Downtown Miami
The shopping and business centre abounds with tall skyscrapers, government buildings and cultural centres. It is also home to the world’s biggest cruise ship port, as well as the bustling Bayside Marketplace, a shopping and leisure complex right on the seafront, set around a small pier dotted with bars, shops, restaurants, a variety of stalls and docks offering boats for hire.

This is the main stop for water taxis and the boarding point for boats offering tours around the bay.

The coastal skyline is dominated by the American Airlines Arena, a stadium regularly packed to the rafters with more than 20.000 spectators during Miami Heat NBA games and music concerts. The Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the flamboyant venue of the Miami Film Festival and other cultural events, is also located nearby.

Bricknell Avenue, which less than a century ago was merely a developing settlement, is now lined with the biggest banks and international company head offices.

The Metromover, a raised automatic monorail that operates without a driver, allows fantastic views of the heart of the metropolis. Some of the financial district’s towering giants include the Wachovia Financial Centre and the Bank of America, noted for their changing night-lighting.

Little Havana
The Cuban exile capital since the 1960s, every inch of Little Havana radiates patriotic nostalgia. The first Caribbeans to reach the coast settled in the south east of Calle Ocho, adapting their surroundings to remind them of their beloved homeland.

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The United States is a country that spans several time zones.

Miami is 5 hours behind GMT. Florida is known as The Sunshine State, and rightly so: the climate is one of its main attractions, with sunshine and high temperatures nearly all year round – so don’t forget to take your sun cream. However, the heat can sometimes be alleviated by a cool ocean breeze.

Peak season falls in winter in Europe and in the rest of the United States, so it is a good idea to visit Miami between April and October when accommodation is cheaper and there are more rooms available.

Summers are scorching, and are only made worse by the stifling humidity.

The average temperature in August, the muggiest month of all, ranges from 26oC to 31oC. During the other months, there is no great variation in temperature but it can be far less humid. This humidity heats up the surrounding waters and generates storms, which can be common on summer afternoons.

The wettest month is June. Hurricanes, which are very prevalent in the gulf of Mexico, occur mainly between July and October. You should consult the weather forecast daily to check for any incoming weather fronts, as it can sometimes be necessary to evacuate the area.

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Some quick advices from our Guests:

1) Cuban Food – Versailles in Calle 8 (8th Street) – Little Havana
The best coffee is at David’s Cafe off Lincoln Road
The best breakfast on the beach is at the Ice Box on Michigan off Lincoln
My favorite restaurant in Miami is Michy’s on 69th and Biscayne (she also has a tapas place called Sra. Martinez)
My favorite place to dance is Discotekka in Downtown Miami
Best brunch – Nemo’s – on Collins and 1st in South Beach
Best Spa — the one at the Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key
Best local spot (a bit on the older side, but great comfort food) — Joe Allen on Purdy Avenue
Great upscale Peruvian food — Adriana’s on 94th and Harding — North Miami
Most pampering beach — the one at The Ritz on South Beach
Love to just rent a boat and go to the little keys
Driving to Key West
Riding a bike over the Venetian Causeway
Prettiest pool at The Raleigh
Late hole in the wall with many characters…Club Deuce on 14th Street (I once saw an older man in high heels, wearing a red teddy, playing pool with a biker – no, it wasn’t Halloween)

2) Go To Vita on Wednesday night if your located in South Beach.

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Question: Trying to decide between Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove and Biltmore Coral Gables — have one week to spend with two kids (girl 14, boy 10). Does anyone know these and have an opinion as to which is more fun?

1) Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables is better but Coconut Grove or Coral Gables are not really fun aerea , the two are quiet and nice but SoBe of course, is more fun. The Loews Hotel in South Beach is very good for family, also the Ritz Carlton at the begin of Ocean Drive and The Standard in Island Avenue is very safe for family. I am not sure if they have a family room but pratically you are out from the crazy South Beach area but you can reach it in a very short time by cab.

2) The Ritz Carlton in the Grove is nice… your typical RC… the Grove is great for families, in that you’re not in the middle of all the craziness of South Beach and it’s very walkable. It’s a great spot for sailing, if you’re into that. And, there are some cutesy restaurants in the area, as well as Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and Miami Science Museum which are both great for families.

The area of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables is beautiful, especially if you just hop in the car and take a drive down Dixie Highway. We would to like to suggest you also the Grove Isle Hotel & Spa. You are waterfront with a range of treatments and specialty massages in a outdoor areas, with yoga platform and a Watsu pool.

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1) While Miami is a beauty in many ways, brain-pool isn’t as robust as some other metropolitan cities – in fact it’s often the opposite!

There’s a building w/ street number 1111 on Brickell Bay Drive in downtown financial district of Miami. Recently a new building got built directly across from it, and oops, with the same street number 1111. An old cab driver pointed this out to me, saying he’s never seen anything like it in his entire life!

2) I came to a 4-way intersection, each street is a single-lane road. My lane has 3 arrows painted on it, Left, Straight, and Right !??! Hmm, did they forget any other possible direction for this one-lane road?

3) At Miami airport all of us were boarding.. after getting our boarding passes scanned, we still had to take a small escalator down to get on the plane. Well, down at the end of the escalator was a small area FILLED & FULL w/ people standing to get on the plane..not a foot of free space.. so people going down the escalator, were yelling out in panic “clear the way we’re about to get off” if we didn’t yell we would’ve stacked up on top of one another… Only in Miami !!

In the same airport bathroom, i got the auto-dispensed soap in my hand, but next thing faucet turned on and washed the soap off, didn’t give me a chance to rub the soap around.. well, the soap dispenser was installed one millimeter from the faucet (instead of the normal distance of several inches away from each other!) so I had to get the soap from the sideways to not set off the water again!

4) At my supposedly a very high-end waterfront condo, the garage entrance door automatically opens w/ a remote controller.. only thing is it opens the wrong way, the steel door flips outward toward your car windshield so if you’re close enough it could crack your windshield open!

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Comments and advices from our Guests:

1) Just a different option is downtown Miami called Brickell area.. you get the bayfront and the oceanfront views in one, and just 5-7 minutes to South Beach in non-rush hour. Brickell has great restaurants & now a growing number of popular clubs as well. It’s where a lot of locals hang out early evenings before heading out to SoBe afterwards. Plenty of condos/rentals around, and is about $200-300 per s.f. cheaper than SoBe beachfronts.

2) Do you want to be on South Beach? Dont forget there are other areas that are very nice, 7 to 10 minutes away from South Beach. There is Brickell, the Design District and Coconut Grove Areas. Are you looking to rent or buy? Send me a private message and I will assist you with all of your needs.

3) South Beach is THE only palce to stay if you are looking for beach, sun and fun! All the fun stuff is happening at SoBe and it is such a hassle with the “long” taxi drive back home in the night. Live anywhere in between 1-23 street. Enjoy!

4) Depends on what you want.…I lived at ICON- South of Fifth…..Good Fun Particularly the pool on weekends….moved up to Collins and 59 to building wioth beach club….South of Fifth is nuts and dosen’t stop- great for vacation…I got tired of that area after two years…Brickel Key is nice too…quiet and the Mandarin is right there you also have some cool new places on brickel avenue…

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For Art Basel you should try to stay at The Sagamore Hotels on South Beach if your really into Art, the hotel is beautiful and a true gem but the owners are some of the biggest art collectors in Miami and the place is always great, also a cool local scene as well on the weekends and a fun restaurant downstairs.

The Ritz Hotel in SOBE is also nice on the beach….
The best hotels are probably sold out because of Art Basel, if you are lucky and find rooms then we would suggest:
Setai,
Tides,
Victor,
W Hotel
Gansevoort.
Shaun as well and Fontainbleau is good.

If the beach is very full, there is always the Viceroy on Brickell.

Delano Hotels is real good too.

During the Art Basel in Miami, there are a lot of cocktails and parties in the Design District!
Art works everywhere in Miami Beach!

So, try to find a room in South Beach and move without car!

Here the Hotels Page to check rates in South Beach

Best Restaurants we suggest in this period:

Nobu at Shore Club, Casa Tua (Best Italian Ever), Blue Door, and Touch.
All are with walking distance in South Beach Art Decò District.

A great place (and one of the most popular in Miami Beach) to go for dinner is Prime 112.
It’s a steak house that’s always packed with people and has a great vibe.
But make sure to reserve in advance. It’s always full.
We advice that sometime even with reservations you´ll have to wait a lot,

Also Rose Bar at Delano is always a scene.

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Comments and Advices from our Guests:

Miami is a place that has fun 7 days a week. But you have to know that each place has there own day. But during weekends almost every place is fun, also you have to understand that you are coming to Miami few days before the Art Basel, so its will be crazy here, but most people who you will meet will be tourists.

Most Miami people will live the city during this weekend. So I can advice to you next places:

Friday - Evening you can go for drinks to Gansevoort roof top, its one of the latest places. Delano is also not bad place to be on this day. Night: Mint Club, Set Club and Luis Club.

Saturday – Sunday is a day of Fontainebleau hotel all day long. You can start with a pool there, for have a place near the pool, you have to get in touch with managers from pool aria and reserve places. Then u can go to the lounge aria at the same hotel, they have more then 10 restaurants and beautiful lounges inside and outside. Finally – Live Club at the same hotel, the best spot for Saturday night.

Sunday - You can start with a Shore club pool, it’s the most fun pool for young people. Its guest list only, so you have to go not from the mane entrance but from the side entrance, and say that you are going to the Jason promoter, but in this case you have to come with girls, one girl – for one boy, or you can try to buy a bottles there.
After there is not so much to do… You can go again to Shore Club for drinks, and later they have a club there – Red Room. Or you can check Set Club.

Restaurants: My first chose: Prime112, Devito, Nobu sushi, D’Azure and BartonG.
All this restaurant need reservation, specially the last one!

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