 for Melrose Park with District 1 Commissioner Miguel Gabela, to February 24, 2025 for Margaret Pace Park with Commissioner Damian Pardo, April 14, 2025 for Roberto Clemente Park and April 16, 2025 for Legion Memorial Park with District 5 Chairwoman Christine King's office (City of Miami Parks master plans). The department says the master plan will guide facilities, programs, park land acquisition and development.

Money for Miami park building comes partly from the Miami Forever Bond, which invests a total of $400 million across five categories, one of them parks and cultural facilities, alongside sea-level rise and flood prevention, roadways, public safety and affordable housing (Miami Forever Bond).

Some of the Miami page is out of date. As of October 18, 2026, it still invites residents to take the Roberto Clemente Park master plan survey, which it says was available only until May 15, 2025, and its iFit Miami class schedule covers January 19 to March 20, 2026, and its Active Adults calendars are the August 2026 editions. For the current status of a Miami park project, a call to the park or the department is a more reliable check than those notices.