During our one month-long trip around the USA & Canada, we spent 3 days in Miami, which was the perfect amount of time for us as first time visitors to Miami. We stayed in South Beach, and spent time in Little Havana and Wynwood. Three completely different neighbourhoods, three completely different versions of Miami, and all such quintessential experiences of the city.

Why visit Miami?

Miami has captured my imagination for years, ever since watching Burn Notice with my Dad when I was a kid, and more recently, when I binged Magic City, which is set in Miami Beach in the 1950s. The added bonuses of historic art deco architecture and a vibrant regional culture, which is heavily influenced by the Cuban community, made Miami an easy choice. After starting our trip with ten days in New York, we zipped down the east coast for a few days of a slower pace in Miami.

It was my first trip to Florida, a state that has earned a reputation for being a bit wacky – with miles of gorgeous coastline, wild nature in the interior, plenty of gators and a laidback, eccentric local culture, Florida already reminded me a little of my native Queensland. I was excited to take a peek.

The South is one of my favourite regions in the USA – it’s got more personality than it knows what to do with. I had already been to Charleston and New Orleans, and since it was summer I wanted to go somewhere hot, sunny and with beautiful beaches.

Initially, I wanted to do day trips to Key West and the Everglades National Park, but we put both aside in favour of having some proper downtime by the beach and pool.  Key West is a four-hour bus trip (one way!), so it really is a place I’d rather spend a couple of nights. I was very excited to visit beautiful swampland of The Everglades, after swooning over the swamps I saw in Charleston, but all the tours seemed to spend a lot of time at an Alligator Farm which did not appeal to me at all. Ideally, next time we’d hire a car and spend a day exploring it on our own. If anyone knows of an Everglades tour that does not involve an alligator farm, please let me know!

Washington Park Hotel, South Beach

We stayed in Washington Park Hotel which was my favourite hotel of the trip – and honestly one of my favourite hotels ever! The design throughout the hotel has a great attention to detail and a kitsch, retro Miami vibe. The Swizzle Bar, near the pool, had extended happy hour every day and one of my favourite hotel bar/restaurants ever  – a South Beach spin off of the legendary Employees Only cocktail bar in New York City.

South Beach is the glamorous southern section of Miami Beach, which is on it’s own little island just off the shores of downtown Miami. South Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the United States, as well as being the heart of the action in Miami.

Ogling Art Deco on Ocean Drive

Ocean Drive in South Beach has the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world, some 800 buildings within the first few blocks along from the beach. I absolutely love art deco architecture, and it is so special to visit somewhere that so beautifully captures a moment in time.In the early 1920s, a hurricane swept through Miami Beach, killing more than 400 people and flattening the resorts along the waterfront. The city was frantically rebuilding their hotels around the time of the 1924 design fair, Paris Exposition Internationale des Artes Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which introduced a new style moderne, which was inspired by Mayan and Egyptian design. The new design caught on, and was named Art Deco, after the design fair where it was born. Miami put it’s own spin on Art Deco, with tropical motifs and nautical themes.

Most neighbourhoods across the world are a mix of so many clashing styles from different periods, so I love how well preserved Ocean Drive is. Not only are the hotels along Ocean Drive art deco – there are restaurants, police head quarters and beach patrol headquarters all in this beautiful style.

On our first evening, we decided to take our chances and eat somewhere along Ocean Drive, which is beautiful but also a bit of a tourist trap. We found a seafood shack that was pretty decent, and then decided to try one of the giant cocktails which were being spruiked all along Ocean Drive. You can see the exact moment I’ve realised I’ve made a massive mistake in the photos below – not surprisingly, these cocktails are gross. I didn’t drink much more than I had in the photos below!

South Beach

One of the perks of staying at Washington Park Hotel is that we got free beach chair hire from the Boucher Bros, who are set up on South Beach. We nabbed some chairs and spent a few hours relaxing in the sunshine –  finally I really felt like I was on holidays!

We had lunch near our hotel at 11th Street Diner, which is a super cute retro diner which has a delicious menu. I love the vibes of diners, but could never find much healthy food to eat at diners in New York City – I was so pleasantly surprised by how many fresh and (relatively) healthy dishes there were at 11th Street Diner. Of course, there was plenty of classic American comfort food too. The service was friendly (aaah, the South!)and the food was so good – I could have eaten here every day! We treated ourselves to a classic southern dish, key lime pie, for dessert – only $5.50! I cannot go by key lime pie.

Dinner at Employees Only

We hung out by the pool for most of the afternoon, and I found myself start to really relax. I’d been on holiday for around ten days by this point, but as we’d been in New York City for the first week I hadn’t felt very relaxed. After a day between the beach and pool, I was feeling super chilled out and was so glad that we didn’t have to go far for dinner. We ate at Employees Only Miami for dinner, making the most of the humidity and sitting in their garden dining area. Sadly, Employees Only Miami is now closed!

Espanola Ave & Lincoln Road

We spent our next morning in Miami going for another run along the beach, before hitting nearby Lincoln Road. On the way, we stumbled across the very pretty Espanola Avenue, which is lined with Spanish style buildings full of boutiques and restaurants.

Lincoln Road’s shopping strip is a beautiful preserved mall from the 1950s, designed by starchitect Morris Lapidus. I was on the hunt for a book set in Miami, so I could read it by the pool that afternoon – I love reading books set in the places I’m visiting. We went to Books & Books, which is a fantastic book store – after much deliberations, I settled on Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel, which is set between Miami and Cuba. It was a gripping story, but it was also so useful to read it while in Miami and learning about Cuba when I was on the Little Havana walking tour.

We spent the afternoon by the pool, and then at the other onsite bar, the Swizzle Bar, chatting to the bartender and making the most of happy hour.

Once again, we had dinner at Employees Only – this time, we sat the bar for a few cocktails before having dinner. We were seated beside some Americans, from Illinois, who were on their bucks party. They were nice guys, but the highlight was definitely when the guy sitting beside me began drinking my cocktail (very different to his own drink beside him!) while his brother and friends snickered and quietly ordered me a replacement drink. Poor guy was so embarrassed when he realised, nearly an hour later!

Little Havana Walking Tour

I loved the Lower East Side and the South Brooklyn walking tours I did in New York City so much that we booked another local tour with Urban Adventures when we were in Miami. We spent a morning on a walking tour of Little Havana, which gave me a much better insight into Cuba’s history and Cuba today. I studied the Cuban Missile Crisis and the revolution in high school, but there’s nothing like experiencing a place and meeting people from a country for the realities of history to sink in. Granted, we were not in Cuba, but Little Havana is the first stop for most Cuban expats, and it’s a safe place where Cubans can share their culture, history and political views.

Our guide, Dayana, is Cuban but lives in Miami, and she was so full of knowledge about Cuba as well as Little Havana. We lucked out – we were the only two booked on the tour, so we had a private tour to ourselves! Urban Adventures tours are small group, so they usually max out at 12-15 guests, but it’s not uncommon to have a private tour.

I’d always felt a bit cringe-y when people said they wanted to visit Cuba “before it changes”, as new technology slowly trickles into the “postcard perfect” streets filled with vintage cars and elderly Cubans smoking cigars. To me, this is a patronising attitude that treats Cuba like a zoo, gawking at the “charming” way of life when I’m sure none of the tourists visiting would volunteer to live that way. I’ve read that tourists stay in hotels with amenities and products easily available to them that ordinary Cubans could only dream of. After learning more about Cuban exiles in Little Havana and life in Cuba, my suspicious were confirmed and I know I couldn’t visit Cuba in good conscience while it is the way that it is.

In saying this, I loved experiencing Cuban culture in Little Havana. I’ll write about this tour in more detail in a post of it’s own, but my favourite parts of the day was admiring Cuban art and artefacts at Cubaocho, learning about the Cuban Santeria religion, which I’d never heard of before, enjoying a refreshing mojito at Ball & Chain and visiting the Luis Molina Art Gallery.

Wandering Wynwood

We spent an afternoon in Wynwood, which has become famous for it’s Wynwood Walls, a free, open air gallery of murals, that has sparked a street art craze throughout the whole neighbourhood. I loved this area, and would love to have spent some more time here. We wandered through the Wynwood Walls, and then on Dayana’s recommendation, visited Walt Grace, which is a vintage car & guitar gallery, before getting drinks at El Patio. We finished up with tacos at Coyo Taco before ubering back to South Beach. Wynwood reminded me a bit of Fitzroy in Melbourne, and seems like one of the best areas for cool bars & restaurants in Miami.

Dinner at The Betsy

On our last night in Miami, we decided to go out for dinner somewhere within walking distance. I didn’t want to eat at 90% of the places along Ocean Drive, which serve almost exclusively fried food, and was starting to lose hope in finding somewhere nice to eat, when we found The Betsy Hotel. The Betsy is a gorgeous hotel, with a lovely onsite restaurant, LT, which is named for the award-winning Executive Chef Laurent Tourondel.

We made the most of the balmy weather (and people watching opportunities) and sat on the verandah. I loved the fresh and healthy food here, I had a delicious watermelon, heirloom tomato, pomegranate and feta salad (watermelon & feta salad is my favourite!) and then we shared some fresh and delicious sushi – we had coconut macadamia shrimp, the spicy tuna. The Betsey isn’t cheap, but it was definitely the best place along Ocean Drive for a light, fresh and tasty meal. The service is lovely too.

Swimming at South Beach

On our last day in Miami, we spent the morning at South Beach. The water here is clear, warm and calm – perfect for relaxing in the gentle waves. We were visiting in July, which is low season in Miami – most visitors find the humidity too oppressive in the middle of summer. It worked out well for us, because our hotel was cheaper than usual and we had a huge section of South Beach all to ourselves. South Beach is definitely one of my favourite beaches in the world now!

Overall, I loved my time in Miami and am definitely planning a return trip. There is so much more to see – still on my list are checking out rooftop bars in South Beach or downtown Miami, the Vizcaya Museum, seeing live music at Ball & Chain, spending a night out at LIV and going for a dip at the Venetian Pool.

Next up: Zipping across the continent for a few days in Vancouver!

Have you been to Miami? Is it somewhere you’d like to go? Let me know your favourite things to do in Miami in the comments!

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