5 TIPS FOR A MIAMI SOUTH BEACH TRIP

Miami South Beach, for us, was a 4-day trip to break up a 3 week holiday in Jersey City. If you enjoy sun, fun and some good food for a couples trip - this is a great place to be. We came up with 5 tips (on a budget!) if we were to recommend this trip to anyone who has the wanderlust as we do. Enjoy the read!

Stay close to South Beach & Ocean Drive

The famous Ocean Drive is the best place to be at night. It really gives you the Miami vibes, with drag shows and guys walking around with Pythons on their necks. We didn’t carry them of course, but it was fun to watch. The drag shows had so much talent; singing, dancing, ass-shaking! So much energy and great vibes - it’s a must see! The clubs don’t open until later but they have late night dining, shisha lounges, live shows and all sorts. It felt like a mini Vegas!

During the day (and at night) you can see all the famous movie sets such as Scarface (1983) and The Bird Cage (1996) - the colourful, vibrant street is a great place for some memorable photos too.

It is ideal to find an accommodation close to Ocean Drive and by the beach. If you’re looking to splash out on this trip - the hotels by the beach side looked gorgeous.

Brunch all day every day

We’ve always been a brunching couple, so for us this was an ideal place to be. Brunch in Miami was something to look forward to. A few places we tried;

• $50 buffet brunch at the Habitat - delicious avocado and poached eggs, great additional side dishes too. They could have had more more fruits and juice options

• Orange Blossom (see photo) - we had a delicious breakfast here; I chose the poached eggs with salmon and he went with the avocado with mushrooms on toast. The outdoor seating was lovely but we chose to sit indoors to get some shade and AC since we were at the beach all morning

Things you might need to pack (or buy)!

As expected, Miami was expensive! You can’t expect the Asia or Caribbean island beach prices for chairs, umbrellas or drinks. Most chairs cost around $25 per day - we had 5 days in Miami so that would have worked out to roughly $125. Instead we decided to walk down to the local store and buy an umbrella and beach towel for $40. You can easily give the umbrella away for locals to keep and use. If you do end up staying in one of the gorgeous beach side hotels then you don't need to worry because its all included in your stay!

Don’t forget your speaker! If you, like us, enjoy listening to music and having a drink on the beach (or in your room)- the speaker is a must have. We also had an underwater phone holder to take some amazing underwater shots. We couldn't take an ice cooler with us from the UK or from New York but we found a way to transport ice to and from the beach with a mini cooler cup, so we could use it to make our own drinks on the beach. We stayed at the gorgeous Kayak hotel, which topped up our ice bucket whenever needed a cold drink in our rooms.

Concerts & Boat Cruises

Miami had so many great musicians performing out there, we missed some great artists by a few days, but we got to see Jagged Edge & 112 singing Walked Outta Heaven & Peaches & Cream in NYC, so we were concert content by then. If you love music as we do, check out ticketmaster.com for concerts and games to experience American sports too! Sadly NBA season wasn't on during August, but it's on our list to make sure it is for the next trip.

On the second to last day we travelled over to the Miami pier where they had some gorgeous markets and a jumped on a 90-minute boat cruise to see the million dollar homes. We planned it so we'd get to see the sunset on Miami at the same time. The most beautiful experience watching the pier change from day to night. An unforgettable romantic experience as we were nearing the end of our Miami trip.

Seafood, all day, every day!

We are both big foodies, so once we found out Miami was famous for the Latin American food - we fell in love!

Our days were planned around brunch & dinner. Our favourite place to eat from the whole trip, was the first restaurant we went to once we landed - surprisingly we couldn't find a restaurant to match their food for the rest of the trip - ‘La Mulata Cuban Restaurant’ had the best empanadas we’ve ever tasted, the guacamole and plantain chips and paella were just as good. We long await to taste those mouth watering empanadas again.

We also enjoyed some lobster (see photo) at the beautiful restaurant Tapelia (Spanish cuisine), our waiter Luis was lovely, and Kevin who was at the front desk made our experience extra special. His energy was so lovely to be around and he had a genuine care to make his customers happy. The staff, food and atmosphere was a perfect way to end our trip in Miami.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and found it useful. Most importantly, we hope you enjoy Miami as much as we did!