These are the best things to do in Miami this weekend

This all-ages immersive art and wellness festival finds a new home at the historic RC Cola Plant on the edge of Wynwood, bringing together Burning Man-style art installations, grounding workhops and beat-heavy performances over two blissed-out days. Headlining DJs at this year’s Art With Me include CamelPhat, Sofi Tukker, WhoMadeWho, Eric Prydz, Luciano, Dixon b2b Jimi Jules and Lee Burridge. By day, choose from classes and activations including breathwork, ice baths, yoga, meditation and more. At night, it’s a journey of deep tribal house music, mesmerizing fire dancing, acrobatic displays and a stunning light show.

Faena Art celebrates its 10th anniversary with a new, site-specific commission from British artist Es Devlin. "Library of Us" is a 50-foot kinetic sculpture that will slowly rotate within a reflective pool, filled with 2,500 of the books that have shaped Devlin’s imagination, philosophy and life. Part performance, part sculpture and part meditation on language, the piece will transform Faena Beach into a shared space for reading, reflection and quiet connection. 

Guests will take a seat at the 70-foot circular reading table, which surrounds the luminous bookshelf, where some chairs will remain still and others will rotate. Devlin’s project will continue inside the Faena Cathedral with "Reading Room," a meditative companion piece, and in the Faena Project Room, with drawings and glassworks that reveal her layered creative process. All 2,500 books from "Library of Us" will be donated to local schools and libraries after Art Week. On the sand at 3201 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33140

Black Coffee, the Grammy-winning South African DJ and producer, will take over the historic Miami-Dade County Courthouse for a one-night-only, open-air performance courtesy of the folks at Space Miami. The civic landmark will serve as a dramatic backdrop for Black Coffee's soulful, high-energy set. General admission tickets are on sale now for guests 18 and older, while VIP access, which grants flexible entry, is limited to those 21 and up. Outside of the Miami-Dade Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street, Miami

Enter into the contemplative and mystical world of Mexico City-based Aregntinian artist Pilar Zeta at her latest monumental installation, The Observer Effect. Presented by The Shelborne By Proper, and an off-site project of Art Basel Miami Beach, the hulking iridescent sculpture invites visitors to enter a field of portals that fuse the self, nature and architectural space. Inspired by ancient temples, the geometric installation is composed of eight large-scale metallic structures of repeating columns, arches and spheres that create ritual passageways and an interplay of shadow and light. The skin of the artwork, finished in post-industrial automotive car paint, refracts the light waves of the sun and ocean, creating a luminous, rainbow-like sheen in an ever-changing chromatic prism. The Observer Effect is free to visit and open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset.

Situated between Midtown and Wynwood, this pop-up food festival with LA roots brings together nearly 30 major names in the Miami culinary scene for a day of chilled-out, family-friendly hangs. Versailles, Tam Tam, Ted’s Burgers, Liger’s, Miami Slice, KYU, Shiso, the Wolf of Tacos, Palacio de los Jugos and Peacock Ramen are just a few of the vendors on deck for Saturday. All that nosh is complemented by a lineup of hip-hop-leaning local DJs (DZA, Silent Addy and more) and a collection of large-scale immersive art experiences and custom installations presided over by the festival’s artistic director, New York’s famed Nina Chanel Abney. Expect a bold and colorful backdrop to the inaugural Miami festival, which will also feature streetwear collabs, a domino tournament and more surprises. 110 NE 36th St, Miami, FL 33137

If it doesn’t feel like Christmas where you live, just wait until you step foot inside Pinecrest Gardens. The botanical gardens transform into a winter wonderland draped in a blanket of sparkling lights. Every night brings new forms of fun like movie nights, mariachis, character experiences and even concerts at the sunken Banyan Bowl stage. For families, there are sit-downs with Santa, storytime, carolers and more. Watch out for the Seuss-themed nights, which are sure to be great fodder for this year's Christmas cards. 

The Downtown Development Authority is bringing all the cozy seasonal vibes to our subtropical paradise for its annual Holiday Village on Flagler, running on December 7, 14 and 21. Downtown's charming historic thoroughfare will transform into a festive pop-up village complete with twinkling décor, local vendors and interactive stations where kids can craft ornaments, snap photos and enjoy sweet seasonal treats. Other highlights include a menorah lighting on December 14, a toy giveaway on December 21 and a New Year's Day celebration from 3 to 8pm featuring live music, family fun and surprise guests, all free and open to the public.

New York’s famous Tribeca Festival returns for Art Basel week, bringing with it two nights of live entertainment at the Miami Beach Bandshell. On Friday, December 5, the Bogotá-based and Latin Grammy-nominated ensemble Monsieur Periné will take the stage with its joyful fusion of Latin swing and pop. Andrés Morales, the music director at Calle Ocho's legendary Hoy Como Ayer, opens. On Saturday, December 6, the otherworldly instrumental duo Hermanos Gutiérrez will perform, bringing their hauntingly cinematic sound to captivate global audiences. Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and DJ Jitwam opens.

Festivalgoers will also get to experience the Google Gemini Photobooth—an IRL photo booth that invites guests to snap a pic, apply AI-powered styles and print a photo strip on the spot—combining an old-school photo booth with the magic of Gemini’s latest AI image-editing model, Nano Banana. 

In partnership with The Cultivist, Capital One presents a journey to Los Angeles through the ages in a new art installation pop-up by visual artist and director Alex Prager during Art Week in Miami. Housed in a former nightclub on Lincoln Road, Mirage Factory unfolds as a distinctive mise-en-scène of Los Angeles through the ages, from the recreation of an artificial orange grove to the glow of Hollywood Boulevard at dusk.

In addition to public access, Capital One cardholders can enjoy exclusive programming throughout the week, including live performances, immersive experiences and a celebrity chef–curated dinner with James Beard-winning Dave Beran, as well as Martinis at the Mirage, a private evening event featuring a surprise musical guest.

The experience also extends to the new Shelborne By Proper, part of the Premier Collection from Capital One Travel, which will serve as the hospitality hub for Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders, featuring daily Venture X Golden Hour Sun Deck gatherings, live DJ sessions and more. Public guests can attend during viewing hours; no ticket required. Capital One cardholders can visit The Cultivist website for exclusive access details. 430 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139

Expect a full dance music festival experience, complete with food and drink vendors, immersive art and a strobing labyrinth of live beats at Hialeah’s Factory Town. This year’s major Art Week program features five days and five stages of deep sounds until sunrise. Tiesto, Hugel, Boys Noize, Solomun, Cloonee, Chris Stussy, Richie Hawtin, Skepta and Elrow comprise the stacked bill of house, techno and art experiences, with plenty of surprises mixed in.

Miami Art Week expands west as the Coral Gables Museum and its Young Associates present Backyard Basel, an Art Basel–inspired edition of the Museum’s monthly Gallery Night. Choose from two experiences: The Outdoor Art Fair, a lively art and music showcase with food and drink for purchase that’s free and open to the public; or the VIP Collectors’ Lounge, a ticketed experience featuring large-scale installations, artist meet-and-greets, bites from Zitz Sum and Kojin, and unlimited drinks from Unseen Creatures and Happy Wine Calle Ocho. 

Amid the corporate takeovers and invite-only parties, the Beach Towel Art Show is a cheeky reminder that art should be fun, and accessible to all. This homegrown event invites the public to create their own works of art on beach towels and exhibit them proudly on the sand of South Beach. Though the artworks are not formally for sale, visitors and participants are free to approach the owners and ask. Participation is free and casual; No pre-registration required, just bring your wild homemade beach towel to display. On the sand at 9th Street, Miami Beach 33139 (behind Scope Art Fair)

This bustling vintage market enters its 34th year on South Beach's famed Lincoln Road. Approximately every other Sunday (check their calendar for exact dates), 125 vendors convene along the promenade to showcase their wares and barter with discerning shoppers. Find everything from mid-century furniture to Art Deco decor and more. The long-running weekend social presents a solid mix of 19th and 20th-century memorabilia and unique collectibles. While you're there, stock up on locally grown produce, fresh flowers and artisanal goods from the Lincoln Road Farmer's market, which occurs every Sunday from 9am to 6pm.

As usual, the after-hours dance mecca Club Space has queued up a bonkers week of music programming throughout Art Week. If your idea of Baseling includes at least one late night that melts into a sunrise dance session, slot a Space pitstop into your itinerary—or go all-in with a multi-day Space Basel Pass. Artists performing across the downtown club’s three rooms include Chris Lake, Francis Mercier, Jamie Jones, Mura Masa, Marco Carola and others, plus a 33+ Hour Space Basel Closing Party that kicks off Sunday and doesn’t stop until Tuesday.

South Beach's open-air Rooftop Cinema Club offers a respite from the chaos of Art Week with a lineup of feel-good rom-coms and holiday classics this weekend. Kick back with a cocktail and popcorn as you take in a movie in the sky. Friday's double feature includes The Proposal (7:15pm) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (9:50pm). On Saturday, choose from The Nightmare Before Christmas (5pm), Home Alone (7:35pm) and White Chicks (10:10pm).

On the heels of two consecutive sold-out Miami Music Week events, Breakaway Beach returns for its inaugural Miami Art Week edition, transforming the shoreline into an interactive music and lifestyle experience headlined by Zedd, alongside performances by Chris Lorenzo, Daniel Allan, Kaleena Zanders, Night Tales, and Benjamin Lloyd. Produced in partnership with Elite Daily, the event will blend music and experiential programming, with plenty of product giveaways, photo moments and more. On the sand at 38th St and Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

The iconic sunglasses brand jumps into the Art Basel mix this year with its first-ever Ray-Ban Clubhouse, a multi-day, open-to-the-public installation inside the historic Carl Fisher Clubhouse, the oldest public building in Miami Beach. Under the creative direction of A$AP Rocky, the circa-1916 space is transformed into a bold new expression of the Ray-Ban world, blending slogans, street symbols, irony, rebellion, clarity and chaos for a full sensory experience. 2100 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

Miracle Bar makes its Carousel Club debut at Gulfstream Park this holiday season, and the racetrack’s open-air playground is the perfect backdrop for all the kitschy, Christmas-themed chaos. Running from November 21 through December 28, the beloved annual pop-up gives Carousel Club a full festive makeover: think twinkling tunnel entrances, over-the-top lawn displays and cozy cocktail mugs everywhere you look, all set against Carousel’s neon bar, trackside views and massive tented lounge.

This year's refreshed cocktail lineup channels the winter-meets-tropical vibes, with old and new favorites like the Christmapolitan, Snowball Old-Fashioned, Coconut Hot Chocolate and Koala LaLaLa. (And yes, Carousel’s bartenders commit to the holiday-core aesthetic, too.) With its oversized décor, wide-open footprint and trove of picture-perfect corners, Carousel Club is a sweet new home for the latest rendition of the long-running Miracle experience, which is free to attend. Check their website for a calendar of special events, like an Ugly Sweater Party on December 12.

Christmas gets a freaky twist at this holiday carnival in Hialeah. Expect all the usual rides, midway games and festive displays, plus entry to Ripley’s exhibition of strange and unusual oddities and artifacts. New sideshows roll out weekly, too, like contortionists, sword swallowers, foot archers and the Shortest Woman in the World. Other experiences include the shimmering Fairyland Journey pathway and Dinner at Santa's, a cozy sit-down meal at Santa’s North Pole home.

If you’ve ever wanted to live inside a Mariah Carey Christmas special, this is your moment. Mariah Carey’s Holiday Bar is landing at Ray's Hometown Bar in Miami Beach, promising a “Mariahfied cocktail experience” that’s part pop-up, part wonderland and entirely extra (in the best possible way). Expect wall-to-wall holiday décor dripping with glitter and nostalgia, festive photo ops and recreated backdrops from her most iconic album covers. Every 30 minutes, the unmistakable opening notes of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” will cue the room into collective holiday euphoria.

The menu keeps the theme alive with festive small bites and seasonal cocktails made with Carey’s own Black Irish cream liqueur. For fans who want to take the experience home, there’s exclusive merch, vinyl copies of her holiday albums and even her newest LP, Here For It All. You can even write to the star herself at the “Letters to Mariah” station. 

In tandem with the holiday season, Jungle Island's enchanting festival of lights returns for a fourth year with a new production featuring more than 37 monumental, handcrafted silk lantern scenes created by a global team of artisans, graphic designers, seamstresses and more. This year, Luminosa takes visitors on a vibrant trail of themed vignettes representing different ecosystems, from the Amazon rainforest to African savannahs, complete with cutting-edge animatronics, holograms and interactive storytelling. The popular Holiday Village also makes a return this year (through January 4), featuring Christmas trees, holiday treats like churro donut holes and coquito, a seasonal bazaar and a 30-foot Christmas tree centerpiece. 

The NYC-imported Smorgasburg, Miami's largest outdoor food market, returns to its Wynwood outpost for a new season featuring over 40 vendors (including 10 new concepts) and more shaded areas for noshing. Graze from a variety of local street foods, international fare, healthy options and inventive creations from the likes of Acai Way, Korean Kitchen, Kabuki Soba, The Lazy Oyster, La Picaña Grill, Lechona Truck, Tio Paella, Puro Chocolate, Cool & Creamy Truck and more. Hours are noon to 8pm every Saturday and Sunday. Keep an eye out for special programming throughout the season, from the Ube + Philippines Festival to Art Basel parties and more.

A much-anticipated precursor to the holiday season in Miami, NightGarden returns in November for its seventh season at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, promising even more psychedelic scenery, family-friendly activities and interactive artwork than ever before. Running from November 7 through January 11, NightGarden invites guests to frolic around a neon-lit wonderland of tropical trails lined with holographic sculptures, secret sunken ponds and hidden fairy worlds. Expect several enticing new activations this year, including the Tree of Life, a monumental centerpiece with lights and projections activated by guest touch. You'll also find new immersive domes with themed photo backdrops, a Secret Garden Laser Light Show, movie nights and more.

Get your festive carnival fix at Tropical Park during Christmas Wonderland, a local holiday production that's grown into the largest of its kind in the U.S. Now in its third year, this 14-acre spectacle features six immersive holiday worlds, 50-plus rides, dazzling light shows and nightly entertainment like fireworks shows, acrobatic acts and even Santa as a human cannonball.

Of course, the grounds are lined with photo-worthy moments, starting with the Wonder Portal, an LED archway that leads into Tinsel Trail, a half-mile of synchronized lighting displays, installations and whimsical backdrops. At the heart of the midway, the IG’loo 360-Dome surrounds guests in a 3D-mapped immersive visual experience.

The midway is also where you'll find the fair's main food and drink offerings, including plenty of local food trucks and seasonal brews from Cervecería La Tropical.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a more festive bar year-round than JohnMartin's in Coral Gables. The Irish-style pub strikes just the right balance of cozy and contemporary with its penny tile mosaic flooring, black steel frame windows and moody lighting, ideal for sipping something dark and sudsy. For the holidays, JohnMartin's goes the extra mile, decking its halls with twinkling lights, festive décor and a lineup of boozy cocktails that channel the cheer of the season. The pop-up runs from November 14 through December 28, with DJs and other festive programming sprinkled in along the way.

Few brunches in Miami rise to the level of an "event," but the Sunday brunch at Novikov is assuredly one of them. After a brief sabbatical, this buzzing sunlit feast makes a return to its luxurious perch along the Downtown Miami waterfront, featuring two hours of unlimited grazing from an extensive Market Table spread. Choose from a raw bar, endless sushi and sashimi, a salad bar, dim sum and robata-grilled favorites, plus a decadent dessert bar and signature brunch cocktails. Premium add-ons take the party to another level, including a honey truffle king crab leg, wagyu ribeye and roasted peking duck. Of course, it wouldn't be one of Miami's hottest brunch propositions without a live DJ spinning beats that pair perfectly with Novikov's bayfront views and a glass (or two) of bubbles.

Winter Wonderland is back at The Ben Hotel, transforming the swanky West Palm Beach waterfront lawn into a glittering holiday playground with twinkling trees, Aspen-style chalets and, of course, a 50-by-66-foot rink made of the real stuff. Around the rink, expect plenty of festive distractions: chalet vendors slinging gifts and sweets; a holiday bar for hot chocolate, s’mores, grown-up toddies and the debut of a Holiday Tree Forest created in partnership with local nonprofits, including Habitat for Humanity and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. There will also be themed events like Live Music Saturdays and Santa Sundays, ornament-making workshops and an opening-day curling exhibition (yes, Palm Beach now has curling athletes and, no, the tropics do not care about your winter stereotypes). Skating runs daily from November 1 through January 4 from 10am to 9pm. Entry is free unless you’re lacing up, in which case tickets start at $25 for adults and $10 for kids 11 and under.

Art, sexuality and cultural taboos converge at the Museum of Sex with the debut of its latest exhibition, Hard Art: Unruly Selections from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. Explore decades of boundary-pushing works spanning the 1930s to today, pulled from the private collection of one of the world’s most dynamic collectors. From playful to profound and, at times, deemed too provocative for public display, the featured works include a wide range of media that challenges convention and invites conversation. Curated with the goal of amplifying underrepresented voices and celebrating uncensored expression, artists on view include Marco Brambilla, Jimmy DeSana, Bunny Yeager, John Kayser and others.

Elliot & Erick Jiménez: El Monte is the Cuban twin photography duo’s first solo museum exhibition, marking their leap from award-winning image makers for the likes of Prada, Tiffany’s, Bad Bunny and Selena Gomez to multi-disciplinary artists on an institutional stage. Inspired by the Afro-Caribbean spiritual tradition of Lucumí and Lydia Cabrera’s seminal text El Monte, the show centers on a womb-like, chapel-meets-forest installation alongside photographs and sculptural works that explore spirituality, ancestry and identity. 

Art meets science at "Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius," a sweeping exhibition presented by Frost Science and produced by Grande Experiences in collaboration with Rome's Museo Leonardo da Vinci. On view through April 5th, 2026, the show explores da Vinci's multidisciplinary legacy with interactive displays, rare artifacts and life-size replicas of his machines, alongside immersive projections of iconic works like The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. Explore 16 themed sections, from anatomy and flight to engineering and optics, plus hands-on installations like the Vitruvian Man interactive station and the Mona Lisa Revealed exhibit, featuring the world’s only exact 360-degree replica of the painting.

Miami's biggest night for improv comedy happens every Saturday at Villain Theater in the heart of Little Haiti. Enjoy original, spontaneous live performances from some of the fiercest improvisers across South Florida. Shout out a suggestion and become a part of the action as the theater's talented cast of actors spins hysterical yarns over the course of two Second City-style improv shows. Mingle and sip beers in the lobby lounge in between sets: A ticket grants you access to both the 8:30 and 10pm showtimes.

The Coconut Grove Farmers Market is probably Miami’s most well-known. Every Saturday, Homestead's Glaser Organic Farms transforms an unoccupied corner of Coconut Grove into a full-fledged produce market with dozens of fruit and vegetable stands, a raw bar featuring prepared foods and salads and coolers filled with cold-pressed juices and nut mylks. There’s even velvety vegan ice cream for sale and several rows of picnic tables where you can sit and enjoy your bounty. Along its periphery, you’ll find other local vendors selling honey, homemade soaps, handmade jewelry and other artisanal items. And the setup and breakdown are so fascinating to watch! Much like the circus leaving town, everyone quickly dismantles their tents and packs up just after sunset, leaving no trace of the bustling day on the empty gravel lot.