Miami: the perfect spot for shopping and tanning!

When I decided to go to Miami, I didn’t know which part of it would be better. Should I stay at the centre of Miami or should I go to Miami Beach? Well, answering this question was easy...I wanted to go to Miami Beach to enjoy all those beautiful beaches and good weather but then I got a new question: North Beach, Middle Beach or South Beach? I didn’t know which one to choose. However, I heard so much about South Beach that I decided to go there and that was a really nice decision!

Now I’m going to give you some tips for you to organize your trip the best way you can.

The Hotel

Before deciding where to stay you should know that most hotels have only half board or bed and breakfast. Actually, there are hotels with all inclusive but they are too expensive for an average person like me. Now you are asking: and where did you stay? Can you tell us a bit more about it? Oh well, I stayed at the SBH South Beach Hotel which is a bed and breakfast. The staff was really nice, the room was very clean and most important of all, we had free Wi-Fi at the bedroom and at the common areas! The only place we didn’t have was at the swimming pool but well, I didn’t want my phone to get wet so I wouldn’t bring it there anyway!

About the breakfast, it was held on the Orange Blossom which is a restaurante right next door. It didn’t have a huge variety of meals included for the breakfast but we could manage it for a week. They also have coffee to go like on Starbucks, which is incredible for a coffeeaholic like me!

Now, I already talked about the swimming pool so I have to tell you that it is on the rooftop of the hotel next door (Boulan Hotel) which is from the same owner and has an interior connection to the SBH. The pool is a bit cold and it also has a jacuzzi right next to it but the water inside of it is so hot that I couldn’t manage to stay inside. For me, the best part of being at the rooftop near the swimming pool was to stay on the daybeds applying the sunscreen (SPF 30) and before leaving to the room I would use the after-sun, both of them provided by the hotel. Other things our hotel had was table tennis, table football, chess and a whole lot of other games and if we needed something from the internet we could use the computer at the entrance and print whatever and whenever we needed.

The hotel had two sun loungers included at the beach for each apartment (either if it is for one, two or three people) and if we wanted an umbrella we had to pay $15 each per day. However, the Boucher Brothers were really friendly and helpful and they would get beach towels for each one of us every single day, specially Brandon and Mac. Usually they have everything on the beach near the 21st street but there was the Longines Global Champions Tour going on between the parking lot and the 21st street beach so they changed everything for the 18th street beach.

Tourist Taxes

This is an important matter to all of you because these taxes are not integrated with the price you paid for your hotel. All business owners subject to Tourist and Convention Development taxes must submit a tax return to the Miami-Dade Tax Collector’s Office monthly, even if no taxes are collected. To short term transient rentals in Miami Beach like we do on vacations, they are subject to 14% taxes (7% Florida State Sales Tax, 4% City of Miami Beach Resort Tax and 3% Miami-Dade Convention Tax). So never forget that despite the price of your hotel you always need to pay 14% when you arrive in taxes (at least it was this percentage we had to pay...I saw lots of different prices and percentages. Maybe some hotels have the 7% Florida State Sales Tax included in their prices but for sure you have to pay the taxes for staying at Miami Beach apart from the rest of he hotel price).

Paperwork To Fill

Third thing you should remember is your visa to get into the country. Actually, you could ask for a visa or an ESTA. The main difference is that an ESTA is an approved travel authorization that does not meet the legal or regulatory requirements while a visa is required under United States law.

In my case I made an ESTA less than 24 hours from my trip when I realized I needed it and I managed to get it by contacting them by e-mail but please don’t do such a thing and ask for an ESTA at least 72h prior from your flight. It cost me 90€ and in this way you can get inside the United States of America. This ESTA is valid for multiple trips over a period of two years starting the date that you are approved or until your passport expires, whichever comes first.  

Getting Out Of The Airport

After taking care of all the bureaucracies you just need to get inside the plane and arrive at Miami Airport. There you have to take the MIA Mover out of the airport (yes, I know it’s weird and it has no driver but you just have to get in without purchasing any ticket nor paying anything). Then you should buy the ticket to take the 150 Miami Beach Airport Express which costs 2,65$ and you only have to get out near your avenue. If you pay the ticket inside the bus you have to have the exact amount because they don’t give you any change back. All of the buses in Miami have free Wi-Fi so you can check your location on Google Maps anytime! 

The Beaches

There are lots of things I wanted to say about this beaches: if you forget your sunscreen you have sunscreen SPF 30 when you enter the beach. In addition to that, the sun is so intense that you need to keep diving into the sea every 10 to 15 minutes. If you decide to stay in the towel keep in mind that it’s really necessary to rent an umbrella and keep reapplying the sunscreen.

The water is warm despite not being as hot as in Cuba (but we don’t want to get out of the sea anyway). Also there are no fish to snorkel near the beaches like in the Caribbean so the best option is to read a book or to stay in the water all the time just like a fish.

Now the best question is: where can I go besides the beaches and how can I get there? Of course I didn’t forget about this!

Walking On Ocean Drive

Ocean Drive is mostly know for its Art Deco hotels. Among the most popular, there are some buildings and restaurants you should take special attention such as:

• The Colony Hotel which has made cameo appearances in scores of movies and TV shows including Dexter

• The Sunray Apartments which were featured in the movie Scarface

• The Clevelander Hotel which consists of an indoor sports lounge as well a dance floor with pool area on the ground floor and a complimentary roof-top lounge

• The Casa Casuarina which was the residence of Gianni Versace (yes, the italian fashion designer) and now it is a boutique hotel

• The Manfo’s Tropical Café which is a Carribbean inspired restaurant with live performances

• The Palace Bar know for its cabaret and drag queen shows dedicated to the LGBTQ community.

Besides that, the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game based the look of it's eponymous city off Miami and has a replica of Ocean Drive with exactly the same name. Summing up, you can’t lose this opportunity! Here you have lots of restaurants and bars with loud music and lots of dream cars riding from one way to the other.

South Point And Miami Beach Marina Views

Here you have a beautiful view of the Fisher and Dodge islands so you can take some time getting amazing pictures with the landscape or even with the Miami city skyscrapers on the background. If you don't want to get some pictures just enjoy it would be a perfect second option!

What And Where To Eat At Miami Beach

There are many places to eat in Miami but most of them are really expensive. You can try some nice restaurants at Lincoln Road but you’ll pay a little bit per person. However I remember some cheap restaurants that I’ll share with you: 

• Blocks Pizza Deli: the price depends on which pizza you want to order. However you have a price per slice (from $3,75-$6,00), for half a pizza (which feeds 2/3 people; from $13,75-$22,75) or for a whole pizza (which feeds 4 to 6 people; from $25,95-$43,95). They also have calzones, salads, beverages and side and be aware that the slices are huge. The restaurant is on the 1447 Washington Avenue that is between the 15th and the 14th streets. We ordered to take away but you can stay and eat at the restaurant if you so prefer.

• Sbarro: this is a fast food pizza chain restaurant and even though it is know by their pizzas (slices from $3,29-$4,59), they do also offer other Italian-American cuisine such as pastas ($4,79-$7,89), Stromboli ($4,89), meatballs ($6,99) and breadsticks ($1,29). I liked this restaurant but actually is nothing special in comparison to the other ones. The best thing is only the low price.

• Orange Blossom: this restaurant is open from the 7:30am until 11pm and it serves food during the whole day. I only had breakfast and ordered dinner to eat at the bedroom (which was a huge mistake because they charged the 30% tip without asking but that is a whole different conversation). For breakfast we tried the yogurt with cereals, the mini muffin with a little croissant and toast with nutella and butter and the scrambled eggs with breakfast potatoes and we were able to choose between the orange juice or the coffee (if you choose the coffee you can refill as much as you want but you can’t do the same thing with the juice). The staff was really nice but sometimes we need to refill the drinks ourselves.

If you don’t want to lunch or dine outside at a restaurant, you can buy lots of different things to eat at the Walgreens Supermarket between the 23rd street and Colins street (if you’re staying near the SBH of course. If you stay a bit south from the 18th street there are more Walgreens nearby!).

Please be aware that in Miami they add automatically a tip percentage to your bill that differs from place to place but in general it goes from 15%-30%.

Ross Store Between The 5th Street And Alton Road

This place is actually about "dress for less", as its slogan says. Here you can find a bunch of famous brands for less than half the price. I think this place triggered my shopaholic side because I came to the hotel with more bags than my both hands and my parents’s were able to carry. Also I came here in the morning so the store wasn’t a mess but I’m guessing from the feedback I got from other costumers that depending on the moment of the day the place can get too crowded and a bit messy, making it hard to find what you’re looking for. Also there was no line at the register so I paid in 5 minutes or so.

It’s a bit difficult to get in because it's in the middle of a huge parking lot so the easiest way to access is by getting on the elevator on the 6th Avenue until the second floor. Then you have to go to the opposite side of the parking lot (you get to see some of the shops on the background) and finally you just need to climb the escalators one or two floors. It looks extremely difficult and complex right now but you’ll see that it’s easy when you get there and it’s worth it!

Walking To And Inside The Star Island

You can walk from the Alton Road near the Marina to the Star Island because the Florida State Road A1A has a walk where we can move safely. Here you can be mesmerized with some celebrities homes such as Julio Iglesias, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Phillip Frost, Will Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, as well as celebrity landmarks such as the sizable mansion where the movie “Scarface” was shot, the shoot location of Addams Family movie and also the shoot location for Miami Vice, CSI Miami, which you can also rent out for the "low" price of $13.500 per night.

Shopping At The Bayside Marketplace By Lyft

This is a great opportunity to buy something on stores like Victoria's Secret, Guess, Harley-Davidson, Disney Store, Claire’s, Ralph Lauren, Hard Rock Cafe or simply get a personalized sign in one of the random stores that exists in here! Also, if you drive there in the morning like I did you can have lunch at Bubba Gump or at Hooters! Anyway, do not leave this place yet without taking a photograph on the bench in front of Bubba Gump inspired on the movie "Forrest Gump" and at the entrance of Bayside where it says Island Queen!

To go to downtown Miami from Miami Beach there are two possibilities: or either you take the bus or you can take a Lyft. I used the second option since we were 3 and when I installed the application on the mobile phone I could enter some online credit codes I found on the Lyft's own website to have discounts on the first travels. Here they are in case you’ll need them:

20LYFTPROMO ($20 total, $2 credit per ride for 10 rides), NEWUSER10 ($10 TOTAL, $5 credit per ride for 2 rides) OR LYFTCOUPON9 ($9 total, $3 credit per ride for 3 rides). You should make the calculations in order to see which of the three is the best option for you (in my case it was the 10$ total because I was only going to take 2 rides). Lyft works like Uber in Europe but it's even cheaper and as efficient as Uber. However, at Miami the Uber prices are higher than in Europe so this is a good second option. Moreover, there’s free Wi-Fi at the Marketplace so you can call a Lyft without having to turn on your mobile data!

Miami Trolley: Traveling For Free In Miami Beach

Obviously, you can’t leave Miami Beach without going to the Middle and North Beaches, at least to see it an know how those beaches are. To go there you can take the Miami Trolley! It's a free shuttle that works on Miami Beach. There is an application where you can see where all of the trolleys are so in this way you can see how much time you have until the next trolley and you won’t lose a single second! Be aware that there are several trolleys, each one of them more or less 20 minutes away from one another and also that there are different lines. So you need to know more or less where you want to go to know in which trolley you should enter.

I remembered a bit more details of this trip than the last one and I hope that all my advice will help you organize your trip concerning the things you need to do to go there and the places you want to go.

If you have more week I would tell you to go to the Walt Disney World and to the Universal Studios in Orlando, to Key West and also to the Everglades National Park but if you don’t at least you’ll think about it on the next time like I will.❤

Written by: Kiawa