Crandon Park, Key Biscayne

Overview

Crandon Park occupies the northern half of Key Biscayne, a barrier island reached from Miami across the Rickenbacker Causeway. It is a Miami-Dade County park with two miles of beach, backed by palms from the coconut plantation that covered the land before the Matheson family donated it to the county in 1940; the park opened in 1947.

It is a different proposition from the Miami Beach strip across the water. There are no towers on the sand, no clubs and no promenade: this is a park, with picnic areas, a nature centre, tennis courts and long stretches of quiet beach.

The water is unusually calm for an Atlantic-facing beach in Miami-Dade, because a sandbar lies offshore and takes the swell, although the county notes that the sandbar shifts with seasonal storms and currents. That is what makes it a family beach.

Our current condition score for this beach is .

Photo summary of last month

Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt

Off Miami-Dade the Florida Current, which becomes the Gulf Stream, runs offshore, so sargassum arrives indirectly, pushed inshore by the wind.

The calm water behind the sandbar has little wave energy, so sargassum that does reach the shore can take longer to clear than on a beach with surf.

The sargassum season

Arrivals on this coast depend on the wind, so the dated record is worth checking close to a visit.

The Florida picture in full, including how the season has changed, is set out in our Florida sargassum season guide.

Swimming conditions and safety

This is among the calmest ocean swimming in Miami-Dade: shallow, gently shelving and largely free of surf thanks to the sandbar, which is why families choose it over South Beach. Lifeguards staff 13 elevated towers along the busiest part of the beach, and swimming is only permitted when they are on duty.

The bottom is sand with seagrass in places, so footwear is worth having. Boat traffic works the channels either side of the key, and the causeway waters are busy.

On sargassum: fresh weed in the water is harmless, if unpleasant. The smell comes from material decomposing on hot sand over a day or more and releasing hydrogen sulphide, so a strong odour indicates old weed rather than a new arrival. Weed on the sand can hide small stinging organisms, which is the practical reason to walk around a fresh line rather than through it.

Choosing a hotel on this stretch

Key Biscayne has a small number of resorts and rentals in the village south of the park, and the island is quiet and expensive. Most visitors to Crandon come for the day from Miami or Miami Beach.

The trade against staying on Miami Beach is calm over lively: Key Biscayne is a residential island with a couple of good restaurants and very little nightlife, and the Rickenbacker Causeway is the only way on and off.

Anyone comparing beaches in Miami-Dade should check them on the live map on the same day, since a sheltered beach like this and an open one like South Beach can look quite different.

Access and parking coordinates

Without a car, Miami-Dade bus route 102 runs from Brickell across the causeway to Key Biscayne..

Check live conditions before you go

The sandbar offshore keeps this beach calm and also slows what leaves it, so it can read differently from the open Miami-Dade strands on the same morning. On the live map we track Crandon Park with dated photographs and a current condition score, so you can compare it against South Beach, Haulover and Sunny Isles before deciding where to go.