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Vacationing in Miami...need suggestions!

JLAudio

JLAudio

Mareva, Lancero, and Minuto Whore!
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
1,113
Location
Chicago, IL
Just planned a vacation in Florida with my girlfriend...staying at a friends condo on the beach in Fort Myers for FREE! Just the two of us! Thus I have some extra spending money, and need some suggestions on where to go! She is totally cool with driving around so I can find stogies.

The dates will be Aug. 11-19. Will be driving to Miami over that weekend, where I will be watching the Cubs beat the Marlins ass...twice (Friday-Saturday)!!!! Since I'll already be there, I plan on checking out 8 & 11th street...ya know Pepin's place and La Gloria...and checking out the beach. But that's all I got!!!!! :(

I know there already is a post someone started on travelling to miami and where to go, but there were some PM's in there, so hopefully you guys could help me out this time!

Help a BOTL out! :thumbs:

It's my first trip to Miami and I wanna do it up with tons of cigars and tons of liquor and tons of fun! Money probably won't be an object...well...that's a lie...need to keep it semi-budget friendly!

Any suggestions on where to go?
Who to talk to?
Attractions?
Bars/Clubs?
Beaches?...............................you get the point!
 
The pool at The Raleigh on South Beach is phenomenal. And I think as a guest you can go to other art deco hotel pools in the area. And there is some kind of weekly pool party at night to boot. I don't have the details on this, but I'm sure if you call the hotel, they can give you the run down.

The rooftop bar at The Hotel on South Beach is great for smoking cigars also.

That's my first wave of suggestions. More to follow (if I can unclog my brain).

Cheers,
Chris
 
With regard to the Miami area, I may be able to help.

The most popular beach is South Beach, which is located on Ocean Drive from 5th Street and 14th Street. Parking is available on Ocean Drive and in several area parking garages. (If you use a GPS, entering 500 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL, should get you right to the general area.) Ocean Drive has many bars and restaurants that serve good food and drinks.

What kind of music do you listen to? It makes it easier determining what clubs or bars to send you to.

Miami does not have many attractions like Orlando's Disney World and Universal Studios. (I think this is what you mean by attractions.) We have the Miami Seaquarium, MetroZoo, Vizcaya Estate, and the South Beach area's art deco look.
 
Definately check out Calle Ocho, but it really isn't a tourist attraction. Great Cuban food and the cigar places, just don't expect too much, from my experience anyway. Have fun!
 
MandyPi said:
What kind of music do you listen to? It makes it easier determining what clubs or bars to send you to.

Miami does not have many attractions like Orlando's Disney World and Universal Studios. (I think this is what you mean by attractions.) We have the Miami Seaquarium, MetroZoo, Vizcaya Estate, and the South Beach area's art deco look.
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I listen to pretty much anything besides country...

And I don't really mean 'attractions' in the normal sense (like Disney), I just meant anything worth while to go see besides a bar/cigar lounge/beach.

Thanks for the input so far
 
All depends on what you're into and what you want to get out of it.

Gabby is at Sabor Havana. There are a few locations - Coral Gables, Doral, Kendall/S. Miami. He'll likely be at the S. Miami store. One hell of an outstanding BOTL and you'll be well advised to take him up on his (typically generous) offer.

Mandy hit on some touristy type places, but those are all kind of far apart. The Seaquarium is somewhat close to Vizcaya, but Metro Zoo is out in b.f.e. Parrot Island is closer to the Seaquarium and Vizcaya if you're into that sort of thing.

Kind of a touristy thing to do - but really quite fun (I live here and I even took it once) - is the Duck Tour. It starts on Miami Beach, goes throughout South Beach, Ocean Dr. and over to Miami/Parrot Island and hits the Star Island area. Fun for what it is. South Beach will likely be packed, but as others have said, there's some great places to eat and just hang out - just expect service to be pretty crappy which is generally the case on the beach. Also on South Beach there's a couple of spots to hit - Espanola Way and Lincoln Road (which runs from basically Alton Rd to Washington Ave.) Tons of great shops, restaurants and some cigar shops there - but all of the cigar shops in that area (now that Tropical Cigar closed its doors) are owned by Deco Drive Cigars and tend to be way over priced and with the sticks - for the most part - in less than desirable condition. I never go to those places at all.

You'd do well to go into Little Havana and just basically hit 8th street from, say Douglas/37th Avenue, going all the way east to I-95. Way too many cigar factories/shops to even mention, but you can hit Pepins, Titan de Bronze, Top Cigar, El Credito (i.e., LGC), Macabi/Sosas (by Versailles and La Carreta - for some great food, cafe and postres) over near 8th and 35th, and then you can leave 8th street and go over to Padron's. Puros Indios is out of that area too and they have a great place over on 22nd. There's really an infinite amount of places to go to, shops to hit, food to grab, etc. on 8th Street - El Pub, El Rey de Las Fritas, etc.

You can also head over the Rickenbacker and just head over to Key Biscayne. A nice park out there if you follow it all the way down until it basically ends. There's a tremendous fish restaurant out there next to no name marina and, oddly, right now I can't recall the name of the restaurant - but, it's in the state park. They will serve you up tremendously great WHOLE fried yellowtail, grouper, hog snapper - whatever they have on hand that's been caught recently. Inexpensive as well. If you're out there, you might see about hooking up with a charter (I'm sure it can be done, but as a boat owner, I don't know myself) to see about being taken out to Stiltsville. That is a great experience and I'm sure you'll like it.

Nightlife in Miami/Miami Beach is another thing altogether and, as others have stated, all depends on what you want. From the ether-world of Space to Mansion to Purdy Lounge to Jazid to Mynt to...well, it all depends on what type of club/music/experience you want. Hell, you might even want to hit Club Madonna on So. Beach or Solid Gold. :laugh:

Anyway, enjoy your time here and search out some prior threads on this to cover any other options that might be overlooked herein.
 
MiamiCubano said:
All depends on what you're into and what you want to get out of it.

Gabby is at Sabor Havana. There are a few locations - Coral Gables, Doral, Kendall/S. Miami. He'll likely be at the S. Miami store. One hell of an outstanding BOTL and you'll be well advised to take him up on his (typically generous) offer.

Mandy hit on some touristy type places, but those are all kind of far apart. The Seaquarium is somewhat close to Vizcaya, but Metro Zoo is out in b.f.e. Parrot Island is closer to the Seaquarium and Vizcaya if you're into that sort of thing.

Kind of a touristy thing to do - but really quite fun (I live here and I even took it once) - is the Duck Tour. It starts on Miami Beach, goes throughout South Beach, Ocean Dr. and over to Miami/Parrot Island and hits the Star Island area. Fun for what it is. South Beach will likely be packed, but as others have said, there's some great places to eat and just hang out - just expect service to be pretty crappy which is generally the case on the beach. Also on South Beach there's a couple of spots to hit - Espanola Way and Lincoln Road (which runs from basically Alton Rd to Washington Ave.) Tons of great shops, restaurants and some cigar shops there - but all of the cigar shops in that area (now that Tropical Cigar closed its doors) are owned by Deco Drive Cigars and tend to be way over priced and with the sticks - for the most part - in less than desirable condition. I never go to those places at all.

You'd do well to go into Little Havana and just basically hit 8th street from, say Douglas/37th Avenue, going all the way east to I-95. Way too many cigar factories/shops to even mention, but you can hit Pepins, Titan de Bronze, Top Cigar, El Credito (i.e., LGC), Macabi/Sosas (by Versailles and La Carreta - for some great food, cafe and postres) over near 8th and 35th, and then you can leave 8th street and go over to Padron's. Puros Indios is out of that area too and they have a great place over on 22nd. There's really an infinite amount of places to go to, shops to hit, food to grab, etc. on 8th Street - El Pub, El Rey de Las Fritas, etc.

You can also head over the Rickenbacker and just head over to Key Biscayne. A nice park out there if you follow it all the way down until it basically ends. There's a tremendous fish restaurant out there next to no name marina and, oddly, right now I can't recall the name of the restaurant - but, it's in the state park. They will serve you up tremendously great WHOLE fried yellowtail, grouper, hog snapper - whatever they have on hand that's been caught recently. Inexpensive as well. If you're out there, you might see about hooking up with a charter (I'm sure it can be done, but as a boat owner, I don't know myself) to see about being taken out to Stiltsville. That is a great experience and I'm sure you'll like it.

Nightlife in Miami/Miami Beach is another thing altogether and, as others have stated, all depends on what you want. From the ether-world of Space to Mansion to Purdy Lounge to Jazid to Mynt to...well, it all depends on what type of club/music/experience you want. Hell, you might even want to hit Club Madonna on So. Beach or Solid Gold. :laugh:

Anyway, enjoy your time here and search out some prior threads on this to cover any other options that might be overlooked herein.
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MiamiCubano has given you a perfect synopsis of the South Florida area. :thumbs: I could not have said it better myself.
 
wow...greatly appreciated MiamiCubano! Fantastic ideas...now I just have to sort them out :laugh:
 
spend as much time asw you can if you want stuff to do besides the beach, eat, and shop because thats about all there is to do over here in the ft myers/naples area.
 
South Beach = Cuban, Columbian, Costa Rican, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, Dominican and any other hispanic fine a$$ women!

Ft. Lauderdale = Fine American women

YOU DECIDE!
 
MandyPi said:
uptown_isy said:
ggiese said:
Two words - SOUTH BEACH!!! :love:
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Spend a night in South Beach....you won't need anymore. Ft Lauderdale is a much better crowd.
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Sorry but I beg to differ. I have been many times to both places and prefer South Beach.

MiamiCubano.....any thoughts??
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"Much better crowd?" All depends on what you're after. Personally, I try to stay out of Broward County to all extent humanly possible. I did pick up a penthouse there (at Las Olas) which I brought pre-construction and then turned around and sold it once developed - just in advance of our current market. I can tell you, that the whole Ft. Lauderdale and Las Olas crowds are very college-esque. It's very reminscent of, say, Tuscaloosa or any college-town - Gainesville, etc. Add to that the fact that it is now struggling - not as many are going. You get a lot of transplants there too - many of the NYC/NJ crowd tend to come down and hang out - older folks as well - where it gets older and crappier the further north you go (e.g., Ft. Lauderdale, Boca, WPB, PSL). I was glad to have sold that property.

There are some better breaks up there (surfing wise), but I still refuse to go up - just can't stand it.

Stick to South Beach - you'll be far happier and have much more to do.
 
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