SteveI should point out that the title of this post is slightly misleading. This is because this post covers both Miami and Miami Beach. Miami Beach is that sliver of land to the east of Miami itself, separated by Biscayne Bay. Here are our top things to do anyhow, based on our recent trip to the sunshine state!
Little Havana
Mostly located on 8th Street or Calle Ocho as it’s known is Little Havana. From a tourist point of view, Calle Ocho covers the bases pretty well. Named after the Cuban capital, Little Havana is the home to many Cuban exiles. The area is a mecca for Cuban culture and is often used as a filming location for movies such as Bad Boys for Life and Scarface.
Little Havana is 2 miles west of the downtown Brickell area of Miami, so it’s worth grabbing an Uber to get over there.
We enjoyed soaking up the culture, listening to the live music that seemed to be everywhere and generally having a bit of a wander around. I grabbed a Cafecito from El Pub, enjoyed seeing the locals play dominos in Domino park, and had a lazy afternoon in Ball and Chain. There was live Cuban music underway when we visited, and I can highly recommend their Bananita cocktail and Jerk roasted chicken wings! For cigar aficionados, there are plenty of cigar shops too.
Get Cycling
Cycling is very popular in Miami, although it is wise to be careful on some of the roads. All over Miami and Miami Beach, there are bikes for rent called CitiBikes. These work by unlocking an available bike using a credit card at the terminal. There are over a hundred locations around Miami and Miami Beach. Luckily for us, our hotel provided free bikes to explore the area with.
I’d have liked to cycle more in Miami Beach, but time was against us with all of the other things we wanted to do. Our route was from Collins Avenue/17th Street and then following the beach path all the way to South Pointe Pier. From there, we went along past South Pointe Park and back up on the west side of Miami Beach. Thoroughly enjoyable, although bring water due to the humidity. Watch out for random snakes crossing your path too! (I was expecting to see a lot of lizards, but the black snake we saw was a surprise!).
Thriller Miami
Definitely the fastest boat I’ve been on! Thriller Miami is a speedboat tour that departs from Bayside Marketplace, Miami. We caught an Uber here from our Hotel on Collins Avenue, South Beach. Whilst there are plenty of boat tours in Miami (lots going from Bayside Marketplace), the others are quite leisurely and focus solely on seeing celebrity houses.
The tour lasts 45 minutes, and you are going flat out for at least half of that. The tour leaves its dock and flies past the port of Miami Island where you will see a lot of cruise ships. From there, it takes a slower pace around Star Island. The crew pointed out some celebrity houses for us, before then heading off through Government cut and out to sea. At this point, we hung a left and headed up on the east side of South Beach at full chat before heading back.
It’s perhaps best not to bring anything too valuable on board, as there is plenty of spray and we ended up getting very wet. Be warned though, it can be quite a rough ride as the boat does gain air as it launches over the swells at full speed. At the time of writing, the cost for the tour is $40 plus tip per person.
Art Deco District
Quite a bit of South Beach in Miami Beach is filled with Art Deco buildings that have been preserved. These mostly date from between the 1920s and 1940s. There is an Art Deco welcome centre at 1001 Ocean drive that provides much information as well as walking tours. We didn’t feel the need to bother with this and enjoyed exploring ourselves. Most of the buildings are located on Ocean drive heading north from the 5th Street intersection. Further to the north, Collins Avenue also has an array of hotels utilising the Art Deco buildings.
One thing to note is the Art Deco hotels are a bit on the small side given they were largely not designed to be hotels. If you want a large room and a hotel with full facilities, you might be better off looking towards Miami and one of the more grand hotels that overlook Biscayne Bay. For us though, this was not an issue. We wanted to be in the thick of it on South Beach.
Ocean Drive
You can’t really go to Miami Beach and not take a walk along Ocean Drive. By day it is a busy place, with plenty of restaurants and cafes bustling with tourists. It is the place to be seen, and as such there are quite a few posers cruising along in their cars barely idling above 5mph. Why not!
By night, the area lights up in gorgeous neon pastel colours. The music turns up a notch, and the party really begins. Things can quickly get pricy, but there are a few spots that are pretty reasonable.
Ocean Drive is not just about eating and drinking though. Lummus Park is a great open space between the beach and the road. There is also a muscle beach too if you’re so inclined.
Another touristy thing to do is take a picture of the clock thermometer, as I did below.
These were our top things to do in Miami. We only had a week there and it was definitely not long enough. Next time we’ll try to fit in the Everglades, Key West, and explore the north end of Miami Beach. Has anyone got any other suggestions?
As you’re here, why not take a look at my other posts about North America?
