The best fall events in Miami, from spooky season staples to concerts, food festivals and more

From August through September, Miami’s top restaurants offer an irresistibly good deal that gets hungry locals sprinting from their houses to snag a table: three-course, prix-fixe menus at lunch and brunch ($30/$35) and dinner ($45/$60, depending on the menu). Your swimsuit body never stood a chance. Various locations

Charli XCX is the kind of artist that could only exist in today's increasingly fragmented world of streaming platforms, fluid genre classifications and poptimism. Listen to the buoyant club beats and catchy refrains of her latest album “Brat” and it's clear that this larger-than-life performer is a true pop star with the ability to fill arenas.

This bustling vintage market enters its 32nd season 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.

After the success of his Super Bowl halftime show, R&B smoothie Usher Raymond IV brings his loverman soul-pop show back to the masses for his Past Present Future world tour. Gird your loins for plenty of libidinous tracks from his hefty back catalog, which features hits such as "Yeah!," "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" and "Love In This Club."

The 40th-annual Miami Carnival culminates with a massive Parade of Bands and Concert taking over the Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo Grounds. Celebrating all the diverse flavors of the Caribbean, Sunday’s parade features food, crafts and the colorful display of costumes of over 30,000 masqueraders and revelers, plus a mega-concert showcasing the infectious Soca vibes of more than 20 international artists from Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua, Haiti, St. Lucia and South Africa.

Like seafood? If you’re in South Florida, you don’t have much of a choice. And even if your taste buds prefer to stay on land, South Beach Seafood festivities might convert you thanks to four days’ worth of showcases and showdowns highlighting dozens of Miami’s most sought-after seafood restaurants, such as Joe’s Stone Crab, RED South Beach and Pubbelly Sushi, to name a few announced so far. It all culminates with the massive, 12th-annual South Beach Seafood Festival’s main event on Saturday, October 26, featuring live music, 30-plus bars and nearly 60 menu items to try. Bring an appetite and possibly a bib.

The James Beard Foundation’s annual Taste America culinary tour stops in Miami this October for another epic night, this time at the acclaimed Maty's in Midtown. Hosted by 2024 James Beard Award winner Valerie Chang in collaboration with chef Tam Pham of Tâm Tâm, the pop-up seated dinner event ($150 per person) includes an original one-off menu plus wine and cocktail pairings. Though the menus are still T.B.A., guests can expect creative and refined takes on nostalgic Peruvian and Vietnamese food, drawing on each chef's cultural heritage.

Our beloved, homegrown indie music festival continues to outdo itself. Now on its eleventh run, the Miami-born music, art and tech festival will serve up oodles of trippy, immersive installations and tropical-goth fashion alongside a cutting-edge lineup of indie, electronic and hip-hop heroes. Justice, Toro y Moi, Rick Ross, Jungle, Yung Lean, Jamie XX and Bad Gyal feature on the initial lineup announcement for III Points 2024. Similar to last year, the late-night fest will still go down at its longtime home, Mana Wynwood. 

For a hearty dose of Southern charm right off the shores of Virginia Key, mosey over to the Country Bay Music Festival on November 9 and 10. Miami’s fresh country fest follows up its inaugural event with a 2024 lineup headlined by Zac Brown Band and Carrie Underwood, plus additional acts like Dustin Lynch, Chase Rice and Diplo presents Thomas Wesley. Fans can also partake in line dancing, mechanical bull-riding, juicy burgers and a Boots and Beer Garden, among other delights at the historic Miami Marine Stadium. There’s even an option to arrive by boat—the steed of choice for South Florida's waterborne cowboys and gals.

Art Basel Miami Beach is the tentpole event of what has become known as Miami Art Week, a yearly bacchanal of art fairs, gallery events, brand pop-ups and late-night afterparties where the art world's who's who, fashionable locals and what feels like the entire city of New York flock each first week of December. Art Basel itself focuses on modern and contemporary art, staging four major fairs in Hong Kong, Basel, Miami Beach and, most recently, Paris.

For the 2024 edition at the Miami Beach Convention Center, under the new leadership of director Bridget Finn, Art Basel is rounding up nearly 300 leading galleries from 34 countries and territories for top curators, museums, collectors and the art-loving public to ogle at their leisure. The fair has also tapped 31 first-time participants this year, marking its biggest cohort of newcomers since 2008.

The main event in 2024 comprises seven sectors within the sprawling convention center: Galleries (works from leading galleries), Meridians (large-scale projects), Nova (works created within the last three years), Positions (dedicated to emerging artists), Survey (highlighting practices of historical relevance), Kabinett (curated selections and thematic exhibitions) and Conversations (an area for live debates and discussions).

The Miami Book Fair celebrates its 41st edition this year. Expect the regular mix of riveting author presentations, mind-expanding conversations and even more innovative ways to honor the written word. The annual street festival is slated to take place from November 17 through 24 along the Miami-Dade College downtown campus. Literary luminaries like Billy Collins, Daniel Handler, Deborah Paredez and Patti Smith are already set to attend, along with local stars like Alex Segura, Dr. Paul George and Edwidge Danticat.

Picture a battalion of gourmet chefs cooking the top heritage beef, pork, lamb and all kinds of succulent meats over an open flame; sommeliers pairing fine wines with delectable dishes, and teams competing in a culinary showdown to see who will be crowned the Prince or Princess of Meat. This year, Edan Bistro, KYU Miami, La Mar, Luca Osteria and Tam Tam are among the contenders to throw their hats in the ring at the Heritage Fuego competition at the iconic Biltmore Hotel. From parillada stations and multiple Cajas Chinas to over-the-top dessert stations, all that and more is going down at this annual swine-eating extravaganza.

Back for a fourth year, Tinez Farms' Pinterest-perfect pumpkin patch provides the ideal fallscape for all your seasonal photos. Aside from the multi-sized and colored gourds and hay bales, there's an animal barnyard and petting zoo, a garden maze, Tinez yard games, climbing, swings, zip lines, a bounce house and a tubing slide to help get you into the autumnal spirit. You can also opt to add on a train, pony, donkey or horse ride to your experience, or even bottle feed a baby goat. While you're there, peruse the farm's new Home & Garden Market, where you'll find things like indoor and outdoor plants and pots, accessories and seasonal decor.

Fairchild Garden transforms into a prehistoric playground this summer. Explore the lush grounds where life-size dinosaurs hold court amid a collection of cycads, ferns, conifers and all sorts of flowering plants that date back to primitive times. Kiddos can get hands-on during the ancient artifact digs, egg hunts and more while learning all about what the world was like 65 million years ago. Be sure to check the Fairchild Garden website for up-to-date information on upcoming dino events.

Name a more wholesome way to spend a weekend morning this fall than picking through fresh produce, biting into home-baked goods and filling your tote bag with artisanal soaps, candles and accessories as the Florida sun warms your shoulders. On weekends, Miami farmers’ markets pop off all around town, from parks to parking lots, shopping malls and historic estates.

These markets not only offer high-quality ingredients at competitive prices but also provide a great opportunity to support your local community. Carve out a gorgeous morning, pack a picnic blanket and bring the family, friends and fur babies. Click through for the best farmers markets in Miami right now, from year-round staples to seasonal pop-ups.

When you live in the tropics, getting into the seasonal spirit can be a challenge. Sure, there are spiced lattes and wild Miami Halloween parties to look forward to each autumn, but what about those wholesome moments we've learned to covet from the movies? Just like everyone else, we look forward to fall events in Miami and love a good hayride or corn maze. We just do things a little differently here.

So let's skip the boots and scarves and rally the little ones (after all, visiting a field filled with gourds is one of the best things to do in Miami with kids this time of year): It’s pumpkin patch season, ya’ll! Here’s where to go to find them, and check back often as we add more to the list.

Miami might be glamorous on the surface, but beneath its toned and suntanned facade, this city hides a sordid history. Before the drug-fueled crime spree of the ‘80s there was the mob-backed mayhem of the 1920s and, before that, decades of backwater blues as white settlers and Black migrant laborers forged a city from the swampland.

Instead of colonial-era taverns and Victorian mansions, Miami has historic graveyards, spirit-infested villas and deserted ghost towns for exploring. Whether you're seeking a spooky daytime activity before heading out to one of the terrifying haunted houses in Miami or you’re hankering for a unique day trip from Miami any time of the year, we've dug up some of the most haunted spots around Miami just for the occasion.

For a taste of the old Homestead, with its abundant fruit orchards and crop fields, visit the family-run Knaus Berry Farm. You can still pick your own strawberries and tomatoes here, but most people come for the quaint bakery. From November through April, Knaus Berry Farm is the place to score homemade (and hugely addictive) cinnamon rolls, pineapple upside-down cake and fruit milkshakes.