Skip to content
Search
Menu
WeatherMapNewsGuides

We earn a commission if you book through this link. You pay the same price.

A pair of scarlet macaws perched on a branch against dense green tropical foliage
Humberto Moreno

Entertainment

Jungle Island

Last updated

The old Parrot Jungle, relocated to a man-made island in the middle of the MacArthur Causeway and still reinventing itself.

Photo: Humberto MorenoCC BY 2.0

Jungle Island has the longest continuous history of any attraction in Miami and it has spent the last twenty years trying to decide what it is. It opened in 1936 in South Miami as Parrot Jungle, built by a Norwegian-born feed-store owner called Franz Scherr on the then-radical premise that birds should fly free rather than sit in cages. It cost a quarter to get in. Its flamingos became one of the most reproduced images of the city, including in the opening titles of Miami Vice.

In 2003 the whole operation moved to Watson Island, the man-made spoil island in the middle of the MacArthur Causeway between downtown and South Beach, and became Parrot Jungle Island and then simply Jungle Island. The original South Miami site is now Pinecrest Gardens, a public park where you can still see the old coral-rock landscaping.

What it is today: 18 acres of dense tropical planting with animal habitats, scheduled shows, hands-on encounters that are booked separately, a zipline and ropes course, and a beach-and-splash area. The collection leans birds, primates, big cats and reptiles. It is a half day rather than a day.

Now the honest part. Jungle Island has been in a state of announced redevelopment for years, ownership and plans have changed more than once, and the park you visit is smaller and more variable than its marketing implies. Some attractions run daily, others only at weekends or by booking, and what is open can differ from what the website shows. Check what is actually operating on the day you plan to go, and book encounters in advance if they are your reason for coming.

Its real advantage is location. It is five minutes from both downtown and South Beach, on a causeway you are probably crossing anyway, next to the Miami Children's Museum and the seaplane base.

Getting there and parking

Watson Island sits in the middle of the MacArthur Causeway (I-395 / A1A) between downtown Miami and South Beach. Coming from downtown, take the causeway east and exit at the signed turn for Jungle Island and the Miami Children's Museum; coming from South Beach, take it west and do the same. Five to ten minutes from either end outside rush hour.

Parking is on the island, charged, and shared with the Children's Museum and the marina. On a busy weekend it fills.

Without a car: Miami-Dade bus route 120 (the Beach MAX) and other causeway routes stop on Watson Island. Rideshare is straightforward. There is no Metromover or Metrorail station on the island, and walking across the causeway from either side is long, hot and unpleasant — do not plan on it.

Cruise passengers at PortMiami are a very short ride away, which is why the park works as a turnaround-day filler.

What is actually there

  • Animal habitats and walk-throughs. Macaws, cockatoos, flamingos, lemurs, tortoises, reptiles, a big-cat area. The planting is genuinely mature — this is the densest tropical canopy you will walk under inside the city — and it does a lot of work in making 18 acres feel bigger.
  • Shows. Scheduled bird and animal presentations through the day, of the parrot-on-a-bicycle lineage the place invented. Times are posted at the entrance.
  • Animal encounters. Separately ticketed, limited numbers, and the main reason people rate the visit highly: hands-on sessions with sloths, lemurs, kangaroos, birds and occasionally big cats behind glass. Book ahead. These are what justify the entry price for many visitors, and they sell out.
  • Ropes course, zipline and aerial adventure, charged separately, with height and weight limits.
  • Splash area and a small artificial beach on the bay side, which with small children is where the last hour goes.
  • Food and drink on site, thin and priced as a captive audience.

What there is not: a large modern zoo. If you want scale, range and conservation programming, Zoo Miami is the answer and it is a different kind of day.

Who should go, and who should skip it

Go if you have children aged roughly three to ten and half a day between downtown and the beach; if a hands-on animal encounter is something your family would remember; if you are on a cruise turnaround day with a few hours to fill near the port; or if the weather has ruined a beach plan and you want something outdoors but manageable.

Skip it if you are travelling without children and expecting a serious zoological collection; if you have already committed a day to Zoo Miami, which is twenty times the size; if your budget is tight, because the entry price plus encounters plus parking plus food adds up fast for what is a half day; or if you would rather spend the same money and time on a boat.

The comparison that matters. Zoo Miami is 750 acres, 40 minutes south, and a full day. Jungle Island is 18 acres, five minutes from South Beach, and three hours. They are not competing for the same afternoon, and the wrong choice is usually driving an hour to Zoo Miami with a three-year-old or paying Jungle Island prices expecting Zoo Miami scale.

Miami Seaquarium, on Virginia Key, has been the subject of sustained welfare controversy and lease disputes; anyone weighing up captive-animal attractions in Miami should look into its current status before booking.

Watson Island, and what else is on it

Watson Island is not a natural island. It was created in the 1920s from material dredged out of Government Cut and the bay, and it sits in the middle of the MacArthur Causeway with downtown to the west and South Beach to the east.

For a visitor it is a useful stop because several things share it:

  • Miami Children's Museum, directly opposite Jungle Island and an easy pairing for under-eights, particularly on a wet afternoon.
  • The Miami Seaplane Base, where small aircraft take off from the water — worth a look from the causeway even if you are not flying.
  • Helicopter and seaplane tour operators, several of which stage from here.
  • A marina and superyacht basin on the north side, which is its own kind of Miami spectacle.

The island also has the best close view of the cruise terminals at PortMiami across the channel, and on a Saturday afternoon in season you can watch four or five ships leave in sequence.

Getting there: driving is easy but parking on the island is charged and can be tight when several attractions are busy. There is no Metromover station; the causeway is served by bus and by rideshare, and walking from either end is a long, exposed haul that nobody should attempt in summer.

Tours that visit Jungle Island

Operators run these trips past Jungle Island, or stop there as part of a longer route. We list what the booking data supports — not everything that mentions the name.

Some links below go to Viator, our booking partner. We earn a commission on bookings made through them — at no extra cost to you, and with no influence on what we recommend.

Private and small-group departurespriced per boat or per vehicle, not per person

Near Jungle Island

Straight-line distances, so allow more on the road — the island is long and has one main parkway.

Every attraction
  • A dense cluster of downtown towers seen across water at the end of the day
    Free

    Neighbourhood

    Downtown Miami

    The original Miami: a railway terminus that became a city in 1896, now a downtown of towers, museums and a free elevated railway.

    3–8 hoursFree to walk, and the Metromover that connects it costs nothing. Museums, the Freedom Tower galleries, bay cruises and events are ticketed separately.1.6 mi away

  • A large cruise ship passing close to a shoreline park along a narrow shipping channel
    Free

    Park

    South Pointe Park

    The southern full stop of Miami Beach, where a shipping channel runs so close that cruise ships pass within a stone's throw.

    1–3 hoursFree. The park, the pier, the splash pad and the beach access cost nothing. Parking does not.2.7 mi away

  • Boats moored at a downtown marina with a city skyline of towers rising behind
    Free

    Shopping

    Bayside Marketplace

    Downtown Miami's bayfront mall, best understood as the dock most Biscayne Bay cruises leave from rather than as somewhere to shop.

    1–3 hoursFree to enter and to walk the waterfront. Boat trips, the Skyviews observation wheel and Bayfront Park concerts are each ticketed separately.1.1 mi away

  • A narrow urban river running between city towers with a drawbridge crossing it
    Free

    Trail

    Miami Riverwalk

    The short, busy, unglamorous river Miami was built on — freighters, drawbridges and a 2,000-year-old circle cut into the bedrock.

    1–2.5 hoursFree. The Riverwalk and the Miami Circle site are both public and open to the street.1.6 mi away

Jungle Island: common questions

Is Jungle Island the same as Parrot Jungle?

Yes, under a different name and in a different place. Parrot Jungle opened in South Miami in 1936, built around the idea that birds should fly free rather than be caged, and its flamingos became one of the city's most reproduced images. The park moved to Watson Island in 2003 and was later renamed Jungle Island. The original South Miami site survives as Pinecrest Gardens, a public park with the old coral-rock landscaping still in place.

Is Jungle Island worth it?

It depends who you are. With children aged roughly three to ten, and with an animal encounter booked in advance, it is a good half day in a convenient location between downtown and South Beach. Without children, or expecting a full-scale zoo, it will disappoint — it is 18 acres and the entry price plus encounters plus parking adds up. Zoo Miami is twenty times the size and a completely different kind of day.

How long do you need at Jungle Island?

Two and a half to four hours covers it comfortably, including a couple of shows and time in the splash area. It is not a full-day attraction. If you have booked an animal encounter, build the visit around its start time, since those are the fixed points in the day and the rest of the park can be seen around them.

Where is Jungle Island in Miami?

On Watson Island, the man-made island in the middle of the MacArthur Causeway between downtown Miami and South Beach — about five to ten minutes from either. It shares the island with the Miami Children's Museum, a seaplane base, helicopter tour operators and a marina, and it looks straight across the channel at the PortMiami cruise terminals. Parking is on site and charged separately.