Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:Miami Beach, Florida
Iguanas and blue crabs wander through wispy grass at Matheson Hammocks Park Beach in the Miami metro area, widely considered Miami-Dade County's oldest and most picturesque park. Unlike Miami's other scene-y, bikini-clad sands, Matheson Hammocks Park Beach is Miami's most tranquil and child-friendly beach. Waters from the Biscayne Bay refresh a man-made lagoon fringed with swaying coconut palms. The unusual atoll pool makes for a warm, shallow and easy swim, fit for front-crawling tots. With mangrove hammocks, palm trees, and thick oaks, Florida Parenting Magazine named Matheson Hammocks Park Beach the "best picnic spot"—so pack a blanket and sandwiches along with the SPF 30. But Matheson Hammocks is not only for family-oriented beach bums. Boaters get hooked up at Matheson Hammocks Park Beach's full service marina, novice skippers sign up for lessons at Matheson's sailing and power boat school, and folks looking for a scenic and tasty bite head to the local, well known seafood establishments. A slice of mangrove jungle just a pleasant, wooded drive from the city, Matheson Hammocks Park Beach is Miami's gentler, bayside.
If you've soaked your toes in the swimming lagoon, wandered up and down the sand, befriended an iguana or two, and eaten the contents of your picnic basket, you still haven't exhausted Matheson Hammocks Park Beach's offerings. Sit in the picnic area near the Matheson Hammock Marina and watch the boats buzz by. Walk the loop around the swimming lagoon and look out across Biscayne Bay for some of the best vistas of downtown Miami and Miami Beach. To hug some trees (or at least walk amongst them), head down Matheson Hammock's nature paths and wooded walkways, or just take your bike or car down the tree-lined Old Cutler Road for a look at the sprawling homes built by old Miami money. Of course if you're planning a trip to Matheson Hammock to reel in the big one, stop off at the marina to buy squid and shrimp bait and then fish under the nearby bridge for snapper, snook, or mullet.
If you want the standard list of amenities, Matheson Hammocks won't disappoint. With picnic pavilions, a snack bar and restaurant, a full service marina with more than 230 slips, showers and restrooms, a swimming pool, lifeguard stations, and generally enough parking to go around. A scenic Miami beach without the typical Miami beach scene, Matheson Hammocks Park Beach is a lovely, laid-back seashore just for you!