Get ready to visit one of the most fun cities!
Accomodations:
Where you stay can influence the vibe of your trip. If you want to party and hang out at the beach, stay in Miami Beach / South Beach. One of the most famous hotels in this area is the Fontainebleau where the James Bond movie Goldfinger was filmed. Also, where the super hot nightclub, LIV, is located. Just know that everything in South Beach is over priced. I’ve stayed in South Beach with 4 girls crammed in one hotel room and we had a blast. It was a pool/beach and clubbing type of trip. I would stay in South Beach again but I’d want to be in one of the renovated art deco hotels next!
You can still have that Miami party vibe and not stay in South Beach. On my most recent trip to Miami, some friends and I stayed in an Airbnb just west of Little Haiti. You most likely won’t have a pool or the beach as close but you can still have a blast. Ubers and Lyfts are pretty affordable and sometimes cheap.
Day 1 – Explore Miami neighborhoods!
- It’s filled with many murals and street art. Spend an hour walking this neighborhood’s blocks, looking at the art, and taking photos. There’s incredible food here too. I always look for restaurants on Eater. We went to Zak the Baker for brunch which was quite tasty.
- Wynwood also has a great bar and dance scene. We went to Doya for dinner which recently received a Bib Gourmand award and Lagniappe for post dinner drinks and live music. Lagniappe feels like a big relaxed outdoor European restaurant/bar–a great vibe!
- Go out dancing! My favorite spot is Ball & Chain which is a famous salsa bar in Little Havana. They have live music all day and at night this spot turns into more of a club scene. If you’re a women, get ready to be asked to dance salsa!
- If you want more of a club scene head to South Beach. I enjoyed my one time at LIV but I’d recommend buying tickets in advance to not wait in line and dress to impress! People in Miami look good!
Day 2 – Explore Miami’s South Beach!
- Explore the Art Deco Historic District on Miami Beach! Start the day by visiting the Art Deco Welcome Center and you can go on a tour with them which usually starts at 10:30AM or you can do your own tour very easily. “The Art Deco Historic District is located in Miami Beach between 5th Street and 23rd Street, along Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue.”
- Walk the beach, go for a swim, look for cool shells and sand dollars, and take pictures in front of all the colorful lifeguard houses! You can also bike along the Miami Beach boardwalk.
- Go dancing again! 😀
Day 3 – Biscayne National Park
Time for FL’s national parks! There are three national parks in Florida—Biscayne, Everglades, and Dry Tortugas! I haven’t been able to make it to Dry Tortugas yet.
You need a whole day to visit Biscayne National Park. This park is 95% water, so we decided to book one of their boating day tours. There are a few options. We did the snorkel and paddle eco adventure trip which was a 6 hour activity and a blast. We snorkeled and paddle boarded amidst some of FL’s mangrove coast line. We saw much wildlife snorkeling—unique fish, corals, sea sponges, jellyfish, neat birds, and a manatee. Make sure to pack a big lunch, and lots of sun protection (hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and a sun shirt) since there’s barely any shade.
Day 4 – Everglades National Park
The below will be a lot for one day but doable. Make sure to pack a lunch, water, and many snacks!
The Everglades is 1.5 MILLION acres so it deserves two days! If you get an early start to the day you can possibly squish in the best parts of the park in one day.
First Drive to Royal Palm Visitor Center which is about 1 hours and 15 minute from Miami without traffic. Most hikes near Royal Palm are less than 1 mile so it’s easy to do quite a few hikes near this visitor center pretty quick. We first walked the Anhinga Trail (.8 miles on a boardwalk), hiked Gumbo Limbo Trail (.4 miles), and then did the Pineland Trail (.4 miles) which was my favorite hike. More pines used to exist in the Everglades but sadly most were cut for timber. So the Pineland Trail is neat to see what the Everglades used to look like.
After Royal Palm drive to Shark Valley Visitor Center–they’re 1 hour and 10 minutes apart, keep this in mind! Rent a bike from the Shark Valley Visitor Center (we didn’t do this in advance–it’s fine if you don’t) and bike 15 miles, round trip, along Shark Valley tram road. You could take the tram instead of biking but you’ll be with a bunch of people and you can’t take your time to look at the wildlife. You see lots of gators along the way! Gators will be right along the side of the road.
*Tip: We asked other bikers along the ride if they saw gators, this helped us not miss a gator nest! Gators are masters of disguise, even when they’re right along the side of the road—sometime only their eyes are poking out of the water. Fear not, gators are not aggressive if you don’t bother them. But still try to stay 20ish feet away!
After hiking and biking you need to do an airboat tour! Most of the airboat tours are near Shark Valley and there are many options. We ended up going on an airboat tour with Gator Park which is recommend through the Everglades. Gator Park did a short wildlife show first (no, they don’t wrestle with gators) and then we jumped in the airboat. If you have a national park pass you get a discount on your airboat tickets here. Gator Park’s airboat tour doesn’t go very deep into the Everglades, you’ll need to do more research if you want to go on one that’s a little less commercial. I 1000% recommend an airboat tour, they’re very fun and fast!
For the airboat tours you don’t need to book in advance. These companies have rides throughout the entire day, usually until dusk.
Day 5 – Everglades National Park
Go to the places you missed from Day 4, above.
Go to the Flamingo Visitors Center. We didn’t make it here but you could spend this day exploring the trails around the Flamingo Visitors center. There are longer trails in this area, some that are even 7 miles or longer!
Other Tips:
- Download an offline map of the Everglades. You may lose service in certain areas.
- Bring lots of food and snacks to the Everglades and Biscayne National Park.
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