Miami is a mix of tropical air, sandy beaches, vibrant night life, colorful street art, blended cultures and amazing food. It’s no wonder that Miami is a top weekend vacation destination. So whether you’re visiting Miami for a romantic getaway, a girls weekend or at the beginning or end of your Florida road trip, this weekend in Miami will take you to all of the most popular spots and give you a taste of the city.
How Long To Spend In Miami?
We think spending 2 days or a weekend in Miami is perfect. We spent three days there and by the end of the third day we were kinda bored. However, I’ll add to that and say that we don’t love big cities and Miami is a big city. You could stay longer but you’d have to spend more money to do so as pretty much everything in Miami costs money. Additionally, if you wanted to stay longer you could take day trips outside of Miami to extend your trip.
Miami Itinerary
Day 1 – Miami Beach and Downtown
Morning – Miami Beach
Spend your first morning in Miami exploring Miami Beach. Spend a few hours lounging in the sun or getting your morning walk in on the beach. This beach is consistently voted as one of the best beaches in the US and the white sands explain this accolade.
Next, walk the streets of Miami Beach exploring the art deco buildings amazing architecture. Don’t forget to head all the way out to the South Pointe Park Pier for great views of Miami and South Beach. If you’d prefer a guided tour, there are guided tours available.
Have lunch at one of the outdoor patios in Miami Beach and enjoy people watching those on the street. There are several awesome Cuban and South American restaurants in this area. Or consider heading to Espanola Way which has a great Spanish vibe.
Afternoon – Downtown Miami
Next, head to downtown Miami. Here you can wander the streets or go shopping at the Bayside Marketplace. If shopping isn’t your thing, consider spending more time on Miami Beach before heading into downtown for a quick peak.
Finally, spend your evening on a sunset cruise of the celebrity mansions. These booze cruises operate out of the pier next to Bayside Marketplace and take you to the small islands between mainland Miami and Miami Beach. While we’re not one for celebrity stalking, we are millennials who spend more time on Zillow than any other social media, so we loved the house spying cruise. The tour guide had fun facts on the houses and fun puns for the celebrities. This was something that we weren’t sure if we’d love but it was a really good time and the only way to come close to those multimillion dollar properties.
Have dinner at one of the amazing cultural restaurants downtown. There are so many international foods offered in the downtown area.
If you’re looking for Miami nightlife, look to South Beach. The night scene here is similar to Vegas in the sense that you’ll see people from all walks of life enjoying a variety of nighttime activities. The bar scene in downtown is also nice.
Stay overnight at your Miami accommodations.
Day 2 – Art and Culture
Morning – Vizcaya
First, spend the morning at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. This place is a study in pure opulence. It is ridiculous how beautiful and wasteful this place is. I mean they built a concrete ship and sunk it so they’d have something interesting to look at in their ocean view.
Lunch – Little Havana
Next, take a food tour in Little Havana. This was the best thing we did on our weekend in Miami. Our tour guide, Betty, did an amazing job of introducing us to the culture, history and food of Little Havana. This tour fed us so much that it can be used in place of a lunch out. And if you’re still hungry after the fact, there are plenty of food stops in walking distance that you can add to the end of your tour.
These food tours typically take you to a place for mojitos, cuban sandwiches, cuban coffee and more. Additionally, if you’re interested in cigars, this would be the time to stop in a cigar shop to watch manufactures rolling or purchase a few for yourself. You’ll also go to some cultural stops like monuments to those lost in the Bay of Pigs and a Dominos club (which is a new retirement goal for us).
Afternoon – Wynwood
Next, head to the Wynwood Walls to explore the amazing street art covering the walls and galleries of art. Just to clarify – because I didn’t know until I got there – Wynwood is the neighborhood that you can wander for free. However, Wynwood Walls is a outdoor museum of street art that you have to pay to visit. You can also visit the quirky nearby shops in Wynwood – like a coffee shop/car dealership or an anime figurine shop. As you check out these strange shops, don’t forget to look all around for the art on the walls. If you’d prefer a guided tour, there are guide golf cart tours of the streets of Wynwood to help you find all of the best street art.
Finally, for dinner you could eat at one of the trendy restaurants in Wynwood. We were going to. But then we had so much fun in Little Havana we had to go back. We would highly recommend Versailles in Little Havana (the non-touristy section). This restaurant was an amazing mix of tourists and real regulars with an expansive menu.
Want to Adjust the Itinerary?
If you have less time, we recommend focusing your time on Miami Beach and Little Havana. These two neighborhoods were the most uniquely “Miami”.
If you have more time, we honestly wouldn’t spend it in Miami. We’re not big city people and doing things in Miami is expensive. So consider taking a day trip to Everglades National Park.
What To Budget For A Weekend In Miami
We spent $1100 for two people to spend a weekend in Miami. This does not include the cost of flights to Miami or what we paid for our rental car and gas. This does include parking as we wanted to show how much parking in Miami costs, which is a lot. A breakdown of these costs are below.
Accommodations – $395
Food – $320
Activities – $345
Parking – $33
Basically, Miami is a costly trip to take. These prices are all higher than other US destinations. Food and activities were what really broke the budget on this trip. Miami restaurants charge a lot for their food. In most cases we felt this was worth it. However, in the tourist areas the food wasn’t good and it was still overpriced.
Unfortunately, activities are not free in Miami. Sure there are free things you can do, like hang out at the beach. However, if you are going to spend the extra money to be IN Miami, we think you should splurge on doing “Miami” things. We felt the activities prices that we paid were fair. However, consider using coupon services, like Groupon, to find deals on these activities to save money.
Remember to tip your servers, unless you’ve already paid it. Restaurants in the touristy spots in Miami frequently include tips in their pricing. So look at the check and see if a gratuity has been included. If not, 15-20% is typical. Any guides you may have also would love a tip if they did an amazing job, 10-20% is considered a good tip.
Where to Stay in Miami
Miami is a crazy expensive place and the hotels and home rental prices reflect that. Especially if you want to stay in very walkable areas. However, walkability is a definite plus in this town as parking and traffic can be very hectic. Scott was driven crazy by the malfunctioning parking app the whole time we were in Miami.
So if you are going to splurge on location, we think staying in Miami Beach is the better option compared with downtown Miami. Miami beach has both restaurants and beaches that you will be in walking distance of.
However, if you are interested in saving a bit of money on accommodations, you’ll need to stay in a less walkable area. We stayed in North Miami and everywhere we visited was about a 20 minute drive – but we’re from a rural area and everywhere we drive is normally a 20 minute ride so we didn’t mind.
Where ever you choose to stay, plan on staying for two nights to get the most out of this weekend in Miami.
Speaking of getting the most out of your weekend in Miami, we hope this post has helped you to create an enjoyable weekend in Miami for yourself. If you have any questions or suggestions based on your own experiences, please leave them in the comments section below.
