The best things to do in Miami this week

Bayskate is back, taking over the Historic Pan Am Hangar at Regatta Harbour in Coconut Grove for six weeks of roller skating, live DJs, cocktails, and outdoor lounges. You'll be gliding and grapevining around a 20,000-square-foot rink, with a gargantuan disco ball lighting up a place where some of America's first international flights began. This is, of course, a Miami-fied skating experience, with a cocktail program by Bayshore Club, with a rotating nighly soundtrack taht includes Latin tropibass, disco and, of course, Miami bass. The rink is open Thursdays through Sundays through June 14th, with daytime family sessions on weekends at lower admission prices. Groups can book rinkside table reservations, and season passes are available for unlimited access through the run. Skate rentals are available onsite, though you can bring your own Moxis or Impalas for extra style.

If you grew up in a Cuban household in Miami, Álvarez Guedes was probably playing in the background. The comedian who became the Godfather of Latin Comedy through 30-plus albums of distinctly Cuban storytelling is getting the immersive treatment this spring. Debuting April 30 inside a custom-built venue at Tropical Park, Muerto de Risa is a three-hour cabaret-style production that moves guests through themed spaces — El Bar, El Cabaret, El Patio — as stand-up, live music and theatrical storytelling unfold around them. Less traditional theater, more like stepping into a night out at a classic Havana club. Learn more here. 

The Balloon Museum's globe-trotting "Pop Air" exhibition has landed at Mana Wynwood, turning one of the neighborhood's most cavernous spaces into an entire immersive environment dedicated to inflatable art. The show has already toured Rome, Paris, New York, and LA, and the Wynwood footprint gives these installations more room than they've had anywhere. You're meant to wander, touch, and interact—through a geometric inflatable labyrinth, a suspended sphere installation that responds to movement, a room where balloons swirl in controlled tornadoes, and a massive LED-lit butterfly you can power yourself by pedaling. The standout is Hyperstudio's luminous projection-filled ecosystem of swings and shooting stars. Budget more time than you think you'll need; you'll want to stop and appreciate the scale of everything after filling your camera roll with selfies. 

Memorial Day weekend calls for something the whole family can do together, and there are few better ways to spend it than watching the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds tear across the South Beach sky. The Hyundai Air & Sea Show brings two days of military aircraft performances, high-speed water demonstrations, and five city blocks of interactive displays along Ocean Drive. This year carries extra resonance: the show is part of America's 250th birthday celebration, and Miami Beach has its own chapter in that story. During WWII, more than 300 hotels along these same streets were converted into barracks and training facilities for nearly half a million U.S. Army Air Forces troops, who who drilled on the golf courses, swam in the hotel pools, and trained on the very beach this event is taking place on.  The action spreads across the whole stretch of Lummus Park, but you don't need a designated viewing area to catch it; the aircraft are visible from anywhere along the beach, particularly between 1st and 10th streets and 13th to 20th streets. The heart of the action is between 10th and 13th streets, where you can spot them taking off, then wander the Patriot Display Village for tanks, helicopters, rifle ranges, flight simulators, and live demonstrations from all six branches of the military. There's a kids zone, extreme sports demos, and a food court if you need to refuel. On Saturday evening, the party continues with SaluteFest on Ocean Drive: country group Parmalee performs live,...

Stamped, the bimonthly party where Cameroon-born DJ Leslie "Aya" Ayafor features sounds from the African continent—and nothing else—returns to Higher Ground at Arlo Wynwood for a special Memorial Day weekend edition. Amapiano, Afrobeats, and the full breadth of what Ayafor calls "sounds from the continent" fill the open-air courtyard from 5 to 11pm, with the Wynwood skyline as a backdrop. Tickets are free; prices go up at the door.

Every Wednesday night, Wynwood's PASTA opens its kitchen for a hands-on pasta-making class led by head chef Luis Jose. The restaurant — brought to life by acclaimed Peruvian chefs Juan Manuel Umbert and Janice Buraschi — blends traditional Italian technique with Peruvian influence, and the class reflects exactly that: you'll mix, knead and shape your own pasta before sitting down to eat what you made. A welcome cocktail, appetizer and dessert round out the evening.

Two simultaneous exhibitions at the Lowe Art Museum on the University of Miami campus make up the most comprehensive presentation of Afro-Cuban art ever mounted. El Pasado Mio/My Own Past, organized by Harvard's Afro-Latin American Research Institute and expanded for its Miami run, brings together more than 81 works by 44 Cuban artists of African descent spanning two centuries, including nine paintings by Wifredo Lam and works by eleven female artists being exhibited together for the first time. The show restores artists who were deliberately erased from the Cuban art historical record, placing obscured figures like Pastor Argudin, Maria Ariza, and Tony Ximenez alongside better-known names like Agustin Cardenas and Maria Magdalena Campos Pons. The companion exhibition, Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection, traces the cultural movement that emerged in the 1930s, when a generation of Cuban artists began centering the country's African roots at a moment when most of Cuban society had actively suppressed them. The tension in that moment is part of what makes the show complex: some of these artists are seen as co-opting a history that wasn't theirs; others as genuinely trying to re-imagine Cuba through its African roots and Afro-religious forms. On view through September 12. General admission is free.

Miami Vintage Market brings its monthly flea to El Jardin Inn's courtyard in Little Havana on Friday, May 29, with local vendors selling vintage clothing, accessories, and one-off finds in one of the neighborhood's most charming new settings. El Jardin is a boutique hotel on SW 7th Street that's been quietly building a reputation as a neighborhood cultural hub, with murals, an artist residency, and a matcha bar tucked into a lush tropical courtyard. The market runs afternoon into evening — a good excuse to spend time in Little Havana before dinner on Calle Ocho.

Gilded and crimson-draped Faena Theater is the ideal venue to experience OBSESSION, a new original production presented by Faena Live in collaboration with the Quixotic performance art collective. Nestled in Mid-Beach, the cabaret-style show blends live vocals, choreography and cinematic storytelling to take guests on a seductive 1.5-hour journey complete with lasers, projected visuals and plenty of theatrical haze. Helmed by emcee Sophia Bollman—whose credits include a stint on NBC's The Voice as part of Team Miley Cyrus and backup singing in Beyoncé's iconic Coachella performances—Faena Theater's 2026 headlining production also features the energetic stylings of Principal Violin and Musical Lead Kostia Lucky. Tickets start at $100 per person and include show admission only (food and beverages sold separately). Guests must be 18 or older, with a valid ID required upon arrival.

Leave it to Miami to turn fashion shows into a four-day lifestyle event. Paraiso Miami Swim Week, now in its 22nd edition, is the swimwear industry's most influential annual gathering, and South Beach is its natural home. The runway shows themselves are largely invite-only, but the energy spills out across the whole stretch of Miami Beach through parties, wellness activations, pop-ups, and the kind of street-level fashion watching that only happens during Swim Week. Past participants read like a who's who of the category: Agua Bendita, Oséree, Sinesia Karol, plus local labels like Sigal and Luli Fama.For civilians, the most accessible way in is PARAISO RISE, a ticketed VIP runway experience set over the Surfcomber pool on Friday and Saturday nights, with VIP seating, cocktails, and a waterfront view of the looks coming down the runway. Tickets are $375. A main tent pass is also available for broader access to the week's programming. The week will also see a host of satellite events and pop-ups, so keep an eye out for those.