- September 18, 2020
Ocean Drive and many other destinations in Miami
Who wouldn’t want to?
I am often asked how long to stay in Miami and what to see outside of Ocean Drive. Through this article, I will describe the essential things to see and do. Therefore, with some more information, your stay can be more successful.
Miami is one of the most beautiful cities globally, especially for sun, beach, and party lovers.
 It is the base for other must-see attractions in Florida and the Caribbean:
However, today this city is changing, and if you like art it offers extra attractions such as the famous Wynwood.
At the southern end of Florida’s US state, this modern metropolis is trendy for its sunny climate; in the winter months, the temperature does not drop below 20 degrees.
The rainy (and hurricane) season runs from July to November, but fear not, this does not mean that it is dangerous, just that it will rain a little more, and the temperatures will rise.
Miami Beach is one of the most famous beaches globally, known for movies and TV series. You have certainly seen the beach houses of the lifeguards with cheerful colors. The beach is kilometers long and has lively, welcoming, and beautiful parts, each with its name. Miami Beach is the place to be if you like to party, and the best DJs in the world love to come here to play.
In Miami and Miami Beach, you are not alone in the United States; you travel through different cultures.
But there’s a lot more to see and do in Miami and the surrounding area, making this sunny city an excellent vacation spot.
The 11 most beautiful things to do in Miami
TABLE OF CONTENT
Stroll along Ocean Drive
Ocean Drive is Miami’s most famous Street is. This mile-long road runs through the southern part of Miami Beach. Ocean Drive is also settled in the colorful Art Deco Miami District. You will find a green park and a beach on one side along this Street, and on the other, you will find hotels and bars, most of them in the typical Art Deco architectural style and pastel colors. Walking around Ocean Drive is one of the best things to do in Miami. Not only is it a charming street because all the buildings are so beautifully and cheerfully colored, but the atmosphere engages you. Halfway down the Street, you should sit on a terrace, and people watch, as you will see many styles go by fitness skaters in bathing suits, skateboarders, models in mini-bikinis, and sports and bizarre cars. You will observe others, but others will observe you: it is the best sport you can do on Ocean Drive. So, put on your sunglasses and see!
But Ocean Drive must be seen both day and night, so be prepared to walk several times. When everything looks super cheerful, the Street is well-tended with palm trees, but in the evening, the colors change thanks to the hundreds of neon lights that decorate the Street. The difference will hit you!
And when the sun goes down, you have to get out. The nightlife is fantastic. You can dine on one of Lincoln Road’s terraces, one of the best areas to eat in Miami.
Explore the Art Deco Miami District
Ocean Drive is in the Art Deco District of Miami Beach, the most touristy and most famous neighborhood and one of the most beautiful neighborhoods you will ever see. Indeed, you have seen it in many movies.
It extends from Lincoln Road to 5th Street, and it’s the best art deco district in the world; declared a historical heritage with its 960 buildings in 1930.
The buildings are spectacular, and you will feel transported back in time just by looking at their facades.
It is a festival of pastel colors and geometric shapes.
It is in the southern part and is also called the “Miami Beach Architectural District.” Architecture is the first thing that strikes you when you walk through it – the buildings have straight, clean lines that combine with round shapes for windows or corners. It is a very typical architectural style with an elegant design. The glance is fantastic, and the Art Déco architectural style is well recognizable. It is a neighborhood that you cannot miss, and by walking up and down the Street, you choose your favorite building.
The best thing to do is start the tour at the Welcome Center in Lummus Park.
Enjoy the Beaches of Miami Beach
From Ocean Drive, you can see South Beach or the southern part of Miami Beach (a peninsula created for tourism).
Although its origin is artificial, it is still a beautiful place with excellent and extensive sandy beaches. South Beach, abbreviated to SoBe, is the beach with the most charm. You can find most of the tourists on this beach, especially near Ocean Drive. Enjoying the beaches is one of the best things to do in Miami. If you don’t like crowds very much and prefer to spend a quiet day by the sea, choose a beach further north – it’s much more peaceful.
Miami Beach is very long and is perfect for a pleasant walk on the beach. A long walk on the beach also gives you a nice tan and is the ideal bathing activity for those who love sun, sea, and sand but are not so good at standing still on a towel. Early morning or late afternoon are the best times for this when it’s not too hot.
And why not have fun photographing the beautiful colored houses that beach guards use. Who wouldn’t want to identify with Mitch Buchannon?
These picturesque houses, built in the 1980s, are made of wood, raised on stilts, and placed every 200 meters along the beach.
South Point
In Lummus Park, there is a “nudist beach.”
But be careful to undress; if you do, you risk a fine: only topless is tolerated. Nudism is banned everywhere in Miami except Haulover Park.
South Point is a place to relax, especially on weekdays; it is a corner of paradise.
Take the Metro-Mover to Visit Downtown Miami
If there is one unusual thing to do in Miami, take the Metromover that runs between the city’s buildings like a roller coaster (without the loops, of course).
It’s fun and lets you discover a distinct face of Miami.
Downtown Miami is, to date, the most important financial center in Florida and the third-largest in the United States after New York and Chicago.
The Miami River separates the Downtown and Brickell district, which you can explore on foot. You can also cross the Brickell Key Bridge and have lunch at the La mar restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental.
Discover Art in Wynwood and the Miami Design District
If there’s one thing you can’t miss that will give you a new take on Miami, it’s the tours of the Wynwood neighborhoods and its street art, as well as contemporary art in the Miami Design District.
These two neighborhoods are within a 15-minute walk of each other are separated from the Midtown District.
The hipster world and luxury intertwine repeatedly.
Wynwood Arts District
It is an important place to visit in Miami.
It is undoubtedly the trendiest neighborhood in Miami, where you can admire many street art frescoes made by the most significant international street artists.
This neighborhood has gone from being one of the most rundowns and feared with abandoned warehouses to the trendy community where you can have a drink after work.
It has become the Mecca of street art thanks to the visionary Tony Goldman, who in 2009 believed in this rundown neighborhood’s potential!
You can find The famous Wynwood Walls or Wynwood Murals throughout the neighborhood, where there are over 70 art galleries. However, tourists visit the cultural center where the most original outdoor murals are concentrated.
The neighborhood extends from 20th to 36th streets. Explore all the roads!
Today there are trendy restaurants, avant-garde designer boutiques, many art galleries, and evenings are held in a relaxed atmosphere.
Suppose you visit the area at sunset and are looking for restaurants in Miami for dinner. In that case, you will undoubtedly find reasonable solutions such as the Wynwood Kitchen & Bar, Latin and Asian inspired, with delicious dishes or the Wynwood Diner or Joey’s Italian Café (you must try their pizzas).
Suppose your schedule includes a visit in the morning. In that case, you could stop by Zak the Baker to taste their croissant or pain au chocolat and have lunch at Wynwood Yard, a sort of Market Place with several food trucks or at 1-800 Lucky, a food hall that brings together seven restaurants.
Miami Design District
With the same principle as Wynwood but a few years older, entrepreneur Craig Robins (president of the wealthy real estate development company Dacra) created this neighborhood in 2000. They convinced the designers and architects to settle here.
Mr. Craig Robins also contributed to the resurgence of the South Beach art deco district in the 1980s. And with Bernard Arnault, in 2010, he joined forces and opened the Louis Vuitton and Dior boutiques.
The Miami Design District is reminiscent of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Fifth Avenue in New York.
It’s a vast open-air mall that is home to the most significant luxury boutiques, art galleries, and trendy restaurants. Each business has its architecture.
Show Your Best Dance Moves in the Clubs
Miami is the city of clubs
It is an ideal place to have fun. I don’t know if it’s the heat that makes everyone want to dance, but Miami is the place to go clubbing. There are so many elite clubs to try: Club Space is legendary, but LIV Miami and Basement host charming parties. The best DJs in the world, some of whom hail from the Netherlands, perform here every week during the high season.
In Miami, you will have a glorious night!
Little Havana and Little Haiti
Little Havana
In the 1950s, a massive arrival of Cuban citizens fleeing the Castro regime settled in this neighborhood and transformed Little Havana, making it safer.
It is a colorful neighborhood with a solid cultural imprint.
You will see Domino players at Gomezun Park, discover street art, drink a tight Cuban coffee, dance to Cuban music while drinking the best mojitos at Ball and Chain, or visit a cigar factory.
Little Haiti
Some will tell you there isn’t much to see in Little Haiti. It is a trendy small residential area. But it is surprising because it is still little known and not very touristy. It grows and changes much like Wynwood. Many guides don’t even mention it.
You’ll find typical restaurants, bookstores, record stores, and shops selling Afro-Caribbean products.
Miami and its neighborhoods owe much of their prestige to their ethnic enclaves.
Where to Shop
Those who want to buy souvenirs (magnets, T-shirts, mugs, etc.) or do good deals when the USD is convenient will find Outlets and Shopping Centers at their disposal.
In Miami, the ideal place for shopping remains Lincoln Road, an open-air mall where you will find all the biggest brands from Zara to Urban Outfitters, through Apple or Gap.
The Aventura Mall is an attraction in itself. It is a gigantic complex with shops, restaurants, a cinema and much more. You can’t go for a quick look here because this mall is too big, but shopping for a few hours at the end of the afternoon and going to the cinema is a lot of fun.
By Airboat through the Everglades
An hour’s drive from Miami is the Everglades National Park, a nature reserve classified as a World Heritage Site. The Everglades are home to endangered species such as the crocodile and the panther. It is a marshy area of ​​gigantic dimensions (over 20,000km²).
Parts of the Everglades are accessible by car, but you won’t see much. The best way to discover the Everglades is by airboat with a spectacular boat trip through the swamp. The airboat is a boat explicitly created for bogs, and its prominent feature is that it has a large propeller on the back. It makes a lot of noise, but it’s great to cross the swamp on such a boat. And if you’re lucky, you can spot crocodiles along the way.
Florida Keys
Although Miami is a great vacation destination, you should take a few days to the Florida Keys. This archipelago of around 1,700 small islands is easily accessible from Miami. The Keys islands are not all inhabited, but a long road connects the inhabited ones. This road is called US Route 1 and is also known as the Overseas Highway. Driving along this road is magnificent; you’ll find the ocean left and right, cross hundreds of small and large islands, and watch the palm trees sway in the wind.
The best way to discover the Florida Keys is to spend the night on different islands. Islamadora, Key Largo, and Key West are the must-see islands of the Florida Keys. They are coral islands, and for those who love snorkeling, they are paradise. US Route 1 ends in Key West, and this is where you can see one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.
The Bahamas
Getting to the Bahamas from Miami is the easiest route.
The most common way to visit them is a 3-4 day mini cruise with Royal Caribbean.
It is an archipelago made up of 690 coral islands, of which thirty are inhabited. The largest island of the Bahamas is Andros, and it’s in the northwest of the archipelago at the mouth of the Florida Straits. To the north lies Grand Bahama, the northernmost of the large islands. The latter, together with Nassau, is a significant destination for Bahamian tourism.
Wherever and whatever island you decide to visit or on which to stay, you will always find a crystal clear sea and beaches of fine sand.
Personally, as my custom, I prefer a more in-depth visit of the country independently. Therefore I opted for two of the Easter Island: Eleuthera and Long Island, but they will be the subject of a future guide or story.
Conclusion
To experience the bustling city life, make sure you book a hotel in Miami Beach, then on the beach. The city itself is not exactly the ideal place to stay because of the beach’s distance: it would make you waste precious time traveling.
If you plan to go to the Everglades or the Florida Keys, consider renting a car. However, if you plan to travel every day, a vehicle can also be convenient in Miami Beach itself.
The best time to travel to Miami depends a little on your possibilities: December to February is very good for the weather, but it is the high season and can be chaotic. The summer months of July and August are scorching and also humid. March and April are the best combinations for traveling to Miami.
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