For many people, that brings to mind Miami’s thriving music scene, the mingling of different cultures from around the world, or the famous beaches. For me, one of the first things I think of is how many incredible museums nonlocals don’t realize we have. (Is that nerdy of me? Maybe. No shame!)
Here are just some of them:
Lowe Art Museum
1301 Stanford Dr., Miami, FL 33146
The Lowe is known for its huge collection: it houses over 19,000 objects from all over the world, spanning hundreds of years. Each spring, students in the ArtLab @ The Lowe course curate a themed exhibit from the Lowe’s permanent collection. In the past, many of the classes have even had the opportunity to travel with their exhibit to other institutions.
Several times a semester, the Lowe also hosts “Lowe After Hours.” Always held on a Thursday, it’s a great way to relax as the week winds down.
Admission is free for UM students and $8 for non-UM students with a school ID.
Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science
1101 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132
One of the most iconic exhibits at the Frost is the aquarium, which spans three floors. Smaller tanks throughout the museum house jellyfish, seahorses, and other smaller animals. But don’t think the aquarium experience is just staring through glass walls and wondering what you look like to the fish; they also have open-top tanks on the second and third floors, where you can touch stingrays, starfish, and more. If you go and see someone spending a ridiculous amount of time by the stingray tank waiting for one to pass by them so they can pet it, that’s probably me.
Admission to the museum also includes a planetarium show. The theater is a giant sphere, visible from the expressway on your way to the museum. The shows cover topics like asteroids or Earth’s climate system and are narrated by celebrities like Liam Neeson and Sigourney Weaver, making it a star-studded museum experience.
If you’re a student, take your school ID with you and get $3 off admission. Or, if you're a Miami-Dade resident, you can take your proof of address to score a 15 percent discount.
Pérez Art Museum Miami
1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132
On the other side of Museum Park, across from Frost, is the Pérez Art Museum Miami, commonly known as PAMM. If you’re looking for #VIEWS, there’s no better museum in Miami. Facing Biscayne Bay, you can take a seat by the lush hanging gardens and take in the waterfront vista dotted with cruise ships and cars driving over the causeway.
Inside, the modern and contemporary art collection is always attention-grabbing and thought-provoking. What I like about PAMM’s exhibits is that they dispel this idea of fine art as distant, snobby, and something you have to appreciate from behind a velvet rope. One of my favorite works was called “Spots, Dots, Pips, Tiles: An Exhibition About Dominos.” In the middle of it was a domino table complete with a set of dominos and four chairs. Visitors were free to take a seat and play
The first Thursday and second Saturday of every month, admission to the museum is free all day. Any other day, take your student ID to pay $12 versus the usual $16.
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
3251 S. Miami Ave., Miami, FL 33129
A short drive away from campus, you’ll find Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Coconut Grove. It’s not your typical museum; it’s the former estate of turn-of-the-last-century businessman James Deering.
Vizcaya was built in the Mediterranean Revival style, contributing to its picturesque vibes and mass appeal to quinceañera photographers everywhere. It’s a huge estate, with 34 of the original 54 rooms open to the public. The house still contains the original antique furniture and decorations, making a walk-through feel like a #tbt to a hundred years ago.
My personal favorite part of Vizcaya is the gardens. Nestled among the flowers and trees, are gazebos, ponds, old fountains, and antique statues. It feels like something out of a movie set. It also provides stunning views of Biscayne Bay (a running theme in this post, I know).
For students with ID, admission is $15.
