We’re taking you to the spicy city of Miami with the hottest things to do in Miami Florida. If you are taking a vacation in Miami you’ll be spending plenty of time in the ocean and on the beach, but there are so many things to do in Miami that don’t involve those warm Caribbean waters. There are three national parks within driving distance, the Everglades is very close plus tons of family friendly and fun things to do in Miami for people of all ages.

For those of age, we recommend where to drink and where to eat in Miami including south beach, downtown, and northern Miami.We even recommend a clothing optional beach that is beautiful and easy to visit while in town. 

Miami is one of Kim’s favorite cities in America so if you’re looking for more things to do in Miami beach reach out to us! She has been 10 times and has a ton more recommendations for things to do in Miami then we could fit into one episode!

The Hottest Things to Do in Miami- Episode Transcript

3 (58s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad podcast. Today, we’re going to turn up the dial and the heat up just a little bit and talk to you all about the Florida city of Miami.

2 (1m 9s):
I love Miami. I’ve been to Miami so many times loved it every time. There’s so much to be said about the food, the culture, the beaches, the nightlife, there’s so much fun to be had for years. I have wanted to move and live in Miami. And if it wasn’t for the insane humidity, I probably would do it. Nevertheless, it’s an amazing place to vacation. You could do something different literally every time you visit.

1 (1m 34s):
Yeah. And back in September, we took a squad trip to Ecuador and you guys may have listened to that episode if you haven’t go back and listen to it. And the flights were out of Miami on a Monday morning. So we were like, we have to fly in, you know, the weekend before. So we did it just spent a few days in Miami before we boarded our flights to Ecuador

2 (1m 53s):
And we had so much fun. Did we not? We

1 (1m 55s):
Did. We had a

3 (1m 56s):
Great time, had a good time in Miami.

1 (1m 57s):
So we’re going to go ahead and start this episode off with some tips like we always do. The tip always comes first

3 (2m 3s):
Tips.

2 (2m 3s):
First tips are very important in Miami.

1 (2m 8s):
And so we’re going to share a few with you. Our first tip is you do need a rental car or be willing to use a ride sharing platform to get around in Miami.

2 (2m 16s):
And if you can avoid the rental car, like you’re not leaving major parts of the city, I would recommend going with the ride sharing platform because parking is a bitch

1 (2m 26s):
And it is, you know, on the pricier side, it’s a major city. So another tip that we have for you is to search for parking online. A lot of places are major cities now list where their major parking garages are or their street parkings are. And you can actually see it visually on a map and you can see how much it is. And you can put in the time that you get there and the time that you’re leaving and it’ll estimate the cost for you. We did that while we were in south beach Miami, and it worked great for us.

2 (2m 51s):
Yeah, you pretty much have to pay for parking everywhere you go. And it was really funny when we arrived and we’re looking at the parking garage across the street is $30 for 24 hours. And the street parking is like $4 an hour. So we’re doing all this math in our head and Brittany searching online for the cheapest lie.

3 (3m 10s):
Well, it’s funny because the hotel didn’t even have a parking lot or a garage for us. So that’s what we’re saying. Like literally if you’re going to be in south beach or even downtown area downtown, that is going to be a little bit more parking than south beach because there’s the skyscrapers, the buildings. But believe me, you’re still going to have to pay for it. And south beach, you’re hard pressed to find street parking or any hotel with it. So, I mean, I think the first night was, what did he say? It’s like $30 just for one night

1 (3m 35s):
And it didn’t have in and out privileges. So you couldn’t park your car and leave there and come back in that same 24 hours either. So immediately a little tricky, but we figured it out and I would recommend searching for parking online.

2 (3m 47s):
Another tip is to try your best to stay cool in the humidity and the heat. Don’t worry about curling your hair. Your makeup is going to sweat off. You kind of just have to live with it. So because of the humidity, it is nicer to go in the cooler months like December through may. And if you are going in the warmer months, definitely want to wear breathable clothing. Like

1 (4m 9s):
We are very important

2 (4m 10s):
Or don’t wear clothing. We saw tons of people just walking around in bikinis. Yeah.

3 (4m 15s):
That’s the style out there in Miami. That’s how they do it. You know, girls in bikinis guys in Speedos, you know,

1 (4m 21s):
And that leads us into our next tip is to bring plenty of beachwear in sandals, because that’s what you’re going to want to primarily where

2 (4m 28s):
Yes. And do not wear light tan shorts, or you’ll be worried about swamp ass the whole time,

1 (4m 34s):
Swamp ass worry. When you’re in humid places like Miami, like you want to look cute, but you’re like, how much swamp ass am I going to have? Is that going to UNCW?

3 (4m 45s):
Yeah, there was a debate one day. I don’t know if you were in on it to Brittany, because you had some sort of beige or tan shorts. I know Kim did, but she was having to rethink her whole entire outfit for the trip or for the day. Cause she was like, oh man, am I going to get like swamp ass? And then we had several checks along the way and it made it through. But I think you got lucky because it could be a real situation out there for sure.

2 (5m 7s):
Yes. And then another thing to consider with the weather is hurricane season, which is usually June through November-ish. We did go in September on this most recent trip. So technically it was hurricane season.

3 (5m 19s):
Hurricane season was over.

2 (5m 22s):
I don’t know what movie that’s from, but I know it’s a movie club. So it’s something to consider. We didn’t get hit with a hurricane when we were there, but there was a big one that had came through in the weeks prior. And you could see a lot of seaweed on the beach and in the ocean still.

3 (5m 35s):
Yeah. Like two weeks before we were there, there was a hurricane and we were wondering, oh man, is there going to be one here while we’re there? Luckily we avoided it. That is for sure. So I would recommend not going during hurricane season, we had no choice because we had international flights specifically out of Miami

1 (5m 50s):
Also would recommend to pack sunscreen and an umbrella, which kind of sounds funny, like sunscreen and an umbrella, but it’s really hot sun’s out. So you’re going to want sunscreen to protect your skin, but there are downpours just random downpours all of the time. And so you may need that umbrella. And while we were there, mid-September, that’s exactly what happened while we were on a boat, which we’ll get to later in an episode, started downpour on us. And we were glad to have umbrellas later.

3 (6m 13s):
Torrential, not even just a downpour like torrential.

2 (6m 16s):
Yes. So let’s talk about some things to do in Miami because there is plenty.

1 (6m 22s):
So Kim, you have been wanting to go on a Ferris wheel of types for years now. Like every time we get near one, you’re like, want to go on one. So we finally did, we did do the sky views, Miami observation wheel. And this is a Fairsail that towers almost 200 feet above the Bayside market has beautiful skyline views of Miami. And it has views of Biscayne bay, Bayfront park, the iconic downtown Miami skyline. And when you’re going at night, very beautifully lit up in the sky.

2 (6m 53s):
Yes. The views of downtown with all the lights was so pretty from up there.

3 (6m 58s):
We did it at night. I don’t know which would be better day or night. I think each has their pros and cons to it. I mean any city lit up at night I think is really beautiful, but the fact that it was night, we really couldn’t see too far out into the ocean, the bay. So the pros and cons may be paid to do it twice, I guess. Right.

2 (7m 14s):
And I would do it twice. I had to convince you guys, tooth and nail to get on that Ferris wheel. But

1 (7m 21s):
We got

2 (7m 21s):
On. Be glad you did.

1 (7m 23s):
I’m glad we did. And there’s 42 completely enclosed climate controlled on the LE’s and they actually have one VIP got an alert. We didn’t do it, but I hear that there’s leather buckle seats, a custom led light show and a glass bottom floor and the vehicle,

2 (7m 40s):
It wasn’t even an option for us. They didn’t ask if we wanted to VIP,

3 (7m 44s):
I think they just give it. It’s almost like the American express black card. You have to be asked. I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but yeah, I mean, we saw that that was the option after the fact, not when we did it, but at the same time, I don’t really know if I would pay to do the VIP experience on that, unless it included some free booze for me.

1 (8m 2s):
But what I did like was this observation, we’ll went around a few times. Some of them like the one in Vegas, you only go around one time.

2 (8m 9s):
I still want to do that one, by the

3 (8m 10s):
Way, let’s do it.

1 (8m 12s):
You got our money’s worth.

3 (8m 13s):
Yeah. I went around several times and it’s a great way to beat the heat. I mean, if you are at the Bayside marketplace, do this, beat the heat, whether it be night or day, because believe me at night, it’s still warm and toasty out there and humid. So that climate controlled verus wheel. Awesome.

2 (8m 27s):
Yes. And the whole reason we were at the Bayside marketplace in the first place is because this is where we got on to the Miami boat tour, which took you around Biscayne bay and introduced you to celebrity mansions on the water. Some really cool properties from the likes of J lo and the

1 (8m 46s):
Creator of Viagra. Yeah,

2 (8m 48s):
That was the biggest one.

1 (8m 50s):
No,

3 (8m 51s):
Quite literally the biggest one, they take it

2 (8m 53s):
Serious. That was pretty cool.

1 (8m 56s):
They always say you have to see Miami from the water. And so this is a great way to do so. It was a 90 minute boats who are, you got to see the Miami skyline from it and it included a drink. So we got a ticket. You could redeem it at the Bayside market or on the boat. And the gentleman that gave us their tickets gave us the ticket. So we went to go redeem it. We did redeem it. And then when he walked by to get onto the boat, he was like, I think I forgot to give you guys your drink tickets

2 (9m 22s):
Clearly walking in with our beers. And he’s like, I think I forgot to give you guys your tickets.

3 (9m 27s):
He hooked it up.

1 (9m 29s):
We got another drink.

2 (9m 31s):
Yes. And you have the choice between the Superbowl Budweiser or the equally superb bud lights.

3 (9m 38s):
Yeah. Those are the complimentary free ones. Obviously they have other drinks on there that you can pay for throughout the entire cruise that are upgrades. But the free drinks are obviously going to be just the simple beers for you or a bottle of water if you’re a non-drinker et cetera. But this is really fun. I mean, when you come to LA or Los Angeles, they have the celebrity house tours that take you through like Bel air and all the affluent communities within Los Angeles. But what’s unique about Miami is the fact that it’s a city literally on the water and all of these homes are concentrated in one area on the water. So this is their version of Miami. And I really enjoyed it. Quite honestly. I could care less about seeing celebrity homes, but what I really liked was being out on the water and just seeing the architecture.

3 (10m 19s):
I mean, even if they weren’t celebrity homes, I would just be as enthralled because it gives you a unique perspective of the city as a whole

1 (10m 25s):
In dolphins.

2 (10m 26s):
Yes. We saw dolphins by the boat.

1 (10m 29s):
Yeah, that was super cool. And this didn’t cost that much. It was like $30 or so. So it was very affordable and it included the two drinks for us.

2 (10m 36s):
So I booked the ticket. And then when I got the emailed, like ticket printout sent to me, it had a coupon code for 20% off. So I gave that to Brittany, Jamal Zayna. And even my friend who was meeting us there, who had just moved to Miami. So everyone got 20% off their ticket, which was cool.

3 (10m 55s):
Except

2 (10m 56s):
For me, I took one for the team

3 (10m 58s):
And then we rode the Ferris wheel for you. So, you know, there’s that Shut up. I’ll get you on the next round. Las Vegas. I got you on the,

2 (11m 8s):
Oh right. There are so many different neighborhoods in Miami that you could really spend your days exploring. Each of them. Downtown Miami Brickell is a really fun, cool neighborhood. I would kind of equate it to like little Italy version of San Diego, classier downtown. Nice Wynwood walls is another area in Miami, in the Wynwood arts district. Definitely recommend going here. It’s completely free. There’s big murals, beautiful painting and art everywhere. And they specifically have the Wynwood murals section. It’s a must visit.

3 (11m 42s):
I love when cities have places where there’s designated street art, whether it be officially sanctioned by the city or if it’s now an area where people actually put not, I don’t want to call it graffiti, but wall art. Right? Yeah. And it’s like when we were in Boise and they had freak alley area really enjoyed that Wynwood walls is the equivalent here in Miami where you could just get to see the local art put up throughout the city on the walls. It’s great.

2 (12m 7s):
Yeah. And this part of Miami before the murals were, there was a very shy day neighborhood. But as the murals went up and it started gentrifying, it’s now a very nice upscale neighborhood. So it’s really cool way to like save your city too or uplifted, I guess.

1 (12m 24s):
So another thing to do in Miami is you can’t miss out on the beaches. Beaches are a must when you’re in Florida and Miami specifically,

3 (12m 33s):
And what’s better than a nude beach though, right? I mean, there’s regular beaches, but let’s talk a little bit about the nude beaches because I did not go to one on this trip, but I know one of us here has visited

2 (12m 45s):
Away for a little bit. I was wondering where you went.

3 (12m 47s):
Oh yeah. I bought me a coffee if I’m being honest.

2 (12m 52s):
So I have been to a nude beach in Miami. It’s in Northern Miami at Haulover park. It’s the only nude beach in Miami, completely nude clothing, optional everyone. There is minding their own business. Totally. Butt-naked frolicking in the waves.

1 (13m 7s):
So we have a nude beach here in San Diego. How would it compare?

2 (13m 11s):
Okay. So here in San Diego, our nude beach is kind of hard to get to, you have to hike really far down the cliff, or you have to walk really far to get there. Haulover beach has a parking lot right across the street in an underground tunnel. So you can walk straight onto the beach. Oh wow. It’s a very convenient and also very private at the same time.

3 (13m 29s):
We’re walking naked from the closet to the beach cab,

2 (13m 34s):
But it’s possible.

3 (13m 36s):
I would imagine though, not to give discredit to San Diego, but everyone knows what Miami is. I would imagine there’s better beach bodies on that beach than there are here at Black’s beach in San Diego.

2 (13m 47s):
There are still the plenty of older generations out there. New just like there are here. I feel like every nude beach has a bunch of old people. That’s

3 (13m 55s):
True.

2 (13m 58s):
That’ll be me out there when I’m, when I get past 30.

1 (14m 2s):
So we also visited south beach. That’s actually where we stayed in Miami. When we went to Ecuador and south beach has a lot of fun bars. There’s a main strip where there’s a lot of restaurants, bars, places to eat, things like that. And we did a lot in south beach. We went to see the Versace house, have any watched the American crime story show with Versace.

3 (14m 23s):
I know you guys can’t see me squad as I’m raising my hand. Of course I’ve seen this one.

1 (14m 26s):
So we had to go by the Versace has switched. They have turned into a hotel, which is super cool. And we walked down the main street and south beach, which has like the art deco district. And it’s on ocean drive. We got free mojitos.

2 (14m 39s):
Oh, hell yeah.

3 (14m 40s):
You know, when you see stuff from movies or TV shows about Miami, they always show images and street scenes here in south beach when people are just rollerblading or biking along the way or on the beach, all those famous buildings and restaurants and bars, it’s all here in south beach. And quite honestly, when we were there, this was my favorite area that we went to granted. I know probably not a lot of locals go there unless they’re really truly like rollerblading or riding a bike through and it’s more touristy, but it is what I expected of Miami because of what I see on TV shows and movies. So for me, it was really enjoyable to really just get to see that. But minus that, aside in that stretch with the restaurants and bars, it’s great place to go.

3 (15m 21s):
And I mean, it’s on the ocean front. I mean, you could tell by the name of the street ocean drive the ocean’s right there. So you will enjoy the beaches right there on south beach to

2 (15m 30s):
It’s like they’re gay district over here in south beach. So around pride, this is an amazing place to be. It was actually pride season when we were there. So there was, you know, rainbow flags and pride stuff everywhere, but it’s definitely the iconic Miami look with the art deco. This is the whole art deco district, the colorful life guard towers that are so beautiful. And I wish our lifeguard towers look like that. Everything’s so colorful there there’s neon lights everywhere.

3 (15m 56s):
So many pink buildings. I

2 (15m 57s):
Love it.

3 (15m 58s):
Purple yellow whitewashed. Yeah, it’s great. Like I said, this was really my favorite part, even as cliche as it was.

1 (16m 5s):
I don’t know if it was because the COBIT or if this was like this beforehand, but part of ocean drive is shut down to cars. So they have it blocked off for just pedestrians to walk down, which was very nice at night.

2 (16m 15s):
Yeah. I think that was new since COVID, cause I’ve been there plenty of times before, and it’s always busy like that, but I don’t think it was shut down.

3 (16m 22s):
I did notice a lot of restaurants actually had tables that were pushed out onto the street. So I think it was probably closed for that to give more space and outside dining, which if you’re going to go and do that, it’s going to be hot out there. I would recommend doing it at night. Plus it’s going to be lit up a little bit more. So would it be cooler and cooler in the sense that it’s lit up at night and not as hot

2 (16m 42s):
Say though, this time that we went the beach, wasn’t that nice. There was a lot of seaweed in the water and up on the shores

3 (16m 50s):
To hurricane.

2 (16m 50s):
Yeah, I know. But we did go to some other beaches in Miami and they were a little bit better. Maybe they weren’t in the hurricane path as much, but we went up to Hollywood beach, which is about 45 minutes north of Miami. Not technically the city of Miami, but the beach, there was so nice.

3 (17m 9s):
I constitute at Miami because it’s like Los Angeles, there’s Los Angeles and everything around it. There’s Miami, then there’s everything around it. It’s Miami. But yes. Outside city limits technically. Yes.

2 (17m 19s):
Yes. But that the sand was super nice. There was no seaweed and no matter where you go in Miami, the water is nice and warm. It’s not cold. Like our water over here in San Diego,

3 (17m 29s):
This is the type of ocean water that I could get into. No problem.

2 (17m 33s):
You did get in.

3 (17m 34s):
I know I did. Usually I pussyfoot around when I get into the water cause it’s cold and I hate getting into cold water and I have to go and slowly, but when I’m in tropical places and the water’s warm as you’re describing Kim, I get right in and I did. It’s very, very enjoyable. I like it a lot. Perfect. Ocean temp.

2 (17m 50s):
Yes. And then a little south of Hollywood beach is a more local community beach called sunny Isles beach. It’s super clean. They have chairs out there that you can use. And the water’s really nice there too, but you really can’t go wrong with the beach anywhere in Miami. It’s just amazing. And the humidity is not that bad. If you’re in the water,

3 (18m 10s):
If you’re in the water, if you’re in the water, oh man. You know what? Humidity always makes it worse. But I will tell you what that son pierces you, you know, you could be standing in the shade and still feel hot and sticky from the humidity. But the moment you put just one little inch of your skin in the sun, it’s almost like an extra little piercing on you. It’s terrible. But that’s what happens when you go during hot season. This was my first time in Florida. Believe it or not outside the month of January, every time I’ve been to Florida, except for this time has always been like,

1 (18m 38s):
We went to Florida in may one year and we went to Orlando and we went to Disneyland.

3 (18m 44s):
Ah, yeah. So this was my second time in Florida outside that normal timeframe. Yes. But you know what we were in may. So it was still coming off of that. A little bit of a cooler season. This was at the crux of it and it was definitely warm.

1 (18m 55s):
Yeah. Last time when we were in, may you experienced the love bug season? No.

3 (18m 59s):
Yeah, I do. I, how could I forget? Lovebug season is a terrible to have an experience out there. It’s like a locust plague.

1 (19m 6s):
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1 (20m 20s):
But when we went to Miami this last time we did dine around in the city. Jamal really has been craving a Cuban sandwich. And that’s like what he wanted to get on this.

3 (20m 30s):
I needed a coupons. I mean, how can you go to Miami and not get their famous Cubano sandwich? I mean, you have to.

2 (20m 36s):
And we did. We went to Los Olas cafe, which is one of the most highly recommended places for the famous Cuban sandwich. And how was it?

3 (20m 45s):
It was delicious. I enjoyed it very much. You know, we tried one at a restaurant in south beach when we were getting our drink. That was very, very good. This one was flavored better. Although they put it more on a thin sandwich and they cut it in the weirdest way that I wouldn’t have to cut a sandwich ever in my life. But

2 (21m 3s):
Tell them, what did it look

3 (21m 4s):
Like? Oh my gosh. Well, it was, I don’t want to call it like a French roll cause it wasn’t on a French roll, but it was a long sandwich, almost like a little French bread, but get but smaller than that. Right. And then they’d cut it down the middle. And by down the middle, I’m talking like long ways, Hotdog style down the middle. I’m like, why would you cut a sandwich like that? Cut it in half the other way.

2 (21m 24s):
So it was like 14 inches long and like one inch wide,

3 (21m 29s):
It’s a little weird,

1 (21m 30s):
No line. And that’s like how they cut it routinely. So, you know, it wasn’t like it was a weird experience. That’s their thing,

3 (21m 37s):
I guess. So, but again, because the day before, because I love the coupons so much and I needed to try it from Los Olas cafe. Also one of the most famous places, Miami to get it, I had to, and they did not serve it that way in the restaurant. But granted that’s a restaurant versus like an actual cafe or street food, if you will. But the , I mean, you could tell by the name Cuban, if you don’t know now, you know, Miami or Florida in general has a very large Cuban population. So this is one of their sandwiches, traditionally that they have it’s roast pork, ham mustard, pickle with Swiss cheese. It is absolutely delicious, simple, but delicious. I love simple but delicious things. And that’s what this is.

2 (22m 17s):
Well we’re at Los Olas cafe also got a colada, which is something I always get when in Miami it’s a tiny coffee, but it’s very strong. So it comes in a little cup, maybe like eight ounces. And then they give you several mini cups to drink it. Then mini cups is one serving size.

3 (22m 36s):
It’s like a sip. Yes, maybe two at best.

2 (22m 38s):
And it’s really strong, really delicious. They put a ton of sugar in it and highly recommend that the only places I’ve ever seen it outside of Los Olas cafe are random convenience stores, gas stations.

3 (22m 51s):
So other like restaurants in Miami don’t really have it, but gas stations. Yeah.

2 (22m 55s):
Yes. So if you’re going to get gas, look for the Collada and definitely get it.

3 (22m 59s):
I loved it. I thought it was delicious way better than an espresso or a cappuccino that most people would think when they think of small, quick coffee, this was super, super good.

2 (23m 8s):
And then if you’re in the mood for something a little bit more fancy, I would recommend the rusty Pelican. It’s a fine dining seafood restaurant with amazing views of downtown across the water. It’s

1 (23m 20s):
You don’t even like seafood.

2 (23m 22s):
I don’t like seafood, but a friend of mine is the bar manager there. And that is why I’m recommending it. Also. It’s just beautiful. Just go there for a drink, forget the seafood.

3 (23m 31s):
And there’s some places that you go to just dine for the view regardless of the food situation. And regardless for you, cause I know it’s fine. Dining seafood, we love, but you can’t not enjoy a place to eat. That has an amazing view. And if this gives you the views, then that’s fantastic.

2 (23m 46s):
They also do a brunch. So if you’re don’t want seafood options go for brunch.

1 (23m 51s):
And if you’re looking for another fine dining experience, go to Publix Further,

2 (23m 57s):
Which a mall raves about public sandwiches.

3 (24m 1s):
I rave about public. So Publix is a supermarket guys. I know, sorry to recommend a supermarket here for you, but anytime I go to the east coast, because there are very few states along the east coast, Florida probably has the most publics out of any of the states that have them. But anytime we’re in that area, I always go there and get one of their deli sandwiches. I rave about them. As Kim said, Brittany made the insinuation that I consider it fine dining that I do not. However, any time that we’re in Florida, I love to go there for a quick and easy bite to eat. Especially if you’re going to be going to the beach, pick up the sandwich, take it with you to the beach. You’re not going to regret it. Very inexpensive, super, super good.

3 (24m 41s):
So not a place to dine if you will, but a place for you to get something solid to take to the beach.

1 (24m 47s):
And if you’re looking for a dessert, go get a key lime pie because Keala and pies are native to Florida, highly recommended. They’re sweet. They’re tart they’re custardy and they’re topped with meringue. They’re definitely refreshing too. So enjoy when, while you’re in Miami, have you had a key line pike in,

2 (25m 3s):
I have had a key lime pie. It wasn’t in Miami, but it was on the drive back from key west to Miami. So in that neighborhood highly recommend them. And there, I think they taste better when you’re in that area too.

3 (25m 16s):
So, you know, what’s really funny is I had forgotten about the one other time that I had been to Florida outside the month of January. And when that was, we actually went to the skein national park, which is just south of Miami, a little bit out in the water there, beautiful coral reef. I think we’re going to touch upon that and a little bit here, but they were talking about like key limes. Like when we were out there, I’m like, why are they talking about like key limes had no clue. They were native from the region, let alone talking about the keys, like the Florida keys and the keys in the island out there had no clue that that’s where key limes come from. I learned something new on that trip as a matter of fact. So they are native to that region. You do have to try them.

1 (25m 55s):
And that leads us into key lime beer, which kind of leads us into our next section, which is like drink and parties. But if you have never had a Keyline beer, highly recommended, very refreshing to have super amazing to eat with like concreters

2 (26m 9s):
Well, I can hold on the crunk fritters, but the Keyline beer sounds really good. I wish we would have gotten when we were just there. It sounds amazing. But my favorite time now drinks and partying because this is Miami baby it’s beaches and partying. That’s what Miami is known for. So when you’re in Miami, definitely get mojitos and pina coladas. You can get them anywhere, try them all drink them all.

3 (26m 32s):
I’m a Mohito man. I will tell you this mojitos are delicious. And the one that we had when we were in south beach exceptional, something about a refreshing mint cocktail just hits when it’s disgustingly humid outside.

2 (26m 45s):
We were out there at night too, when we had that. Okay. So squad tip for you When you’re walking down south beach, looking at all of the restaurants that go into there’s hostess out there who are trying to get you in, pass them by if you’re interested in going into a place. What happened to us is the lady said, Hey, if you come back, I’ll give you a free Mohito. So we came back and we got free mojitos and also, yeah, it was amazing. So there’s a trick for you.

3 (27m 14s):
I heard it is actually commonplace. Like if you pass that stuff up, I mean, a lot of hostesses out there can offer you something. Will they give you a legitimate cocktail? Like we gotta replace, not necessarily, but sometimes they’ll give in a little freebie or a little baby app or something to that effect.

2 (27m 28s):
And we were like, I don’t really taste the alcohol in this. And then like five minutes later, his name was like, I feel the alcohol,

3 (27m 35s):
But that’s how good it was. You know, it’s a good drink when you can’t even taste the alcohol. Then five minutes later, you’re just like, man, that alcohol is creeping up.

2 (27m 42s):
There is another bar in south beach that is random for being south beach. It’s an Irish bar called Finnegan’s way. And I recommend you go here for the bulldog, which is a 45 ounce giant margarita with two upside down Corona beers inside of it. So go there, live out your sneaky fantasies like I did and get yourself one.

3 (28m 2s):
I feel like in our most recent episode, Kim, you talked about getting this exact drink and living out your sneaky fantasy. So it’s funny that you’re bringing it up again right now.

2 (28m 11s):
Is that good? I, and I’ve gotten it multiple times and I’ve brought in friends there. I tried to get you guys to go and you guys weren’t having,

3 (28m 17s):
Yeah. It’s funny that they’re serving margaritas at an Irish bar, Irish bars in the middle of south beach.

2 (28m 22s):
It is very weird, but I have seen these bulldogs on other menus outside of just this bar. So keep your eye open for that.

3 (28m 30s):
Well, you’ve been to Miami more times than us Kim. So what other places are, they’re really good to go drink and party out.

2 (28m 36s):
There’s just a ton of bars. You could walk into so many, not just in south beach, but any part of Miami, even the mall we were at Bayside market there’s bars everywhere. But for nightclubs, the nightclubs scene here goes until four or 5:00 AM. So the one nightclub that I have been to is space nightclub. It’s one of the most popular nightclubs in Miami. I would recommend you show up around 1:00 AM because that’s when the party kind of gets going and then leave around four before it

3 (29m 1s):
Closes around four. Yes,

1 (29m 3s):
I would need to sleep before the nightclub. Oh

2 (29m 6s):
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I took a nap before I went,

1 (29m 8s):
I mean like a full on sleep. Eight hours, wake up, get ready.

2 (29m 12s):
Also after leaving the nightclub, we drove back up north bursting in Northern Miami that time. And there are cafes that are open and I went into this cafe. We went for like coffee and a sandwich or something fully booked up in there at four in the morning of regular people. Just dining. Interesting. Yeah. You would expect it to be like drunk people, but no, it was just regular people. They’re a little different out there. Yeah. So the bar that I mentioned, Finnegan’s way I’ve talked about this in the previous episode, talking about it right now. I talk about it all the time. We also have this listed as one of our recommended places to eat and drink. When in Miami, in our itinerary on Florida S three national parks.

2 (29m 55s):
If you get that itinerary, we recommend everything from where to go, what to do, where to stay. And this was one of the recommended places. So I can’t say it enough guys.

1 (30m 4s):
And that is a really great segue because we’re going to talk about visiting the national parks next because Miami is a great hub for that Everglades. National park is only 45 minutes to an hour outside of Miami. We did do a day trip there while we were there. We did do an airboat tour.

2 (30m 19s):
Airboat was very fun, but I’m disappointed. We didn’t see any Gators in the wild

1 (30m 24s):
This time. We did not see any this time. However, we’ve gone in January before taking the same airboat tour. And we thought a ton of Gators naturally, what we did see both times is they do have this little show afterwards where they feed the crocodiles. So we did see that

2 (30m 41s):
I did see that. And the Everglades is really pretty. I took some amazing video footage and it just looks surreal.

3 (30m 46s):
Yeah, it was really pretty out there. You know, Brittany had mentioned, we had gone before in January and we saw alligators and crocodiles. And by the way, this is the only place in the entire world where alligators and crocodiles co-exist together in one habitat. So really cool and unique in that aspect. I’m just right outside a major us city, but I feel really bad. Cause I remember when we were driving out there at Kim, you asked, oh, how many Gators and Crocs do you think we’re going to see? And I scoffed at how stupid I thought the question was. I was like, we’re going to see a whole shit ton of them because the time that Brittany and I had gone before, when we were leaving out of Miami for a cruise and had gone to Everglades national park, we saw literally like a ton of them, a ton of them and our guide ended up telling us, he said, yeah, you know, we’re here at the time of year.

3 (31m 31s):
What’s actually exceptionally hot. So around 9 30, 10 o’clock in the morning when the sun’s starting to really, really peak and shine, they go under water. They can hold their breath for hours on end before they surface. So he says they don’t even come up until later on in the day around like five, six o’clock at night around that time. So our boat tour happened to be in that timeframe when they’re hibernating. And if you want to call it or just stay in underwater to keep cool because it’s so freaking hot out there. So if you go and want to experience it and see the Crocs and Gators, I would avoid the hot season, if you will.

2 (32m 4s):
And another squad tip, Check on Groupon for the air boat ticket because you can end up getting really good deals of like buy one, get one free or some percentage off the face value price.

1 (32m 18s):
Yeah. We were talking about, you know, are we going to buy the tickets together and buy them separately? We ended up buying them separately. And for whatever reason, I just like had a hunch to search the park that we went to is called like safari Everglades and Groupon popped up. So I clicked on it and we pretty much got our tickets two for one.

3 (32m 37s):
Yeah. And that’s one thing to also keep in mind, even though we are in a national park, the national park and the government does not provide the tours and air boats out there, they’re all privately owned businesses that do it. So when Brittany mentioned that name of the operator, there are tons of operators out there, but you’re not going to find anything that’s run or administered by the national park service to give those tours.

2 (32m 58s):
If you buy your ticket through Groupon though, you will not get refunded. If you have a national park pass. So there’s a fee that’s built into your ticket, that if you purchase it from the operator directly, when you get there, they’ll refund you a certain amount. But if you buy it through Groupon, you have to scratch that refund. But it doesn’t really matter because you’re saving more money in the long run.

1 (33m 17s):
Exactly. And Miami is very close to another national park called Biscayne national park. It’s also 45 minutes to an hour away from Miami. And it’s very popular for snorkeling because the park is 95% water.

3 (33m 31s):
Yeah. So this bay right here, Biscayne bay, it’s famous for its tropical waters. Really great temperature, clear blue waters, shallow. There’s manatees out there, close to the shore. So you can come across and encounter those. But the real thing that you really going to go out there to do, cause you for sure will see this. No guarantee on the manatees is going out there to those coral reefs and doing some amazing snorkeling out there. Again, the park is 95% water. That 5% that’s on land is really nothing other than just the shore areas of it. So in order to see this park, you have to either have a boat or do a charter out there with a company that will take you to the reefs to go snorkeling and absolutely amazing.

3 (34m 11s):
Love it out there to do that.

2 (34m 12s):
If we would’ve had more time on our most recent trip, I would’ve loved to go out there snorkeling. Yeah.

1 (34m 17s):
It’s really fun. And you only need half a day to do

2 (34m 19s):
It. We, I know we were kind of debating like Everglades or Biscayne bay and we couldn’t do both. And because we didn’t see alligators in the wild, I kind of wish we did this

3 (34m 27s):
One next time. We’re in Miami.

2 (34m 29s):
Yes. And there will be a next time.

3 (34m 30s):
Yes. Another quick thing to do is take a day or weekend trip to the Florida keys. So again, we’re good and you out of Miami, but kind of thinking it in the aspect of, you know, using it a little bit as a hub. So you are close to the Florida keys. Key Largo is only about an hour and a half away. Key west is close to four hours, three hours, 45 minutes to it. So you can do that in a day trip or stay overnight from key west. If you want to continue on with the theme of the national parks, you can take a ferry to dry Tortugas. That’s a whole day event. I know Kim, you mentioned the itinerary a little bit earlier about all of the Florida national parks. We actually had an episode on that episode 49. So just trying to lump that all together, if you want more information on it.

3 (35m 12s):
But I mean to go to the Florida keys is iconic. Everyone hears and knows of the Florida keys. It’s that stretch of little islands that they have connected by bridge all the way south of Miami, out into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, very unique experience to drive it and do that. So if you’re in Miami, utilize that and do a weekend or day trip to the keys.

1 (35m 32s):
Yeah. Key Largo is only an hour and a half away from Miami key west is about four hours away from Miami. But if you do do key west, definitely make sure it’s a day or overnight trip go to a dried fruit to goes national park. Then you’ll hit the big three. Definitely recommend the keys in general.

2 (35m 48s):
And Miami is also a really nice hub. So we used it kind of as a hub since we were flying from Ecuador or to Ecuador from Miami. But there are a ton of cruises that dock and load here.

3 (35m 59s):
That’s my favorite thing to do in Miami is to be out there and go on a cruise.

2 (36m 3s):
I have taken a cruise from Miami to the Caribbean, and that was really, really fun. You can fly over to Cuba pretty easily from Miami. When I went to Cuba, we flew from Miami. So there’s a ton of stuff to do in the city, but also really smart place to hub it out.

3 (36m 18s):
Oh yeah. Miami is a strategic airport for lots of quick routes into the Caribbean. So if you want to go to Nassau in The Bahamas, like you said, Kim, Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman, islands, even can Coon for that matter. If you’re going to be going to Mexico, us Virgin islands, Puerto Rico, you can find a lot of very inexpensive flights to these regions because this is the main hub area to get to that part of the world and the Caribbean through Miami. So if you’re going to be out there, utilize it as a hub and maybe take like a day trip or two out to one of these amazing places in the Caribbean

2 (36m 50s):
Downtown Miami airport is also very central. So if you have a long layover, more than a couple hours, you can definitely stash your luggage or if you checked it even better and go out and see Miami for a short time. All right, Squatty, thank you so much for tuning into our episode this week. Keep the adventures going with us by following us on Instagram, YouTube at Travel Squad Podcast, tag us in your travel adventures and send us in your questions of the week.

3 (37m 13s):
If you found the information in this episode to be useful, or if you thought we were just playing funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes,

1 (37m 27s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you by

2 (37m 32s):
Squatty