offwegooo.com
Travel guide
Miami
5 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: December to April
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Welcome
Miami, in a few days
A city where Spanish is spoken in the street, Cuban coffee in hand, between pastel Art Deco hotels set on the sand and warehouses covered in murals. An hour's drive away, the city stops dead at the sawgrass of the Everglades, where alligators bask at the side of the road.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 3 things
- D3 Day 3 1 thing
- D4 Day 4 1 thing
- D5 Day 5 1 thing
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · South Beach and the Art Deco District free · half a dayThe country's largest Art Deco ensemble, some 800 buildings from the 1920s to the 1940s along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, with neon signs, porthole windows and a pale sandy beach in front.
- Late afternoon · Pérez Art Museum Miami · about 2 hA bayside modern and contemporary art museum by Herzog & de Meuron, hung with columns of tropical plants, focusing on Latin American, Caribbean and African diaspora art, with swing seats facing the water.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Kimpton EPIC Hotel ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€250 a night
D2
Day 2
3 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Wynwood Walls · about 2 hA former textile warehouse district repainted from 2009 by street artists from around the world, centred on an enclosure of giant murals and surrounded by some twenty blocks of free murals, galleries and breweries.
- Afternoon · Little Havana and Calle Ocho free · 2 to 3 hThe Cuban exiles' district along SW 8th Street, with dominoes in Máximo Gómez Park, sweet cafecito from coffee windows, cigar rollers, the 1926 Tower Theater and salsa at the Ball & Chain.
- Late afternoon · Vizcaya Museum and Gardens · 2 to 3 hJames Deering's Italian Renaissance-style winter villa on Biscayne Bay, built between 1914 and 1922, with some thirty antique-filled rooms and about 4 hectares of formal gardens running down to the water.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Kimpton EPIC Hotel ↗€250 a night
D3
Day 3
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Coral Gables and the Venetian Pool · half a dayGeorge Merrick's Mediterranean-style 1920s city of banyan-shaded streets, with a historic public pool carved from a coral rock quarry, fed by spring water, and the 1926 Biltmore hotel.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Kimpton EPIC Hotel ↗€250 a night
D4
Day 4
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Key Biscayne and Cape Florida · half a dayAn island linked by causeway whose southern tip forms Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, with a long palm-lined beach and the 1825 lighthouse, the oldest building in the Miami area.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Kimpton EPIC Hotel ↗€250 a night
D5
Day 5
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · The Everglades via Shark Valley · half a dayThe northern entrance to Everglades National Park, where a car-free 24 km loop, by bike or guided tram, crosses the river of grass among alligators, herons and anhingas to a 14-metre tower.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Burgers and barbecue: brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
- Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl: the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Mexican food: tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
- Pancakes and weekend brunch: a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
- Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyUS dollar (USD, $)
BudgetAbout €230 a day, mid-range
Best seasonDecember to April
PlugA/B · 120V
Tap waterSafe to drink
Tipping15 to 20%, expected
Emergency911
EntryUK, Australian and most EU passports need an ESTA, applied for online before departure, for stays of up to 90 days; a few EU countries sit outside the Visa Waiver Program and need a full visa. Canadians need neither, only a passport. Anyone who has been to Cuba since January 2021 cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a visa.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well off the tourist trail. In the desert parks, the heat is the real risk.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/miami
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.