Miami is one of the most popular destinations in the USA, and it is easy to see why. With beautiful beaches, warm weather and year round sun, amazing parties and lots of amazing places to visit, Miami really is somewhere you need to visit.
I’ve put together this guide with some useful advice including how to visit Miami on the cheap, and guides to the two most popular areas – Miami Beach and South Beach.
Getting to Miami
Miami is connected to mutltiple airports in the US and around the world and flights here are affordable all year round. Expect to pay most during summer and around the Christmas holidays. Find the best deals on Skyscanner.
If you are keen to explore more of the USA you really need to add Miami to your itinerary. View my NYC to Florida road trip idea for an ultimate way to travel the east coast independently. There are also bus services connecting Miami to other cities in Florida/the US, but although prices are cheap, journeys can be long and tiring.
Getting from Miami Airport to Downtown/South Beach
Miami airport is located 14 km northwest of the city. There is a metrobus that connects passengers to the tri-rail commuter train system, or the local bus system can help you to reach most popular destinations and perfect if you are on a small budget.
Taxis are available to get outside Miami airport and cost $35 per ride (flat fare MIA to South Beach) or if you are arriving into Ft. Lauderdale Airport the cost to South Beach is around $85 per journey. Pre-booking taxi’s online can be a hassle free way to arrive.
Miami Tours
If you want to see as much as possible and learn about the places you visit you really need to consider group tours. Find the best sightseeing tours & attraction tickets on GetYourGuide or Viator.
Miami Budget Travel Tips
Known for bling and Beyoncé sightings, Miami isn’t usually celebrated for its affordability. So how do you have a financially-feasible getaway in this city filled with glitz and glamour? Enjoy it like a local.
According to the Miami Downtown Development Authority, it’s one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the United States, boasting an 85 percent occupancy rate. Clearly, even with the current economy, frugal strategies exist to experience this star-studded city on the water that many consider out of vacation reach.
Here are several you can use to enjoy your Miami getaway without going off budget.
Free Leisure Activities
The Miami Beach Botanical Garden provides a free tropical oasis in the heart of South Beach totaling more than four acres. More of an art fan? The Miami Art Museum offers free admission on the second Saturday of each month. Exercise enthusiasts on the other hand, will want to visit Bayfront Park, which hosts free outdoor yoga classes on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m., and Saturdays at 9 a.m.
Dining
Bayfront Park is a popular hangout for numerous food trucks selling frugal lunch fare. Visitors looking for affordable mid-day food can enjoy cart food by the bay, or take a short stroll up Flagler Street to the Paul S. Walker Pocket Park, one of several small green spaces in the city suitable for a money-saving sightseer’s picnic.
Tobacco Road, Miami’s oldest bar, offers $5 lunch specials on Monday through Wednesday which include hot, hearty sandwiches, hand-cut fries and a soda. The establishment is also known for its live music, and one of the best Friday-night happy hours around, featuring 99-cent drinks for 99 minutes starting at 6 p.m.
For restaurants in popular touristy areas like South Beach, always check the prices before ordering as prices can be sky high. Also remember tipping is extra.
Transport and Getting Around
As any local can tell you, parking in Miami isn’t usually cheap so hiring a car can be expensive. That makes the Metromover, downtown Miami’s above-ground rail system a popular choice for visitors and locals alike. The Metromover is free for anyone to ride, and stops at all major downtown destinations. Boarding times are convenient, with cars arriving every ninety seconds during rush hours, and every three minutes during off-peak times.
Accommodation
There are so many hotels and Airbnb options, you can find a number of overnight accommodation options for two in Miami Beach offered at less than $100 each depending on the time of the year. For Beyoncé spotters on more of a backpacking budget, South Beach Hostel provides dorm-style sleeping with complimentary breakfast and free Wi-Fi for less than $30 per night. If money isn’t an issue, you can find some really luxurious places to stay.
Miami Beach Tourism Guide
When you visit Miami Beach, the beach is just the beginning.
Here you’ll find fabulous places to shop for unique things you’ll only find in this area, enjoy a delicious meal while people watching at a sidewalk café, hear great music or dance the night away at one of their internationally renowned night clubs.
So you can relax at the beach, if you choose, or take advantage of all the many other wonderful things there are to do in Miami Beach.
Top Things to Do in Miami Beach
Lincoln Road Mall
Carl Fisher, the original developer of Miami Beach, envisioned Lincoln Road to be Miami Beach’s version of Fifth Avenue in New York, or Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, so not surprisingly; it’s one of the most popular destinations for visitors to Miami Beach.
Lincoln Road runs east and west between 16th Street and 17th Street and is considered South Beach’s premiere shopping area. To accommodate shoppers, they even closed it to automobile traffic between Washington Avenue and Lenox Avenue.
This open-air pedestrian mall is lined with boutiques, shops, retail outlets, sidewalk cafes and bars. The boutiques there are unique, they offer items not typically found in malls.
Blue & Green Diamond Condos
The restaurants and cafés there are world class with many of their chefs being trained in Europe; most offer either indoor or outdoor seating, and their bars are always full.
There’s a cultural center and a state-of-the-art multiplex cinema, concert hall for the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Art Center South Florida, many art galleries and the Colony Theater performing arts center.
It’s also a great place to people watch, there’s a constant flow of tourists and locals wearing everything from the latest fashions to beachwear.
Visit South Beach’s Art Deco District
As its name suggests, South Beach is the section of Miami Beach that defines the lower part of the peninsula. With hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants and oceanfront hotels, today’s South Beach is considered to be one of the most popular hotspots in the U.S.
Visitors immediately taste its international flavor as sidewalks echo not only English, but also Spanish and German languages. As it becomes a favorite European tourist destination, South Beach has become tolerant of the European custom of topless sunbathing, particularly at Lummus Beach. Despite the occasional topless sunbather, most of South Beach’s sand is open to the public.
Espanola Way, Historic District
Espanola Way, which crosses both Collins Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, is also known as “The Historic Spanish Village,” and was built in 1925 and modeled after the romantic Mediterranean villages of France and Spain.
As you walk down the street you’ll see art galleries, quirky shops and authentic restaurants.
Outdoor cafes with genuine fare like the French café, A La Folie, the Italian Hosteria Romana the Mexican, Oh! Mexico and the Spanish Tapas & Tintos add delicious food to the international flare of Espanola Way.
Miami Beach
One building rich in history is the Clay Hotel. It was built in 1925 as a haven for artists and bohemians, Al Capone used to come here and gamble and in the 80’s it was the site of the first and last episodes of Miami Vice.
On the weekends you’ll find a farmer’s market and outdoor shopping bazaar with vendors selling flowers; handmade semi-precious stone jewelry, sunglasses and clothing. The sights and sounds of this marketplace add to the foreign feel of the street.
Miami Beach’s Espanola Way is a slice of history served with a touch of culture.
Port of Miami
The Port of Miami is one of America’s busiest ports; it has the dual distinction of being the Cruise Capital of the World and the Cargo Gateway of the Americas. The Florida cruise port contributes over $17 billion annually to the South Florida economy and has an annual cargo tonnage of 7.5 million and nearly 4 million in passenger traffic a year.
The port currently has eight passenger terminals, six gantry cranes wharves, seven Ro-Ro (Roll-on-Roll-off) docks, four refrigerated yards for containers, break bulk cargo warehouses and nine gantry container handling cranes in short everything it needs to handle all the people and cargo that move through on a daily basis.
Miami has two world-class cruise facilities; that are among the most modern in the world. They feature a VIP lounge, a high-tech security screening facility for embarkation, airline counters and an airport-style conveyor baggage system, they each feature a convenient one-stop federal multi-agency facility for passenger processing.
Star Island – Hibiscus and Palm Islands
Star, Hibiscus and Palm Islands are all man made islands in the middle of Biscayne Bay within the City of Miami Beach all accessible via the MacArthur Causeway.
Star Island is just east of Palm Island and Hibiscus Island. Many people think Star Island is private, is it’s not. There are 35 home sites on the island some owned by famous people like Don Johnson, Gloria Estefan, Shaquille O’Neal, Enrique Iglesias, Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna, and P.Diddy. In the 1979 trial of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church it was said that they based a marijuana smuggling ring out of a home on Star Island.
Hibiscus Island lies just north of Palm Island and it is an exclusive neighborhood. Palm Island is lies just south of Hibiscus Island and is an exclusive neighborhood with multi-million dollar homes. It was the site of the Famous Latin Quarter Nightclub owned by Lou Walters, Barbara Walters’s father; it hosted many big-named entertainers of the era. Palm Island also became the winter home of Al Capone who died there on January 25, 1947.
Venetian Causeway
The Venetian Causeway crosses Biscayne Bay connecting Miami to Miami Beach. It follows the same route of the old Collins Bridge which was a 2.5 mi wooden bridge built in 1913 and opened up the island for development.
In its day the Collins Bridge was the only direct route over land between Miami and Miami Beach. Then in 1925 the 2.8 mile long Venetian Causeway opened. It is a toll road with its one toll plaza is on Biscayne Island, the westernmost Venetian Island.
The Venetian Islands are a chain of seven artificial islands in Biscayne Bay. The most well known of these islands may be Flagler Monument Island which is an uninhabited picnic island that was built in 1920 as a memorial to railroad pioneer Henry Flagler, a man who is responsible for developing much of Florida.
The Venetian Causeway has two bascule bridges. Bascule bridges are sometimes referred to as a drawbridge and are moveable bridges with counterweights that continuously balance the span, or “leaf,” throughout the entire upward swing as they open for boat traffic. They undo quickly and need very little energy to operate.
In 1999 the Venetian Causeway was re-dedicated after a $29 million restoration and replacement project was complete. The causeway is a popular place for joggers, bicyclers, walkers and others wishing to get a little exercise.
Between Miami Beach and Fisher Island, you’ll find Government Cut Inlet, a manmade shipping channel dredged to give boaters better access to the Port of Miami. Before the cut was done a, a single peninsula of dry land connected what is now Miami Beach and what is now Fisher Island, forcing boats headed for the port to pass south around Cape Florida.
In 1903 dredging on the pass began, authorized by the U.S. government, thus the name. The cut provides a direct route from the Atlantic Ocean to the seaport on Biscayne Bay.
Some of the fill from the dredging was used to help create Fisher Island. Later dredging to widen and deepen the cut added land area to the Port of Miami and created the foundation for the MacArthur Causeway, a six-lane causeway that connects downtown Miami and Miami Beach over Biscayne Bay.
Miami Convention Center
The Miami Beach Convention Center is an indoor arena in Miami Beach and is currently the largest convention center in the Miami area; it has four large rooms that can each accommodate about 12,000 people.
The Convention Center was built in 1957 and originally called the Miami Beach Exhibition Hall; it was built to seat 15,000 people. Then in 1989 it underwent a $92 million renovation that doubled its size. The renovations included all the restrooms being completely redone and the installation of a state-of-the-art telecommunications and networking infrastructure.
The Convention Center has been the venue for several exciting events throughout the years including the Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali) versus Sonny Liston boxing match in 1964 and it’s hosted both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, once in the same year.
Currently the Miami Convention Center hosts an annual flea market which is touted as the “World’s Largest” Indoor Flea Market, an annual South Florida Auto Show, Art Basel, and wildly popular Miami International Boat Show, which is always a huge draw.
Surrounding Cities
Surfside
Just north of Miami Beach you’ll find the town of Surfside. It’s a relatively small town with almost 5,000 people.
Founded in 1935, Surfside is a beautiful oceanfront community that combines the old and new. The neighborhoods are quiet, peaceful and relaxed but it also has condominiums and hotels along the oceanfront on A1A. They aren’t allowed to exceed 12 stories in height thus helping preserve the natural beauty of the area.
In 1962, Surfside built a beautiful, multi-purpose Community Center that open is 7 days a week and a variety of many activities day and night. Surfside also has a great traditional “home town” shopping district. It also has a few parks, tennis courts and plenty of beaches to enjoy.
Bal Harbour
Head north from Surfside and you’ll be in Bal Harbour, this little village covers less that a square mile and has a population of just over 3,000 people.
Bal Harbour was developed from partially swampy land that stretched from the bay to the Atlantic. During World War II part of the land was used by the Air Corps for training and as a prisoner of war camp. The Bal Harbour Shops are where the prisoner of war camp used to be and the barracks were converted into apartment homes.
The Village of Bal Harbour was incorporated in August of 1946, swampland was filled, sea walls were built and the yacht basin was created. Today they are a community of beachfront and residential areas, shops, restaurants and beaches.
South Beach Tourism Guide
World famous South Beach – called SoBe by locals – is known for its spectacular nightlife, fine dining, Art Deco area, trend-setting design influence, annual hosting of MTV award shows and of course – its beautiful coast with one of the best beaches in Florida.
As its name suggests, South Beach is the section of Miami Beach that defines the lower part of the peninsula. With hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants and oceanfront hotels, today’s South Beach is considered to be one of the most popular hotspots in the U.S.
Visitors immediately taste its international flavor as sidewalks echo not only English, but also Spanish and German languages. As it becomes a favorite European tourist destination, South Beach has become tolerant of the European custom of topless sunbathing, particularly at Lummus Beach. Despite the occasional topless sunbather, most of South Beach’s beaches are open to the public.
History of South Beach
Henry and Charles Lum bought South Beach in 1870 to start a coconut farm; they built the first house here in 1886. In 1894 the Lum brothers left the area and control of their plantation to John Collins. Collins, along with Carl G. Fisher and the Lummus Brothers, started developing the area in the 1910’s.
Their vision was an oceanfront city of modest single family homes. On March 26, 1915 the three partners incorporated the town of Miami Beach. Three years later the MacArthur Causeway was completed, making Miami Beach even more assessable from the mainland.
In 1920 South Beach’s main streets, 5th Street, Alton Road, Collins Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Ocean Drive were all ready for automobile traffic. Thus began the Miami Beach Land boom. Interest in Miami Beach soared, with Harvey Firestone and J.C. Penney choosing to call Miami Beach home, and President Warren G. Harding frequenting the Flamingo Hotel.
The hurricane of 1926 destroyed much of the area but it didn’t take long for rebuilding to start. The distinctive architecture chosen in the 1930’s would give South Beach its signature: Art Deco. By 1940, South Beach’s population had grown to 28,000.
In a move that shocked the industry, Jackie Gleason brought his weekly variety show to South Beach in 1966. This brought even more notoriety to the area. During the late 70’s through the 80’s, South Beach became more of a retirement community as most of its oceanfront hotels and apartment buildings filled with seniors living on fixed incomes.
Drug culture also expanded in Florida during this time, along with poverty and crime. But when the popular 80’s show Miami Vice began shooting in South Beach, SoBe began to turn around. By the late 80’s the fashion industry had moved in, and SoBe became one the wealthiest commercial areas on the beach. It’s been estimated that approximately 1,500 models live on South Beach today. It’s no wonder — the area’s raw and unique visual beauty makes SoBe a great place for a photo shoot.
Today South Beach is very alive indeed pulsing with the beat of not only young America but of young Europe as well.
Top Things to Do in South Beach
Lummus Beach
One of Florida’s most popular beaches features natural white sand and excellent water quality. Whether you’re wave watching or people watching, its sandbars are a great place to kick back and catch some rays.
Mango’s Tropical Cafe
One of the hottest clubs on Ocean Drive, Mango’s features sexy salsa music. Sizzling salsa dancers strut their stuff on top of its bar.
Art Deco Area
The Art Deco architecture in South Beach represents rebirth in the 1930’s after the tragic hurricane of 1926. Art Deco is an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism characterized by geometric and jumbled shapes.
Nautical accents like railings and porthole windows are sometimes added. Aluminum, stainless steel, lacquer and inlaid wood are some of the materials used in Art Deco architecture.
Art Deco architecture can be appreciated in many of the hotels that line Ocean Drive. The Clevelander, the Congress Hotel, the Colony Hotel, the Hotel Victor, along with many other buildings that dot the South Beach skyline, are built in the Art Deco style.
Although some of the earlier buildings such as the New Yorker Hotel were lost to developers before 1980, many others were preserved thanks to the efforts of a group of activists. The activists persevered to add South Beach to the National Register of Historic Places as a complete unit. To this day South Beach boasts the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world.
Dining
With beautiful weather all year round and colorful people to watch everywhere, sidewalk dining is all the rage in South Beach.
World-renowned chefs flock to the South Beach area to serve diners an eclectic mix of international fare. Taking a stroll down the beach brings you within arm’s reach of alluring cuisine set out for display. During off-peak months, restaurants compete with happy hour specials; it’s possible to find not only two- for-one drinks but two-for-one dinners as well.
The restaurant scene has a rich history in South Beach. In 1913, Hungarian Joe Wiess relocated to South Beach from New York for health reasons. He opened a small lunch counter called Joe’s Stone Crab and began to make his own history serving Al Capone and his friends. Today Joe’s is known not only for its stone crab, but also for fresh fish, potato dishes, special cole slaw and world famous Key Lime Pie.
Some other excellent venues for seafood are Nemo and Grillfish Restaurant. If you’re looking for French or Italian cuisine, try Spiga, Cafe Prima Pasta, Tuscan Steak, or La Sandwicherie (also a good vegetarian restaurant). You can have a Latin culinary experience at Puerto Sagua or El Rancho Grande.
For informal dining, try Rascal House deli. South Beach sushi reigns at Sushi Samba Dromo. No matter where you dine, South Beach offers adventurous cuisine and romantic atmosphere.
Shopping
Amidst the usual shops for t-shirts, mugs and beach towels you’ll find familiar names like Benetton, Guess and Polo Sport Ralph Lauren. You can also shop at Richie Swimwear for beachwear or Club Monaco for trendy threads to hit the town. Kenneth Cole has fabulous handbags and you can complete your look with makeup, facial creams, perfume, bath salts and sunscreen at Sephora.
If you want to make a day of it, check out Lincoln Road. Running east and west between 16th Street and 17th Street, Lincoln Road is considered South Beach’s premiere shopping area. Lincoln Road is a popular open-air pedestrian mall lined with boutiques, shops, retail outlets, sidewalk cafes and bars.
It’s also a cultural center, with a new state-of-the-art multiplex cinema, a concert hall for the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Art Center South Florida (a collection of studio and gallery space for emerging artists), and the newly restored Colony Theater performing arts center.
To accommodate shoppers, Lincoln Road is now closed to automobile traffic between Washington Avenue and Lenox Avenue. This renovated area has a trendy new appeal; both the latest fashions and a steady stream of street performers entertain shoppers.
Not surprisingly, Lincoln Road is now one of the most popular destinations for visitors to South Miami Beach.
Dash
Kourtney and Khloe Kardsahian, sisters of Kim, have opened a hot new boutique in South Beach, located on Washington Avenue, called Dash. They sell clothing, accessories and more, if you’re lucky you might even get to see one of them, they do stop by the shop from time to time. If you want to treat yourself you might like to view my guide to the best spas in Florida.
Nightlife
The party in SoBe never ends; clubs in this area stay open way past the wee hours. Just two streets off the beach, Washington Avenue is packed with some of the world’s largest and most popular nightclubs, including Crobar and The Mansion.
For a taste of Rio on the beach, try Mango’s Tropical Cafe on Ocean Drive. A Latin or Reggae band plays at Mango’s most nights of the week.
The party at Mac’s Club Deuce on 14th Street started in 1926 and is still going strong. Score and Funktion are two more places to check out when you head up to the Lincoln Road area. So go ahead, venture out! You’ll find lots of places to dance and party until dawn.
South Point Park
South Pointe Park reopened in March 2009, after a 22.4 million redesign that took two years of construction. The new 17.5-acre park is being compared to Central Park in NYC and Millennium Park in Chicago, it’s that nice.
The Government Cut, the shipping channel between the Atlantic Ocean and the marinas along Biscayne Bay, runs right beside South Pointe Park. There is a 20-foot-wide walkway lined with Florida limestone that runs the length of Government Cut; this “cut-walk” connects with other walkways along the bay and the ocean beach and creates a mile long circuit around the south end of the city.
This pedestrian-friendly path allows you to see all sorts of watercraft, from tiny jet-skis to the largest cargo freighters and cruise ships, passing through Government Cut channel at close range. The walk way also links to the beach walk, and leads to a pavilion with a children’s playground next to it.
At the pavilion you’ll find a snack bar, restrooms, meeting rooms and the park offices. They also have places to BBQ and picnic. The playground is wonderful, they have a metal forest of motion activated water-spray jets, several things to climb on and what they call a “sand-dollar spinner”, which is a small merry-go-round that looks like a sand dollar.
At night the walk way is lit by 18 custom-made light towers that glow in different colors, very romantic. These lights are aimed so as not to attract the attention of baby sea turtles that may hatch along the beach who would mistake them for the natural stars and moon and turn inland instead of out to sea, which is very environmentally conscious.
Go Fast Boat in Government Cut
Head east on the walkway and you’ll find yourself in natural sand dunes which have been replanted with native vegetation helping to anchor them and prevent beach erosion.
Looking to the north there is a panoramic view of the ocean, to the east you’ll see the jetty and more open ocean. Looking south you’ll find Fisher Island, Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, all residential areas and west along the length of the park you’ll see the skyline of downtown Miami and the Port of Miami.
Also at the west end of the park there is a small inlet where you can look down into the water and actually see growing corals. There is a fishing pier and jetty at the east end of the park where you can walk parallel to the jetty several hundred feet farther east and stand over the water and look straight down at the waves.
If you’re a dog lover South Pointe Park is dog-friendly and provides plastic bags and trash cans for dog waste in strategic places throughout the park, all dogs must be leashed at all times.
South Pointe Park is open daily from sunrise to 10 PM, and the cut-walk is open until 2 AM. Metered parking is available in the parking lot and there is no admission fee to the park.
Best Places to Stay in South Beach
South Beach is one of the best places in Florida to stay for the scenery alone and I’m talking about the hotels as well as the beach. Known for it’s Art Deco area some of the hotels there are a walk in a past age.
Some popular Deco hotels are the Colony, the Clinton Hotel and Spa South Beach and the National and Cadet Hotels. The Loews Miami Beach Hotel is right on the beach in the Art Deco area. Collins Ave. and Ocean Ave are considered to be the heart of the area and are lined with many hotels and resorts such as the Catalina and Blue Moon Hotels.
If you feel like a little pampering stay at the Chesterfield Suites and Day Spa or the Royal Palm South Beach Resort. Some more Deco hotels are the Starlite Hotel, Hotel Shelley, the Palms South Beach and the Claridge hotel all located near the shopping, clubs, restaurants and sandy beach that make South Beach an international destination and hot spot.