This 750-acre complex is quite a distance from Miami proper and the beaches—about 45 minutes—but worth the trip. Isolated and never really crowded, it’s also completely cageless: the over 2500 animals are kept at bay by cleverly designed moats. This is a fantastic spot to take younger kids; there are wonderful play areas, and safari cycles for rent, and the zoo offers several daily programs designed to educate and entertain. Mufasa and Simba of Disney fame were modeled on a couple of Zoo Miami’s lions. Other residents include blue poison dart frogs, a bald eagle, a sloth bear, an Orinoco crocodile, chimpanzees, Komodo dragons, koalas, kangaroos, and meerkats. Cool activities include the Samburu Giraffe Feeding Station, where, for $5, you get to feed the giraffes veggies; the Rhino Encounter, where you can touch, brush, and feed a rhino for $35; and a black bear encounter for $25 per person. Amazon & Beyond features jaguars, anacondas, giant river otters, harpy eagles, a stingray touch tank, an interactive water-play area, the Flooded Forest building with a unique display of a forest before and during flood times, and an indoor Cloud Forest that houses reptiles. At 27 acres and a cost of $50 million, this exhibit is massive and made Zoo Miami the third zoo in the country to have giant river otters when it opened. Note: The distance between animal habitats can be great, so you’ll do a lot of walking here. A $99.95 per person VIP tour includes a 2-hour golf cart tour of the zoo, which is actually worth the splurge because you get a private guide and food voucher. Also, because the zoo can be miserably hot during summer months, plan your visit in the early morning or late afternoon. Expect to spend all day here if you want to see it all.