A Girls Weekend in Miami
Alright it’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything. Partly unmotivated but also honestly things have been rather hectic and busy! I’ve moved apartments, lived in Denver for a month, organized my apartment, traveled with my bumble bffs (yes, I made new friends through bumble bff and I couldn’t be more grateful for it).
I of course bring the bumble bff’s up because they were my travel companions on this trip! I had the entire week off for July 4th (thank you LinkedIn for taking care of your employees and giving us a break) and the other two wanted to use some PTO time and what perfect opportunity than summer in Florida!? ok we maybe coulda picked a better time because it was very warm haha.
Anyway enough of that! Here’s a little recap of what we did and of course suggestions on what else to do in Miami in 5 days.
Day 1:
After a very early flight and studying for my PADI recertification course on the plane we landed in the hot hot hot Miami! I know I did grow up in the tropics but I really do forget what the humidity and heat feels like.
We decided to stay in Mid-beach on Miami Beach at the AC Hotel Miami Beach Marriot which is a modern hotel with a super cute pool and of course nice hotel bar. The room was great and perfect for us 3 to share! Which of course turns into a hot mess when you add 3 girls into one room haha. However If i were to come back I’d stay in a slightly different area since there was a lot of renovation going on and honestly the Brickle area looks more like my scene.
Our next stop was dinner at Ola Restaurant just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It was a classic Latin restaurant filled with so many great cocktails and amazing ceviche and food.
Being in Miami we new we wanted to head out so we found some night clubs to check out. It isn’t like Vegas and getting on guest list isn’t as easy. We ended up going to Komodo which was fun but very small and EDM-esk music and Vendome which was more hip hop. However if you really want to go out I’d check out these clubs.
Clubs:
Day 2:
After a very long night out and a lot of fun we got ourselves out of bed and ready to hit the day running! On our list of places to check out was Bistro Cafe over on the ‘mainland’ but of course we picked a super popular restaurant and there was about an 1 and a half wait sadly they, dont take reservations, so make sure you get there early or be prepared to wait. We knew we wanted to eat here so we googled the nearest bar walking distance to us to grab a drink while we waited. And we ended up at Esotico Miami which was a super cute bar and restaurant so if you don’t want to wait this place could be a great alternative option! However just looking for a drink, then I highly recommend getting a caipirinha.
When we get back to Bistro Cafe we all order a round of Mimosas with popsicales inside with a choice of a few different flavors from mango to strawberry and even guava! I landed on Strawberry, ya know a little basic but oh well haha. Anyway our food came and wow we were in shock at not only how delicious it looked but the portion size….. thank goodness we decided to shared everything because they were so large. So just be warned you don’t need to order too much. However we ended up taking some leftovers and it made for great drunk food that evening haha. But seriously everything was so amazing!
After a couple more drinks either you can head out or do what we did which was head back to the hotel to soak in the sun by the pool. Before we had to head out to our dinner.
Dressed and ready to go to our reservation at Mila which is a little upscale and amazing food. Being in Miami and so close to the ocean most of the places we went to served a lot of seafood and everything was great! So we though why change up and let’s order more seafood. We had to order some more ceviche obviously, added in some veggies, shishito peppers & brussel sprouts, salmon sushi roll, wavy gyoza and honestly a few more things. But obviously they change the menu so I’d ask the waitperson what the recommend. They were really helpful guiding us in the food and drink options.
We left Mila happy and very stuffed. Seriously everything was so tasty and the restaurant was super cute too. If you can go wander around their outside area is adorable. I think they sometimes even have shows happening.
Anyway, there are plenty of options to do after dinner and I have a list of bars below so you can always head out after that! We headed home to change before heading out to Story night club for another night on the town. Feeling right at home as if we were back in Vegas going to see Steve Aoki! I think this was our favorite night club we went to while here in Miami so I for sure recommended. We did try to get into Liv Nightclub but there was a super famous person performing so tickets were honestly instant so we decided against it.
Day 3:
Today was our day to explore Little Havana! After a very long night out the next thing on our mind was lunch so we headed to Olds Havana for some cuban food before we wandered down the street looking at all the restaurants, bars & stores.
We of course had to order a Cuban sandwich and embanadas with a side of yucca fries felt the perfect hangover lunch haha. My friends also had the coffee and they raved about how good it was! So I really don’t think you can go wrong with anything.
Incase you need a few other food options here are a few other places :).
After lunch we continued to walk around and checked out all the incredible murals scattered down the street.
After about an hour or so of walking, you really dont need that much time but you can spend more if you’d like. We headed back to our Hotel and took advantage of some beach time it was gorgeous and sunny but in the distance we could see dark rain clouds coming our way.
We planned to go to Red’s Steak house for dinner it was soooo good the cocktails were on point as well as the food! But we all left super super stuffed so just be warned and wear something comfy or stretchy hah. Ok kidding about wearing something comfy.
Later that night we tried to head out to E11even but it was closed cus July 4th even though normally it isn’t closed... But there are other bars that are worth checking out and I listed them above. We ended up just heading home at that point.
Day 4:
We decided to sleep in and grabbed a quick breakfast from Starbucks but I’d for sure check out some where like Local House. Especially if you want to sit down. But we made today be our tour day and started our day, after breakfast of course, at Wynwood Walls.
We hopped into our ubered to Wynwood Walls and decided to walk around a lot of the street art that is everywhere. There is one specific section you can pay $10 link here to enter a small fenced off area where you can get lots of fantastic pics in front of the murals. I’d for sure recommend checking it out. Wandering around the neighborhood for about 1-2 hours is probably all you need. We actually got there when it was sunny and nice and the next minute it was pour raining kinda crazy! Thankfully we found a little store to duck into. As a note since Wynwood Walls doesn’t require too much of your day if you were only in Miami for a short time you could easily tack this on to one of your other days.
The next part of the agenda was of course lunch! We hopped in another uber and and headed over to this super cute taco shop called Bodega Taqueria, it’s a super small little spot with not much seating. Man oh man those fish tacos were amazing and even the shrimp tacos were great. The best part was their slushy margaritas which were BOMB I couldn’t believe how good they were the balance of sweet to alcoholic was perfect! We might have had a couple because they were so good haha.
Our next stop was another afternoon sitting by the pool so we decided to go on a little walk around back towards our hotel since the sky was clear.
After a few hours swimming & enjoying the sun we had to get ready for our dinner. We booked resos at Matador Room which lucky for us it was literally in the hotel across the street from ours at the 1hotel and wow that is a stunning hotel! Anyway there is a little back story about how I found this place I follow blogger recently moved to Miami and she has been here a few times. We of course had to grab a quick in our hotel before we headed over to our dinner. The atmosphere of the restaurant was super cute the indoor area is in the shape of a bull ring and there are matador pictures all over the walls. The outside area was by the pool and super cute with hanging lights and everything.
The food was soo good! We did it as family style which is also how they recommend people do it so you’re able to try more things. Cocktails in hand and yummy food what a perfect night!
But of course we couldn’t end it there so we hopped in an Uber towards Bricklee to get into Sugar Bar & Restaurant. We had a reso there the night before but it got canceled due to the rain storm/tropical storm that happened to be coming through Miami as we were there. (yay perfect timing haha). The cocktails were great and the rooftop was so adorable! It felt like we were in a rainforest because there were so many plants and it had a nice view of downtown. Highly recommend adding that to your must visit restaurant list.
Not quiet ready to head home we wandered around Brickell to find another couple bars which there are so many! I will say it was a bit challenging since things seemed to close up early due to covid. But we found this cute salsa bar called RedBar Brickell with great music and yummy cocktails.
Day 5:
As we got up this morning we decided to go grab lunch down Miami Beach. So we borrowed bikes from our hotel and headed down the beach and took the bike path following all the way down the beach till we got to Cuba 1957 . The bike ride down here was sooo nice! But gosh it was hot but looking at all the different architecture houses was really cool. We even biked past the Versace Mansion we really wanted to eat there but the wait list was a few months out so wouldn’t have been able to. But it was still really cool to bike past.
My friend then had to head back to do some work so we kept going all the way down to south beach. Again so pretty and fun to see all the people and hotels that are around there. Plus I really loved seeing all the cute Miami Beach lifeguard buildings they are all different colors scattered all along the beach down Miami Beach.
After biking all the way down and back to our hotel the best thing we could do was do a little quick pool time before Erin and I went out again to explore Little Havana. We went into a cute little coffee shop for a little afternoon snack and a little caffeine pick me up. Well I got a juice since I don’t like coffee but the juice was fresh and delicious.
Since this was our last day we headed back to pack up our stuff and head down to the Keys. This really was such a fun couple days and a unique way for us to spend Fourth of July haha. Hopefully you find some of the list of places to stay, restaurants & clubs helpful and gives you some fun ideas of what to do.
Restaurants:
Yard Bird (South Beach) Casual attire. Know for their fried green tomatoes, fried chicken and bloody Mary’s.
Big Pink (South Beach)
Prime Steakhouse (South Beach) Dressy attire
Versace (South Beach) Dressy attire
Doraku (Lincoln rd)
Niki Beach Brunch on Sunday only (south beach). Sushi, waffles, etc…beach attire.
Juvia Dressy attire
Nusr et Brickell Dressy attire
Cheeseburger Baby Great drunk food. Casual attire
Strawberry Moon [inside of the Good Time Hotel]
Bars:
Clevelander is a classic south beach bar.
Broken shaker
Sweet liberty!
swizzle
bodega
The abbey On south beach
Ted’s hideaway
dueces
lost weekend
Harats
